English, August. From City to village and back

After reading catch 22. The most nasty comment I received was that this  book should have  been ready earlier, ie, I should have read it at younger age. I think it is not about the age at all. It is just that you should be in the know of it and the book should attract you. It could happen in a myriad number of ways. Any how, this post is about an English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

I liked the book. It is well written. It is just a coming together of jottings kept over a period of one year. The Indian sub-continent comes across in all its glory. The author travels from a hard core India city to the deepest of the forests possible. The society varies from rich, to the tribals to the lepors, to the beggars, to the helpers, to the public administration offices and the officers, to the most beautiful churches in the remotest parts of the country where drinking water is not available. The book definitely has the spread. The different hues of the sub-continent is nice. The language used is simple and straight forward. If "sex" sells then the word is used freely and profusely through the book. Lots of stoned situations, by the river, by the railway tracks, on the top floor of the house, in dark rooms, with friends, with colleagues, with unknowns. There is plenty of booze also, if you liked it. The point of view is from a well to do Indian. So you may tell that the narrative doesnt have the depth. But, yes, the book does scratch the surface and does     it well.

The most beautiful depiction is the bureaucratic setup in the country. It brings out aptly how the government resources which are to be distributed gets concentrated in few hands just by the manipulation of papers. It also bring out the monotony of a government official.     The constraints under which a bureaucrat works are also nicely portrayed. There are a few situations in the book where the protagonist goes deep about his real purpose with sayings from the Bhagavad Gita interspersed between. The novel has an unexpected ending. I was     expecting some other way. The individual coming out of the dilemma is nicely brought out. It is like ready reckoner for all the aspiring public servants. Of course, there are foreign visitors also. If the author was not intending to satisfy the foreign readers, the book    s would have a bit more depth.

The characters come alive, the office personnel, the tribals, rich kids whose parents have made enough for many generations, Egoist bureaucrats,  their more egoist wags, the variety of food, the lack and plenty of water, the effect of forcing of modern societal system on the tribals. The destruction of their very livelihood to survive the modern society and its demands. Roads, cycles, buffalos, and all other quintessential characters of a novel which plans to cross the border of India to other English speaking countries.

The private sector and its workings and its shortcomings, Doctors, helpers, drivers all have played out their role. Official Jeeps, "silent" Maruti cars also make their appearance.

Fascinating read. The book was also made into a movie. I dont remember it perfectly, But, I liked it more because of the lead actor. He was so perfect for the role. I would still recommend the book over the movie. This is one book which you would like to watch after reading it just because of the range and variety of places the protagonist passes. The book oozes laziness, everywhere and the protagonist is the epitome of it and thereby is able to recognize that aspect in all the people he meets.

Finally caught up with "Catch 22"

For the past many years I always wanted to read catch 22. Somehow I was thinking the book will not live up to its hype. Why were my thoughts like this I cant tell because, I don't know. Now, why am I not knowing the reason? Why is that i was not reasonable in taking up this book and start reading. Why couldn't I find a reason to read the book. Why did any other give me a reason for reading it or for not reading it. I don't know the reason why I left this book alone. Why is reasoning so hard. For the want of a reason I did not take up this book for reading. I wanted to read this book but wanted a reason, which again was not coming by. Oh, whatever....

To start with, I came across a new style of writing and was just thinking why others had not copied the style. The style is unique. The chapters are named after key characters. Every chapter describes the character in detail with an introduction/brief to the next character. In the mean time the story is taking its course. I fell in love with the style immediately. The words describing the harsh situations become "harsher". All the characters are crazy. Seeing the characters and comparing with present ones and the past ones, I thought there is no human in the world who is sane. The sanest person is the most insane. I don't know how sanity and the other side are related but they are definitely related. Do I know how they are related, I don't know. Now, don't get me on the reason for me not knowing the difference and I dare not ask you.

The characters are simple, straight forward and crazy. The situations are crazy. If you are crazy enough you can see the funny side of it. If you are sane, you will immediately throw the book into a parallel universe. Uh. Oh, you don't believe in parallel universe. You are not crazy enough. Stop reading right here, right now. And again, don't ask me the reason for it. You are not crazy enough. Am i crazy enough. Dont ask me about it. The combat sequences are explained beautifully. You definitely enter the war field. You suddenly know that flying a fighter aircraft is not for the faint heart. With nowhere to go and nobody to talk when communications are cut, it is a flying coffin. The dangers of flying a war plane are depicted beautifully. I don't think the author has left any use case.

The author intervenes in the novel at all times throughout the novel in the way of the protagonist. I liked the name of the protagonist. How he came about that name would be very interesting. To reason out this with the author would be very interesting. We are again back at reasoning. What is it about this word when we are talking all about craziness and lunacy. The protagonist is etched out beautifully and his relationship or its lack off, is nicely depicted. I many times thought that the author was not happy the character is coming up and he puts in lots of hyper which he himself would have dreamt of. But the way the author holds all the other characters with the main character as the binder is awesome.

It has been one hell of crazy &(*)(_(%% ride. I have curtailed myself from using many number of explicits. Why, Because I don't have the freedom, the author had. Why, This is not a book. It is about a book. So, how does the author get all the freedom he likes while we readers have to be careful. I am trying to reason out ........

"An equal music" Love and music

After reading a couple of P G wodehouse books I was in the hunt for something different. While browsing the book store, my eyes fell on a book by Vikram seth. No, books by vikram seth. A collection of poems also in that list. Read a couple of poems. They were telling too much in between a couple of words, modern day stuff. The next book was the magnum opus, "A suitable boy". Now, words are not enough to describe this book. And that is, that. The next book is what I am reading right now. "An equal music". I had been knowing about this since I finished A suitable boy, but somehow was so overwhelmed after reading it that I thought he couldnt have written anything better than that. Oh, I again started about the boy, while the girl is supposed to come out from the past couple of years. Has he written anything at all really about the girl, we dont know. I would like to know for sure. If anybody has any news regarding this please do comment.

An equal music is a not equal for all readers. It definitely commands a better knowledge about music. Why, because there is a lot of communication regarding the chords, ups, downs, mediums and the stuff related to music. Yes you can ignore it and go along with the premise of the book and take everything in context. It is like reading A suitable boy without knowing India. Yes, you can read the book and understand everything in context but, the context of the country as a participant in the writing is left out. Let me tell you it is a big chunk you have left out. Many people have tried to sum up India and everybody goes back thinking that they have figured it out. Nothing can be near to truth than this thought. Coming back to an equal music, as you must have understood the undercurrent is music here. Listening to music and understanding music are two different things. People can talk languages but may not be able to write and read the same. I just felt the same here. The characters are well etched and we have a variety of characters. London, Vienna and Venice figure prominently. I think that the author loves these places and observed them very clearly.

As in all musical performances there will come various times in the performance a crescendo. Here also there are situations which are built up to that crescendo and then at the same time it calms down and you are taken along flats. I love all of those. That does not mean the flats and the smaller crests and troughs are not interesting. I definitely think that this was written much before A suitable boy. I may be wrong. But I have a very strong feeling about it. So, whom should you recommend this book. Definitely not for new readers. For accustomed readers, yes. For connoisseurs, yes. For non-musical people, No. I heard you. Your are telling me that you can read the book by ignoring the musical part. You can read, but then you are not a reader. Books are written for readers, yes. All class of readers, no. If writing is an art, reading also is one. Yes, we may not understand the full extent of the feel/purpose of the writer. But that is the purpose of the writer. The reader should be transported to that scenario. The reader should feel the same what the writer wants the reader to feel. The reader has to be an artist to really get to what the author wants to tell us. So can all readers who could read and enjoy detective/romance novels read a book on fiction written with music as the main protagonist. You tell me.

There is one another aspect which is brought out beautifully. The influence of public utilities like the libraries, the parks maintained for the general public in the making/learning/education of an individual. The joy of searching for a book physically has no parallel. That too borrowing a book from the library which has been read and churned by lakhs. I used to love the comments left by people on the books. And whenever I used to read a p g wodehouse, I always blessed the reader who had written the meaning of the word used by the master. This would heighten the joy of reading that man. So, I totally dig the author when his characters remember the good old times.

An equal music is absolutely equal to both the male and the female protagonist. It is told in point of view of the male protagonist. It doesnt neglect any of the female protagonists. All are on equal grounds. All are right and wrong. I am feeling I should also be knowing a little about the language of music. There is one more language I was fascinated by reading the book and that is the sign language. Immediately I remembered the braille language my co-employee uses to read when we travel. I always thought about only spoken languages. This book exposed me to many others. Thank you, Vikram seth.

There was one more nice discovery on the public network. While i searched the public network for an equal music, there was a gentle surprise. I found a collection/playlists of the music referenced in the book. The music was beautiful. It was very soothing. I could feel the crescendo moments in the book. I also could feel the diminuendos at various points along the collection of music. This is a great collection and the perfect companion for this awesome book. I did try learning to read sheet music and understood that it is not that easy. You should have the interest and passion to really get somewhere. Instead I thought that as an applied scientist, I would be an applied musician. Just listen to and consume it without knowing a damn about the background of it or how hard is it to produce a certain combination of music. To all the performers of music, here is my "RESPECT". You guys are awesome. 

Love is all over the place. Love flows throughout the book. Love is the epi-centre of the book. Everything in it is love. Music is the mortar binding all these. The romance is so nuanced. The romance is musical. There are happy notes, fast paced notes, slow ones, sad ones and ...... There is one note wherein, the saddest note played out by the protagonist in his mind gives him the ultimate happiness and then everything is all so clear. But as the observer of all and listener of all these notes, there is something which I went through which hasnt happened to me for a very long time. My heart shed tears and they were torrential. I was speechless for a very long minute. For the first time, I wanted this sadness to last. It is like extending the most exotic feeling of ecstasy. Love can understand all the variations of life and at the same time can be blinding if very narrow. Love has to encompass the entire universe. Love cannot be towards one. Love has always to transcend. Love has always to give way. And as the author sums up, It has to be felt a bit a time. Even the purest soul cannot take in everything. It has to be experienced in infinitesimal scoops. And dont forget to fall....... in love.

Thank you Vikram. I think you would have been better off writing a sequel to a "more" equal music.

P G wodehouse's use. "Jeeves and the yule tide spirit"

Picked up another collection of short stories from P. G. Wodehouse. "Jeeves and the yule tide spirit". This is now quite a different collection of short stories. It is named jeeves because that is the most known and frequently used character in wodehouse's works. There are a couple of stories with jeeves as the central character. These stories have been culled from other collection of short stories, jeeves specific. The jeeves ones, I had already read them, so gave them a skip for the rainy days. I was really shocked by the variety of the stories chosen for the publication. In wodehouse's words, quite a "rummy" collection. Well, dont worry, you still have the aunts, the uncles, the cousins and of course school time buddies.

There are a couple of stories which would give all the light romance novels a run for their money. They are exquisitely designed and written. You are immediately in the thick of the action. It is good to see that he has tried his hand at all the genres of writing. There is a story combining romance, horror and crime writers. That in itself was a very heady mix. I liked that piece. There are a couple of cheeky ones which we are accustomed to while reading wodehouse works. And of, course how can the collection be complete without cricket and golf. They all have their presence in the collection. All the stories have that happy-go-lucky thing as the undertone. In the wodehouse world you have a solution for all the problems in the world. In fact, the problems are what ignite the comedy in the situations. Otherwise the wodehouse world is very boring because every body is going about their chores like there is nothing wrong. Action starts even if there is a little wrong and even at the slightest deviation from the obvious.

Everything in the world is still hunky-dory. And at last everybody is happy. And we the readers are transformed and for a moment dwell in that world. I would not call his works escapist. I would term them as small time capsules to be taken at one's own orders. For a moment you want to forget the present you are in or in any world you could have been up-till now, you get yourself transported to wodehouse world. Maybe there is a learning or two(Well that would make a great case study for managerial studies, will it?????!!!). You have all the same classes present in the world in his world also. The rich/poor, dark/white, north/south. But the way they gel in, the way they criss cross each other and then the way they settle down can only happen in his works. The conclusions to such kind of stories is quite remarkable. The conclusion doesnt look much complicated when you are in the flow. But, when you are out of it and think about the story, you think, that is freakingly unbelievable.

What a writer. I had plenty of chuckles during my transit(sometimes it was very vocal). But I loved every bit of the book.

P. G. Wodehouse's Very Good, Jeeves

The past fortnight has been very productive w.r.t me starting to take up my hobby of reading books to the good old days. Having started with Franz Kafka's "The trial" you would expect me to maybe read the next novel of Kafka. No that didnt happen. I lightened up and started to read Very good, jeeves by P. G . Wodehouse. Yes, I can see that look on your face. I can see the look from here. I can understand the look especially if you are Kafka fan or also a Wodehouse fan.

 I am special. I am a fan of both these amazing writers. While Kafka saw what is wrong with the societal setup, Wodehouse gave a damn about what is wrong and used the same wrong to bring out that Right Ho! or the What Ho! spirit with lots of mirth and happiness. You felt bad while reading a Kafka work, bring yourself around with a Wodehouse short. What an amazing set of writers and such a different views on life. 

The short stories in the collection were so beautifully written with poetry in just words. I could listen the lyrics as well as music as i read throughout the sentences. I dont know the poetic prowess of Wodehouse but his music sense I think was excellent. And I dont have any rights on any sort of comments as to the vocabulary of this man. Yes, you may not know much of the words used. But, heed me if you dont strive to know the meaning you will not hear the music. Yes you can get where the story is going in context without caring a damn about the meaning of that specific word, I request and beg you not to do so. In all the stories, nobody works, which is exactly my argument of work. Why should anybody work. Why cant we just live? No, forgive me here..... Yes, back in the Wodehouse world, nobody works. They just live. The situations/plot lines are masterfully crafted. Every character is beautifully etched. So, if a character is told to do something, it will do so. Why? Well he was created to do just that. 

If anybody wants a lesson in character building,he should start and end right here in Wodehouse world. You read it while going to work, it will keep your mood uplifted because you know that while coming back to work also you will take yourself to that world. So to do that, you can work. When you are returning from work and reading him, you think you deserved this after doing things which were required to get this opportunity to read him. I was blown away by the preface for this collection written by the man himself. The simplicity of the man and what you would be expecting is on display from page one. I would love to be any of his characters. I dont have any problem being any of his characters. 

The situations are rummy/chirpy/exciting. They are not sad. Being written at times wherein the bad effects of tobacco were still not widely publicized they are thoroughly romanticized. You also get recipes for plenty of cocktails especially if you are a fan of whiskies and brandies. Intelligence as well as stupids are celebrated with equal aplomb. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat are treated the same without the complications associated with them. Most of the writing is "that is that" 

 I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey through the dark alleys of Kafka as well as bright and never say die spirit of the Wodehouse worlds. Thank you, gentlemen for your great and d endeavoring works.

Franz kafka's "The trial" between the indivdual and the society

There was a sudden void in my reading habits. I had gobbled up all the hardy boys, the nancy drews, alistair mcleans, agatha christies, desmond bagleys, eric van lustbaders, Mulk raj anands, sherlock holmes, Dalgaleish, Asterixes, tintins, phantoms, spidermans and what not. There was a certain appetite. I just gobbled up books. Sometimes finishing them the same afternoon and taking them back to the library only to be informed that the books can be exchanged only the next day. So I have to wait out the whole night before I could bring a new book. Buying books was out of the question. So to ensure that the book i want is available the next day, I used to misplace the books to my favorite location, the most dusty part of the library. To this day I don't know the books which were kept there. This place was my insurance. I would walk up the next day to that specific location take the book which I had hid and exchange it.

The community library run by the government was my favorite place in the whole world. To this day I am shocked that the library knew the tastes of their audience so well. Newer books would be a cross between the popular demand, the critics collection and topics spelt out by the government as standard. With a paltry strength, the library was well maintained and the classification was consistent. If you had a doubt the staff were very supportive and they knew your tastes exactly when you are a regular. There were books which were returned that day and not yet stacked. I was allowed inside this chamber to chose whatever has just been returned. I still cherish those memories.

It was now time for my professional education. The books are different, they are to be read in a different manner. They are to be read with emphasis on application. Engineering is a different word for "applied" pure sciences. It was very difficult to carry out my hobby reading. This period put my reading habits on the back burner. Then while commuting to work by my car, I was spending nearly 3-4 hour for commute. This is the time now, I have recognized for bringing my reading habit back. I was never so happy. Over this non-reading period there have been plenty of books on my to-read list. So started without the top most. P G wodehouse. While buying them, my eyes fell on the Franz kafka section. I was always coming across the term "kafkesque". I associated with so many things. All things particularly dark. I thought my reading habits will re-start with one from Kafka. Without knowing anything about the stories they were telling I picked up a random kafka book. The one I picked up was "The trial". What follows below is my thoughts on this book. There may be spoilers. Your are warned.

The feeling of reading the first few pages gave me a feel of deja-vu. I remember an Alistair Mclean book where the first few pages are used to describe a gun with so much detail that it transcends the physical gun to something with its own life and then at the end of the chapter, the protagonist tells that "This gun is aimed at me". The first chapter of The trial gave me the same rush. It was a jolt. It hit me directly. The first page, the first para was as harsh on me as on the protagonist. The novel is a celebration of the complexity of our societal system. It mocks the system and shows how complex it is to understand the system. The division of labor is laborious in our societal system that nobody knows much beyond what he is born to. I remember I ridiculed the life of a mosquito, wherein it dies within a range of a few kilometers. The human life also has become the same. There is division of labor at work and there is a specific role you are to play in the societal setup. This is brought out ever so elegantly with all the characters. Every character thinks itself important in the large order of things. But nobody knows beyond a very specific limit about the broader prospect. The people in the higher echelons also know only what they are supposed to know. The highest in this bureaucratic setup also only knows only what he is supposed to know. This is a just a result of the complexity of keeping the human race in a bound setup. Does the author suggest anarchy then? No he does not suggest anything. He just holds a mirror to the complex societal setup we humans have developed. Nobody has a mind of his own. All the actions/thoughts are suggested by the people around above and below. The individual is dead, always. In fact, when anybody tries to be his own, he is dead. Until he fits in the larger scheme of things everything is fine. When you start looking out of your work, your friends, colleagues, peers you see a different world. When you try to see beyond what you are supposed to then you die on your own or the system will kill you by showing how out of place you are.

There have been reviews of the book which tell that the author visualizes a totalitarian regime. This is far from the truth. The author is talking about our societal setup whatever be the system you use. Be it socialism, communism, democracy and other theories. All work on a whim that few people know what is good for the human largess. And nothing can be far away from truth. Yes, it is dark. Yes, it is chilly, Yes, it talks about how complicate the human mind is, how dark it is and how it always tries to break free. Yes, it talks about how the societal system tries to imprison the human mind putting it into a conundrum. The author wanted all his works burnt. Was he afraid to that he may disturb the societal setup with this. Normally all authors talk about how the bureaucratic societal setup is so bad. Nobody has brought to the fore how every individual is in the same mental situation. How everybody do their part, in ignorance to complicate the setup. The trial is where the author puts the societal setup on trial and the individual loses and the society wins.

But the, would we be better off in an anarchist system. We don't know, yet. It is very difficult to visualize something so big, bigger than figuring out and imagining galaxies, while still living inside the system. Can you get out of the system. Now, what does that even mean...........

So near to a Desktop..............Raspberry Pi 4

Its been a long time since I wrote anything technical. This particular piece has been long overdue. The public network is full of ideas of what not can be achieved with a raspberry pi. After owning the original pi and surprising plenty of people with its capability to output videos at full HD, You know, I was eagerly awaiting a pi with 4k capabilities. Many people were surprised at the announcement of the rpi 4 and its capabilities. I for one thought that the maker and I have a connection. But, yes, the connection lost lots of packages between. So, what have we got in terms of what I really wanted

1. 4k desktop(I don't know which monitor gets the capability at 60Hz. My monitor defaults to 30Hz whatever I try. I think we are talking about the latest HDMI standards)
2. 4k movie playback is still patchy. I think it will get better with the foundation/users/developers hacking away at it
3. USB 3.0 support is a major leap(We will discuss below how, this is a radical decision)
4. USB C charging is also welcome with more power headed its way(But not enough)

The best OS to run on a rpi4 is no doubt raspbian. Yes, it is still a 32 bit OS. But, wait, the foundation is supporting all the pi's dating back to the first one. Kudos to the team.There are plenty of options for running 64 bit OS developed by groups and hobbyist OS enthusiasts. They are limited by the quirks in the hardware and its hardware acceleration. The memory limit issues have been resolved. Now it is only about video output performance to be bought on par with the 32 bit raspbian. As we are speaking there is a thread testing out a 64bit kernel with 32 bit userland. For running the latest Firefox, a 64 bit kernel is now a prime requirement and the rpi hackers are getting there. Tried all of them out there. They all have certain polish out there. They run faster, they are stable enough. But, video output performance has not reached the 32 bit raspbian level. I always came back to raspbian by restoring the backup.

The foundation was little brave this time and touted the rpi 4 as a desktop replacement. That claim, is very gutsy. If your desktop requirement is to run a browser and not wanting to watch High Def videos multitasking with office suites, then, the rpi 4 is good enough. Oh, oh, wait. Before telling me otherwise, I do agree that ou can improve the performance and extract more juice out of the pi by investing a little more of your time an accessories. To bring the performance of the rpi 4 to a desktop level, you would require

1. A heat sink with fan(money) This is a necessary investment. Your rpi 4 runs very hot. It has to be cooled down or else you will feel the throttling. Even opening one single application raises the temperature to the max.
2. An sd card with highest transfer rate possible with corruption resistance(I came up with that)(money money)
3. Buy the original usb c charger. There have been reports that the rpi4 is picky when it comes to usb c chargers(money money money)

With the above items, and a little bit of overclocking and some software optimizations the rpi 4 is definitely nearing a desktop feature set.

A real desktop will definitely demand storage space. Here the usb ports come into play. The two usb 3.0 ports are a god send. Just connect your external HDD's and you have the storage capability of a desktop. A good desktop also has Bluetooth connectivity and 3.5mm jack connectivity. You are completely covered here. A good desktop of course has to have a keyboard and mouse connected. Your are covered here also with the two usb 2.0 ports. So you have to connect more usb devices, like another external HDD. Your Pi will die here. Now, it is time to invest in a powered usb hub(money X 4). Be careful here and buy a good one and check the power distribution among the ports in the hub.

A monitor. What is a desktop without a monitor. You definitely will have an old monitor lying in the attic. It is time to brush it off and connect it to the pi. Oh, you are far ahead and have a 4k monitor a 4k tv, rpi has you covered. The pi is very picky when it comes to supporting 4k. You might be out of luck for older ones. Buy a good hdmi cable. Or, better buy the official one. The desktop feels snappy. Choose your apps properly. Prefer functionality over eye candy. In this way you can get more out of your pi. Yeah, I heard you. You can always get a "mini" desktop from various vendors. But, I would like to stop you here. Will it be as hackable as the pi. Will it have the whole world building things for it. Will you be able to search the public network for issues and resolutions. Will you get to run Debian GNU/Linux as well as the pi can run. Will it be credit card sized. Will you enjoy it. Will it give you joy.......

Now, coming to the most costliest investment to extract more from your pi. The ssd. This is a must. The loading of applications from the sd card is pathetically slow. Opening word processors/modern web browsers will be slow(When I say slow, I meant in comparison with a desktop with the latest desktop processors from the big guys). I recommend strongly to invest in an ssd. All of a sudden, the rpi 4 becomes a "real" candidate for desktop space. Suddenly the pi feels snappier. It boots faster. The copying, installing, upgrading are faster. Applications load faster. The UI is very responsive. I can go on. It is highly recommended to go for a ssd on immediately buying the rpi 4. What would be the size? Well, you have been running your pi from an 8 bit card(Yes, even now that is enough). I dont think you get an ssd less than 32 GB. So go for the minimum sized ssd, if you are hard pressed for money otherwise, go the full monty and go for a bigger drive with enough space for all your data. It is upto you. But buy an ssd. Though I am stressing the requirement of an ssd, it is important that you appreciate its requirement. I suggest you run your pi from an sd card and then after a couple of months upgrade for an ssd. Then you will appreciate what I am talking about here and also why I spent a paragraph in influencing you to upgrade to an ssd. If you are seeing degraded performance after installing on a ssd, go here

Well, I observed that the post is not well balanced. It is like a non uniform graph, jumping about on the sheet. If you are reading it, you are definitely a fan of the rpi. So read on.

The public network is floating with optimizations available for the rpi 4. There are plenty of posts which help you to extract the last atom of juice from you rpi. Here are my recommendations. If you have any more feel free to share with me. Thanks in advance for all those efforts. Let me brief about my setup

1. rpi 4, 4GB
2. 4TB spinning HDD and a 1TB spinning HDD
3. 4 Port(USB 3.0) powered hub for connecting the above HDDs to the pi
4. Official charger for the rpi 4(This cant supply power to the second hdd)
5. 4K 32" monitor
6. Logitech wireless keyboard(K 400) with both keyboard and a touchpad. You will love this setup if you are invested in window managers. More on this later in the post
7. 8GB sd card
8. 128GB SSD connected to the USB 3.0 Port
9. A transparent case
10. Copper heat sinks for the main processor and the graphic processor
11. Fan

I have flashed the fully featured raspbian on the 8GB sd card. I then followed this excellent post to move the root file system to an SSD. Huge thanks to the OP and all the users/devs contributing o this huge thread. Dont use the option of using the method of device names like /dev/sda1 use the other option of specifying the id of the partitions for better compatibility and allowing the dirty job of allocating the device names to the OS by giving it a free hand and not doling out names which would make your device not bootable. If you are sure you are not going to connect any other disk then go ahead and do the first method. I suggest the partition id method.

Now it is time to disable the services which you don't want. There are plenty of posts and lots of directions in the raspberry pi forums for this. The sky is the limit and every user has his own requirements so go ahead and treat yourselves.

The default xfce4 desktop is quite good. That is if you are fan of traditional desktop environments. If you are a power user, then I would suggest you to shift to window managers. As their name they just manage windows. That is exactly what majority of us do when we fire up the desktop. For all other configurations we have the terminal. In my opinion, the most lightest terminal I have used to date has been urxvt. When I started searching for window managers and at last settling for i3, I was shocked to see that the majority of the configuration files shared by users on the public network mentioned urxvt as their terminal emulator. Once I started using it and configured it to my hearts content, any other terminal is bloated. When I fire up the rofi launcher and choose lxterminal, the hourglass is displayed for a brief amount of time. With an urxvt session, it is instantaneous. It is pure bliss. And when you are getting this response on a pi, it is a festival of sort whenever i fire up this emulator. I adore all the devs involved in this project. My favourite colour scheme is the solarized one and urxvt looks fabulous with this. Making it full screen without any borders and menus is........

The next piece of software I would like to talk is about youtube-dl. For all the command line junkies. This is a god send. Coupled with the unix philosophy of chaining the output of several commands, you have a miracle at your finger tips. Just combine it with omxplayer and you have a fantastic streaming solution. Did I tip my hat to the devs? Yes. Now, coming down to omxplayer. This is a quintessential piece of scripting to extract the maximum out of the video sub system of the pi. I am astonished at the video capabilities of the pi. All credit to the omxplayer devs. I do agree there might be some proprietary magic here. But, the foundation is working towards producing a good FLOSS representation of the graphics driver. All my best wishes for the team. Youtube does frequently defeat the purpose of youtube-dl but the devs have always found ways around it. I love you guys.


As always, all the ideas and optimizations mentioned here have been culled from all over the public network. If any credit is due, please drop a line and it will be acknowledged.