How I got into Linux [part 1]
Story time :)
My journey with Linux started all the way back in 2018, when I got my first Raspberry Pi to replace my old and
very very slow laptop. Little did the 14-year-old Arduino copy/paste kid know at the
time that this “Linux” operating system that the Pi ran would be absolutely nothing like
Windows and would open a whole new rollercoaster of learning experiences.
Probably about 15.03.2018
Asking my parents to buy it as an easter present
[me] : Can I get a Raspberry Pi for Easter?
[mom]: How much?
[me] : About 90$
[mom]: Yeah… I guess… but first: M.A.T.H.
[me] : ……… fml
22.03.2018
It arrived! (actually it arrived earlier in 20.03 but my mom hid it
in her wardrobe until my test results came back).
Anyway, unboxing time!
I got: a Raspberry Pi, a 16GB SD card with NOOBS preinstalled, an official Raspberry Pi case,
an official 5V power supply, and a random HDMI cable because it was cheap and why not?
Yes, I know, great quality image, and it helps even more that it's actually
a video shot with WhatsApp
Oh no...
I think I got scammed...
Because what I thought I ordered was this Raspberry Pi 3B
and what I got was this, of course, not being
blind, I immediately noticed the different SoC and thought that I just got a chineese clone.
A bit of setting up later... And it's turning on, except that it isn't because it never booted
past the rainbow screen... Oh no Ă—2
After some troubleshooting and searching, it turned out that I actually had a Raspberry Pi 3B+,
not a 3B and in fact, I didn't get scammed! I just didn't read properly what I ordered
(also, I didn't know that the Pi 3B+ existed, for that matter).
For those curious, the product listing said something along the lines of "Kit Raspberry Pi 3b+
power supply, SD card[...]," so I assumed the + meant and.
I reflashed the SD card with NOOBS because the 3b+ needed a more recent version, and it booted up. Great!
Some more Raspbian downloading via Wi-Fi at 5 Mbps later... We're on the desktop!
Finally!
The experience
How do I move the taskbar down?
Jk, I actually figured things out in the GUI pretty quickly, and the Pi was way
faster than my laptop, you could launch Chromium and it would actually run EVEN WITH MULTIPLE
TABS! Arduino IDE would open THE SAME DAY you launched it and compile anything in a matter
of tens of seconds, not minutes. It was great! And fast!