Thought I'd give an update on my experiment of going Linux based - single board computer. The bad news - good news is that I've had to buy a whole bunch of micro-usb, micro SD card paraphernalia the good news is that with everything I've had to buy, the singleboard computers, a 7" screen (which I need a Fresnel lens to read) the chords, adapters and connectors, the SD cards (interestingly one of the most expensive parts of it) etc. the cost is still a fraction of even what an in-good-shape used laptop would cost.
After trying the always frustrating experience of downloading and unzipping and accessing zipped and a torrent file, I went with the easier route of buying SD cards pre-loaded with NOOBS and Raspbian, the operating systems from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, I bought several of those and the cost is a fraction of what it would cost to buy Windows or Mac OS. I have not started experimenting with using other operating systems, I'm going to start trying to get one of them loaded with Puppy Linux - very small, I'm hooping to use the junky looking 2 GB SD card I got sent with the small digital recorder I bought a while back to see if that works. And just to remind you, the $100 Zoom HIn recorder does more than the old reel to reels that I used fifty-years back.
One thing, I had ordered a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ for $35 and was fascinated with the idea of using a $5 Pi Zero for word processing and a $10 Pi Zero W as a cheap web-radio so I ordered one of each. They sent me two of the $5 ones instead of the $10. When I pointed out their mistake and asked how to send back the extra board, they told me to just keep it for my troubles - I'm loving the Raspberry Pi company, my first experience with a customer friendly computer company. After that I looked at the specifications of the free computer and realized it had more power and capability than the first PC I bought for a thousand dollars. When I pointed that out to my sister she said I still had to buy a screen and a keyboard, which I also had to buy when I bought that dinosaur. The monochrome monitor I bought then cost more than I've put into this project so far - all three of those boards cost as much as I had to pay to dispose of the thing at the transfer station.
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR WORK that's the habit I got out of using computers with large internal discs but which you more or less have to practice with these computers. Always keep a backup SD card with a clean version of the operating system, too. The Pi 3 B+ is bootable from a flash drive, so I'm told, that's something I'll be trying.
You're going to want to buy a USB hub for plugging in multiple USBs - one with a micro usb to plug it in to the board and either an adapter or another hub with a full size USB if you use one of the larger Pi boards. The official plug-in Rapsberry Pi keyboard will work as a hub, as well.
I haven't tried to use a TV as a screen, not owning one. I may buy one only for use as a monitor, I'm kind of shocked at how cheap those have gotten. I'll update on that.
All in all I am very happy with my decision, only thought I'd thought it out so I didn't have to keep going to the American Raspberry Pi Shop to order more stuff. I could probably find the equivalent locally but I've found dealing with them to be very pleasant as compared to dealing with other online venues. I don't do terribly sophisticated things on my computer as it is, I think most people don't, so even a cheap laptop is going to have way, way more junk on it than I'll ever use. For me this has the potential to replace the computers I've bought with small, more environmentally friendly computers which, if they bite the dust, will not have to be disposed of with all of the connections, hardware and other things that have to be junked when your laptop gets fried. And I'm having to learn things. I hope that wards off senility. It beats crosswords and solitaire.
Update: Oh, yeah, and about solitaire. I got flack from what I said about checkers the other day, mocking me for noting that it can be played at a very high level, probably from someone who I could beat the pants off of in the game. I would like to know how many of the idiots who snark about checkers does the totally brain dead activity of playing solitaire and why that shouldn't be the real metaphor for a tic-tac-toe level of simple mindedness. I don't know who it is who comes up with these idiotic metaphors that gain currency among the college-credentialed idiocracy that runs our pop culture but they are really stupid.
As I said, I stopped playing it on my computer because, while it was fun and stimulating, it took time away from more important and, so, interesting things. I'd much rather read another chapter of a non-fiction book than play a game of checkers. I'd much rather go looking for another paper by Paul Finkelman
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