Raspberry Pi B setup notes (WIP)

[Saturn]

Had read about these things in various places and decided to grab one for the measly $35. Also got a case for it for $7 and a power supply for another $12.

I already had a Dynex USB SD reader to flash the OS but picked up a 64GB Micro SD Card from Wal Mart to flash it to.

I hit the Raspberry site to download Raspbian OS.
Went to Balena Etcher site and downloaded/installed the flashing program.

Connected the Dynex reader w/ 64GB Micro SD plugged in to Windows 10 laptop and ran balenaEtcher from desktop shortcut. Navigated to still zipped Raspbian OS file and the program flashed then verified it to the SD Card.

Installed SD Card in Raspberry Pi, connected it to a TV via an extra HDMI cable I had lying around, powered it up, connected to internet via wifi (which I did not know was included ), updated the programs via prompts onscreen and now staring at an incredible Linux computer system that's on a device smaller than my hand

Going to update here as I find ways to configure the OS to what I need. This thing is crazy awesome!

Installing operating system images:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md

Here's the page that really got me started on it
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-the-raspberry-pi-3-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-tiny-low-cost-computer/

General and upgrade info:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/hands-on-with-raspbian-gnulinux-stretch-for-raspberry-pi/

[Saturn]

Change time to 12 hr format and/or include date:

Spoiler: show

Right click the clock at the upper right and select "Digital Clock" Settings at the top of the list. When the new window opens change '%R' at the top to %r and click Close.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/Documentation/CustomizingTheClock
To display the date also (if you set up your time zone during install) type %c in place of %R and click close

Ref - To be able to add repositories, open Terminal

Spoiler: show

Open Terminal and type:
sudo su
leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspi.list

Edit out the comment as stated and change the file from:

deb http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/ stretch main ui
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
#deb-src http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/ stretch main ui

to

deb http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/ stretch main ui
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
deb-src http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/ stretch main ui

Ref - Open Terminal and type: (to be able to add repositories)
sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common

Initial update after install:

Spoiler: show

sudo apt-get update
Reboot machine when complete
Next, via Terminal (ctrl+Alt+T):
sudo apt-get install gnome-do gnome-do-plugins -y
sudo apt-get install gksu
(gksu probably is already the newest version)

Auto-update to newest versions of software: REF

Spoiler: show

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y (can take a while)

Decrease the swap use (important!): REF

Spoiler: show

Via Terminal (ctrl+alt+t) if you don't have them:
sudo apt-get install gksu gedit

Check current swappiness setting via Terminal:
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
(he result will probably be 60)

Open the following text file via Terminal:
gksudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

Scroll to the bottom of the text file and add your swappiness parameter to override the default. Copy/paste the following lines:
# Decrease swap usage to a more reasonable level
vm.swappiness=10

(set at 20 or higher if using Dropbox or tray icon will not appear)
Set at 22 if using Dropbox and Skype or Skype icon will appear messed up)

Quicksave, exit and reboot

Check the new swappiness setting via Terminal:
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

(now it should be 10 or whatever you entered above)

gedit: (install)

Spoiler: show

sudo apt-get install gedit -y
Type gedit in Terminal or right click on a text doc and select Properties-Open With-gedit
Open the text doc and click Edit-Preferences & tick "Display line numbers" on the View tab
Remove auto made backups: REF
Open a text doc w/ gedit and select Edit-Preferences-Editor (tab) and uncheck the option "Create a backup copy of files before saving"

Nautilus: (download/install)

Spoiler: show

sudo apt-get install nautilus -y
sudo nautilus (to launch)