First impressions

Now I'm, finally, writing this post from within the Raspbian Wheezy that operates my Raspberry Pi.

Although that I knew its values and parameters, I couldn't entirely free my mind from the expectation that I'll see yet another desktop system. That's why its naturally modest performance as a desktop environment got me unprepared. Apart from that there were very few "disappointments".

    The first boot

At that point the raspi-config application (which runs automatically only on the first boot, afterwards it have to be invoked explicitly on the console) is pretty straightforward. Its options are pretty self-explanatory. I didn't try them all at once, because overclocking for instance is something that I intend to experiment with later on. The following list is not exhaustive:

• changing the password of the default user (which is pi);
• expanding the root file system to the entire space available on the SD card (in my case 16 GB)
• choosing specific model of keyboard (if necessary)
• choosing additional locale (if necessary)
• selecting time zone
• switching on/off SSH server
• selecting different levels of overclocking
• deciding what session to start on boot (console or GUI)

Some of the options (like expanding the file system) require reboot to get effective. Depending on the purpose of the Pi set-up you have, a good option might be to set the LXDE environment to start on boot. Otherwise it has to be started as usually with the startx command on the console.

    Some trivia

The biggest disappointment came from Wi-Pi. The module has very feeble performance in terms of distance to the wireless router. Distance at about 10-12 meters (the next room) seems too much and connectivity drops all the time. It actually is impossible to load a page in that case. I guess, I should've expected this, having in mind the dimensions of the module - it's only about 3 cm long. The next time I'm searching for WiFi solution for the Pi I'll get at least a longer module, if not one with a separate antenna.

What made a good impression was that recognising monitor parameters works very well, because plugging in Sony monitor, and Phillips TV a few minutes later didn't pose any problem and the picture in both of them (maybe I'll have to tweak the overscan in raspi-config for the TV just a little bit) was positioned quite satisfying.

Several hours with the system and numerous smaller and bigger challenges start to emerge. My first thought was to install DropBox and create a sync point on the SD card. Since there is no DropBox package for the ARM architecture, there are several solutions I'm still looking upon. This is a good theme for another blog post. So once I figure which approach is best for me I'll let you know.