The first thing I did when the shops opened again (spring 2021), was get a haircut and go down the pub…
Well no, I’ve been shaving my head since the first lockdown, and I can live without pubs.
No the first thing I did was, to toddle along to the Cambridge Raspberry Pi shop an kit my self out with a Pi4 .
Well no before that I managed to force the locked door of the shop open (I thought it was stiff!) just to add to my normal amount of social awkwardness.
Any way once they were properly open (ahem), the helpful staff kitted me out with all the bits and bobs.
I didn’t go for the built in keyboard option as I’ve got an old USB keyboard , and I think the mice are breeding…
Cant recommend the Cambridge shop give them a vist if you are in the area.
But what? I hear you ask, has this got to to do with dongles?
My Linux rig at work has a double output graphics card and I had also got hold of a spare monitor so I wanted to run a double screen set up. Problem 1 the new monitor was VGA but that’s fine so is the existing screen, plug and play happy days er no, the pc was connected to the monitor via a dongle, bugger HDMI…(I thought).
Hang on the new pi is HDMI of a sort, mini, micro, titchy something like that and I had a pi to full HDMI lead in my swag bag, plug and play, happ… er no.
Now you have to understand that my works linux rig is somewhat a work in progress, in that its an old windows pc that I rescued from password purgatory, by nuking it and installing Ubuntu. No probs, Ill get an adaptor dongle, plug and pla… er no, it wasn’t HDMI ( no I didn’t check properly I hate crawling about under desks). Right order up a dvi dongle…plug and… you know whats coming, yep turns out its display port…OK then..
Order up a display port to VGA dongle for my dual screen set up and a display port to mini HDMI adapter for the Pi.
Its not mini is it.. its micro…
I’ve got all the bits now, but have kind of lost the urge to do anything with them.
The scores at the moment,
Project dual monitor , win for me, I’ve got it all working and saved a monitor from a skip.
Project Linux , on going I’ve upgraded my laptops to SSD drives and maxed out the ram, and they dont seem any faster, I’v got Linux Mint on my old Dell, and Ubuntu with the cinnamon desktop on my work rig.
Project Learn new stuff….yeah …not going so well, I’ve crashed into the the leaning curve of the terminal, and am floundering at “hello world” level at python ( and don’t ask about Vim and EMACS).
I rather fear I have bitten off more than I can chew….
Links to things I have been using…
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/ Python tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/c/DistroTube Linux Youtuber
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisTitusTech More Linux stuff
https://www.youtube.com/c/explainingcomputers Does what it says on the tin…
Peeking Over The Parapet... 