Tag: 3366ff

report #1 on using ubuntu 23.10 with a raspberry pi 5

whbeebe

It has been a while since I posted anything on the blog, and a great while when it was something technically meaty. This is a report on one aspect of using Ubuntu 23.10 on a Raspberry Pi 5/8GB SBC. I will be writing about developing with Microsoft’s C# using Microsoft released tooling within Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code and plugins. I want to acknowledge right up front how we’ve come a tremendous distance with regards to using the Raspberry Pi. Using Visual Studio Code as but one example, I’ve gone from struggling to build VSC on a Raspberry Pi under Raspbian to simply installing VSC from a Microsoft maintained (yes, Microsoft) repo. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

Visual Studio Code debugging a simple C# program using .net 8 tooling

Let me note up front that I have my Raspberry Pi 5 plugged into an LG 27GL850-B monitor with a native resolution of 2560×1440 (purchased last Christmas during an incredible sale from Amazon), no overscan or special screen manipulation needed. That gives me a rather wide screen, which in turn allows me to open up an editor such as VSC that allows me to set up a vertical three-panel layout (see above) with plenty of space in all three panels.

After following Microsoft’s directions for installing .NET 8 on Ubuntu I was able to follow their basic tutorials on how to compile and debug C# on Linux. Let me again emphasize that this is Linux on a Raspberry Pi 5, which is AArch64/ARM, not x86-64. And it works. I find all of this amazing considering how I started with the original Raspberry Pi 2 ten years ago and struggled to get Python running.

In my not-so-humble opinion the best distribution to run on the Raspberry Pi 5, bar none, is Ubuntu 23.10 for the Raspberry Pi. Everything works with one notable exception: manipulating the GPIO and through that, physical computing. But I have found an easy solution for that (which I will document later), and it all seems to work without a hitch as well as it would under Raspberry Pi OS for the Raspberry Pi.

As they say, more to come.

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notube november continues

whbeebe1 Comment

I wrote back in November (see link below) that I was going to stop watching YouTube, cold turkey. For the most part I was successful. The exceptions are enlightening, as they show just how far YouTube, and Google behind it, has extended its technological tentacles into our digital lives.

The first exception has to do with stories that include any video content, such as movie trailers or any news reporting. You’re reading the story and embedded right in the middle is an embedded YouTube video that you need to click in order to view it. In the beginning I did click through, but over the month of November I trained myself not to. Now if I’m reading a piece of news and a YouTube-hosted video is part of that news, I skip the video portion.

The big exception has to do with training videos. Right now I’m re-training myself to use Blender 4.0.1. If you go back to the beginning of my blog you’ll see I wrote a number of posts about learning how to use a much earlier version, and how I managed to gain a foothold in understanding Blender basics and turning out simple but effective 3-D illustrations. Like a lot of things in that period I let my attention wander away rather than sticking to it. Now I’m trying almost ten years later to pick Blender back up again, but a lot has changed, especially the controls. I tried to use the old training videos from that earlier period but Blender 4’s controls have changed too much for me to use those old videos with the current Blender. So now I’m going through the learning process again, but this time with training videos on YouTube written for Blender 4.

The lesson here is that I can’t completely drop YouTube, but I can sure come close to it. I’ve cut down my viewing of YouTube to the point where I no longer let it affect me, and addict me, via its algorithmic charms. I’m using YouTube as it was originally conceived, as a way for the general user to present information to others via short and informative, and above all truthful, videos.

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notube november