My Very Own Pi

So the Raspberry Pi I ordered showed up the other day (WAAAY ahead of time, too!) So now I have this teeny-tiny little computer and I’m not entirely sure I know what to do with it yet.

My first objective is to get an enclosure for it to protect its delicate components and then use it as a portable media server. If I’m at a party and there’s a video I think people need to see, I’ll just whip out my pi and plug it into the nearby television.

This means I’ll need to get connector cables, an input device, and an SD card on which to load up an Operating System. Once I get those, it’ll just be a matter of loading a good version of Linux and playing around some.

Later down the road, I’m thinking a nice little web server could be in this guy’s future. I don’t need a powerful server to start fooling around with networking, and if I’m dilligent and lucky I’ll continue working my way up the food chain to the more cutting-edge stuff. But, you know, basics first!

A Steal For $2.50

I remember when I was a kid and REALLY wanted to learn coding because I wanted to make video games. I started off with QBASIC and quickly got frustrated because I couldn’t compile a .bat or .exe file and quickly send the games to my friends to play-test. Granted, these games were VERY simple “Choose Your Own Adventure” type games that were very primative, but I loved making them.

Eventually I found out about coding languages with compilers built-in to the coding program. I was pretty excited until I found out what they were being sold for. Now I don’t remember the exact ticket price, but it was definitely more than $100, and I was a little kid with no cash-flow. I chalked it up to yet another toy I’d never get. I also lost interest in programming, possibly due to my easily-dejected nature.

Now, some 20 years later, I find this at a Goodwill Thrift Store for $5. And it’s on sale at half-off. I buy the first program that not only includes 3.5″ floppy discs but 5.25″ floppies!! I can’t really imagine using this except to play around with on one of the older systems I’m going to put together (it requires a floppy disc drive as well as DOS, though I suppose I could run DOS-BOX on a newer system).

Another Find

I found this Ethernet Switch for $10 and figured it was worth a go. The more tech stuff I have to play around with the less I’ll be surprised by when I go out into the field.

New Monitor, Old Computer

This weekend I went around to a few thrift stores and didn’t manage to find any desktop systems. Luckily, I did find a good cheap, working (presumably) monitor.

I do have an old family desktop that needs some TLC, though. I should be able to play around with that for a while. It definitely has a lot of dust that nobody’s bothered to blow off. You can see the case has its share, but inside is even worse.

So in my list of things that I already know need to happen with this PC:
1) Use compressed air to clean the physical system
2) Format HDD, reinstall OS
3) Verify state of optical disc drives

Again, I’ll keep updating on this process. In the meanwhile, I have a pair of scrub PCs on order. At $40 each including shipping and handling, I figured they’ll be good to fool around with. They don’t include hard drives, but I’ve got plenty of those laying around. They also have the stickers for one of the Windows OS so I don’t have to worry about buying new operating systems. I was tempted to install Linux on them, but I’ll worry about learning Linux later. The CompTIA A+ Certification is only worried about Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Starting my own Tech Lab

So today I’m going to pick a few things up to start my personal tech exploration lab. I’m going to hit a Goodwill trift store and see if anyone dropped off an old, marginally-working system and a barely-working monitor. If I’m lucky I should walk away with a cheap fix-me-upper that I can fool around with just to wrap my mind around the inner-workings of a computer.

Here are some things I’m thinking of doing:

-Un-mounting and Re-mounting the CPU

-Formatting the HDD and re-installing an operating system

-Looking into how much it would cost to completely optimize the system.

On that last one I’m not terribly dead-set. I know old RAM can be pricy because it’s so hard to find, and I imagine getting old video cards could be tricky. We’ll see though. I mainly want to get a little more experience playing with hardware when I’m not afraid to break it.

Additionally, I think what I’m going to check into is buying cheap computers from Goodwill and then donating them back so that someone potentially in need of a cheap computer can get a better one than whatever was initially donated. I don’t have a whole lot of cashflow right now, so this will really depend on how cheap the systems are and how much it will take to fix them up. On top of getting me more experience, it will also keep things from piling up at my place and it will also gain me karma. I’ll keep posting pictures as this process continues.

List of Learnin’

I’ve decided to start a list of topics I need to pay special attention to in my studies. These are areas I’m currently weak in when it comes to knowledge.

SCSI
Solid State Drives
Biometric Devices
Industry Standard Acronyms

Ok, Pop-Quiz Hotshot…

So the link CompTIA gave me to an “IT Interests Quiz” was down, so a quick search on the internet landed me a “short A+ exam.” Consisting of 10 questions, its was ridiculously easy. 75% without studying. The only two answers I missed were about a MSDS sheet and which pin to line up with the red line on an IDE hard drive connection. It was from a site called “ProProfs.com” so I’m dubious.

Another quiz (this one a bit more detailed) indicated that I should definitely take some time to learn about SCSI, so I think that’s where I’m going to be looking into next. Also should probably start a set of flash cards. Primarily, I need to focus on memorizing error codes. The good news is that a lot of the stuff I haven’t used in forever is coming back to me easier than I’d thought. It looks like studying is mostly going to be review first then updating my knowledge second.  

In the meantime, I plan to call a few local contractors in the next week or so. I’m mainly going to see what sort of qualifications they’re looking for in IT applicants. Ideally I’d like to work for a company like Northrupp Grumman or McKing, a pair of local companies that contract out to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s who I’d like to work with most. Working for a company that works with a government agency like the CDC is ideal for me because I’d like to feel like I’m really helping give back to the world, and from what I’ve seen the CDC is an organization that really does that.

Edit: Acronyms too. I need to create flash-cards for my inudstry standard acronyms.

Progress

So I opened my ExamCram A+ book today and it’s basically just what I remember from the first time I took the test. I haven’t gotten past the basics of troubleshooting yet, but it’s basically the scientific method. The foundations never really change, it’s just the details that get updated. Admittedly, those details are pretty important. I’ve also got a video series on the way, so I’ll be adding another medium to the whole learning process.

Also, I miss my entire days off to do things like study. Working full-time basically means most of my studying is going to have to take place on the weekends. It’s also going to mean about an hour less sleep at night.

So as I read myself to sleep with my A+ book, I’m going to try to keep in mind why I need to keep focused. If I want to repay my college loans and build a financially secure future for my family I’ve got to be making more than I’m making right now. That’s got to be the motivation that drives me through this.

It begins…

So today is the first day of my new blog. The premise is twofold: 1) To document my efforts and progress at self-educating myself in the IT and programming fields and 2) To create a level of accountability for my studies.

The first premise is fairly straightforward and no explanation is needed. The second premise may need some illumination.

If I just say I’m going to take my A+ certification test after studying for two months, I have no accountability. However, if it’s publicly documented that I intend to do something, I could lose face if I don’t do it. And nothing, NOTHING is worse than losing face on the internet!

So, with that said, I’m establishing my first deadline:

I will take my A+ Certification Test by May 5th, 2013.

There. It’s in bold font. It is now written in stone.