Fun with Pi

One draw back from not buying a case with a built in power button was I had to make one myself. I had an old push button in my supply case and routed the cables under the computer within the case, as seen bellow.

Now that I have a power button I can safely turn off the unit with a push of a button.

BUT FIRST!! You need to edit your config.txt file.

If you’re using Raspbian OS edit the config file using this line in terminal.

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sudo nano /boot/config.txt

If you’re using Ubuntu on Pi edit the config file using this line in terminal.

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sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

You are now in the Nano text editor in Terminal.

Add the following line to allow your Raspberry Pi to sense your Power Button,

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dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown

then use ctrl+S to save and ctrl+X to exit.

I Also edit the config file at this point and OVERCLOCK the CPU and GPU. Be aware you need a decent USB-C power adapter. I’m using complete overkill with my other THiNKPAD USB-C 90W Charger. All my other ones didn’t cut the power consumption. I have an external 2TB USB HDD connected to USB3 and a 256GB Thumb Drive to another USB3 port. In my current setup with the pi4B 8gb behind the TV I use a Logitech All-In-One Keyboard with Trackpad in the living room.

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#add the following to over-clock to 2200
force_turbo=1
over_voltage=8
arm_freq=2200
gpu_freq=750

#add the following to overclock to 2147
over_voltage=6
arm_freq=2147
gpu_freq=750

You can void the warranty and force_turbo=1 to get some higher voltage to the CPU and push the over-clock just a little more. It’s no issue with a fan and heatsink on my pi4b.

Love to use Raspberry Pi’s SD Card writer software to test out various Operating Systems. I have been using Raspbian OS, Twister OS which is fully loaded Raspbian OS experiance with all the apps you’d need and Ubuntu 64bit. I currently use Twister OS on this Pi 4b 8GB.

Since I always seem to find amazing deals on Kijiji or Facebook Market-Place I thought why not start looking for other Pi related items. Low and behold I see a post for a Raspberry Pi 2 with case, and power supply for $5 CDN. HECK YES! I went down on my Lunch break and swooped up this amazing deal. Brought it home and installed Pi-Hole.

Installing Pi-Hole on a Raspberry Pi turns the little PC into an AD-Blocker. It’s amazing!…if you have an iPhone…Not so much. It works perfectly on my Pi’s, Android devices and Windows machines. You can add a white list to allow certain things you’d need to get through, and a black list to make sure no ads connect at all.

About a month later, searching Kijiji. I find a post for a 7” Raspberry Pi touch-screen. Got it for $40 CND!! I was so damn happy. Took it home and thought… hrmm… throw it on the Pi-Hole server. OH BABY!

Now the Pi-Hole is back in the closet with our Modem/Router.

Here’s a size comparison shot beside my Nintendo 3DS XL.

While setting up my screen I found out some amazing news. Raspberry Pi Foundation just released a new Pi. OMG OMG OMG. PURCHASED.

The Pi 400. It’s a pi4b 4GB with a newer step up on the current CPU. It runs the fastest out of all of th Pi so far. So I HAD to buy it. www.buyapi.ca <—

Got bored.. and Heather was crafting. So I decided to use some unused 1x6 Spruce boards and make a craft myself. Made me a little stand for my monitor. So I could stack my Gaming PC with my Pi 400.

Heather sure is amazing with her Cricut Machine. Damn this is cool.

December brought some big updates to the Raspbian OS and some software changes and enhancements. Read more about it here https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/new-raspberry-pi-os-release-december-2020/

So I updated and thought… why not try Ubuntu again. It’s alot better. I am currently testing it out. 1080p Youtube is ok.. 60hz 1080p is not good. x264 playback works nicely. x265 had my Pi400 reboot from some issue. Hopefully it will be fixed with an update soon.

I can’t wait to try the 64BIT Raspbian OS. I will gladly pay for VULKAN.

Now I just need to find some deals on an Original Pi, Pi Zero and Pi 3b. FINGERS CROSSED!!!