Johnson’s Computer Internet Help

The Raspberry Pi Model B is an affordable $35 Linux based mini computer which you can use like a desktop PC with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. Using the Pi as a desktop PC is affordable because the Pi, and the accessories are inexpensive to buy. The Pi also use very little power, and makes no noise, so the Pi is a good desktop PC for typing documents, watching video with TBOPlayer or Raspbmc, and listening to music. The Pi also has a lot of fun games like Quake 3, Minecraft Pi, OpenArena, etc, so it is a cheap PC for gaming, but powerful enough to play games like Quake 3 because of its 700MHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, and a fast video chip capable of displaying 3D and HD Video. Also, you can use the Pi for making programs because the Pi was originally designed to teach kids to program with Scratch programming language designed for beginners who want to learn programming.The Raspberry Pi is easy to maintain for a desktop PC since you are not vulnerable to the many virus and malware programs which infect Windows computers, and it is easy to backup the Raspberry Pi SD Card with Win32 Disk Imager which is a free program for backing up SD memory cards to a .IMG file in Windows. I notice the Raspbian operating system is very stable, and never breaks in my experience. The Raspberry Pi is fanless because it does not generate a lot of heat, so the Pi rarely overheats.

You can buy a Raspberry Pi Model B and accessories for the Pi from Newark/Element 14 .

Setting up the Pi to be used as a desktop PC is pretty easy.  You just need to have computer accessories like a monitor or TV, speakers, SD Card, Micro USB power adapter, and USB Keyboard and mouse. If you want to use the Internet on the Raspberry Pi Model B, you would need a Ethernet networking cable, or compatible Linux Wi-Fi adapter. You’ll need a case for the Raspberry Pi to protect it. [continue reading…]

I have been using Windows 8.1 Update 1 for a week now on my older computer. Update 1 for Windows 8.1 is a free Update which you can download for Windows 8.1 from Windows Update. Update 1 is design to make Windows 8.1 run better on slower computers like tablets, and netbooks. It will also make using Windows easier on desktop and laptop computers which use keyboard and mouse for typing, and using programs.

If you already have Windows 8.1 installed on your computer, you can download Update 1 for Windows 8.1 for free by using Windows Update which is found in your PC settings, or the Control Panel in Windows Explorer.

You would need to install Windows 8.1 for free from the Windows 8 App Store found on the Start Screen before you can install Update 1 if you are still using Windows 8 instead of 8.1 . Windows 8.1 and Update 1 are both free if your computer is using Windows 8. But, if you are using Windows 7, you would need to upgrade your computer to Windows 8.1 by buying the Windows 8.1 install disc which cost $99 and up depending on the version.

Windows 8.1 with Update 1 runs fast on my older year 2007 computer with only 1GB of RAM, a Dual-Core 1.86 GHz CPU, and 320GB hard drive. I mostly use my desktop computer for using Firefox web browser, and Firefox runs pretty smoothly in Windows 8.1 with all the latest updates, and Update 1 installed on Windows. Windows 8.1 with Update 1 runs faster than Windows Vista and 7 on my old computer from 2007, and 8.1 uses less RAM than 7, so my computer runs faster because it does not run out of RAM as often in Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 with Update 1 also did not break down while I use it everyday since it released a week a go, so it is reliable for a Windows operating system.

After logging into Windows 8.1, the Task Manager Program in Windows say it uses under 500MB of RAM, and 1-5% CPU cycles. The low resource usage of Windows mean I have more free RAM, and CPU cycles which I can use for running programs, and games.

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