Top tips for using the RasPi -- Add your suggestions here!

Here are mine:

• Type ctrl+alt+F2 to change to a different tty login. (type ctrl+alt+F0 to go back)
• Press the Tab key on the command line halfway through typing a filename to auto complete the rest of the filename.
• Type "sudo apt-get install synaptic" to get an easy to use package manager that is available from the desktop. (you might need to apply this bug fix http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting# ... y_password )
• Links is a surprisingly good and very fast text only browser that works in a terminal. (install using "sudo apt-get install links" or using Synaptic).
• use "WinScp" from a PC to remotely navigate and edit files on the pi. (you may need to enable ssh on the pi first).
• If you don't want to always turn on your HDMI TV first then edit as root config.txt in /boot (using "sudo nano /boot/config.txt") and add the line "hdmi_force_hotplug=1"
• from an Android phone use "AndFTP" to access your files on the pi. Use sftp/ssh. (you can even use "ConnectBot" with "Hackers keyboard" to access the terminal).

OK so there are my best tips, what are your tips?

If you want to add tips, please add them to the wiki, for example http://elinux.org/RPi_Guides

This forum is impossible to search, so your tips will be lost after a few days unless somebody knows EXACTLY what to search for, in which case they can find the information easier by searching the internet.

I thought we could add the ideas here first and I'll add the most popular ones to the wiki afterwards.

To be honest, I don't find the Wiki much better for locating information. I end up using a localised Google search instead.

Also if valuable tips were added to this thread and then the OP updated accordingly it could quite easily be requested for it to be stickied so its right there for anyone to access at any time, remembering that for a good few months to come Pi's will still be trickling out to people so there'll be a constant flow of newbies to it all after such information.

Also if valuable tips were added to this thread and then the OP updated accordingly it could quite easily be requested for it to be stickied so its right there for anyone to access at any time, remembering that for a good few months to come Pi's will still be trickling out to people so there'll be a constant flow of newbies to it all after such information.

Seems a reasonable idea to me ?

My suggestion is actually to skip Synaptic. It seems to pull in some libraries and GNOME dependencies that, in my experience, bogged things down to the point of making the Pi unusable. Several times I couldn't kill X or even halt the system, I had to pull the plug and power it back up. Besides, even if it didn't lock the system up, using Synaptic on the Pi is no fun at all because of the strain it puts on the modest hardware. What's the point of Synaptic if you're not going to browse around, which requires a snappy user experience? Easier to just know what you want and use apt-get from the terminal.
Finally I just removed Synaptic and its dependencies (sudo apt-get remove synaptic followed by sudo apt-get autoremove)from the CLI before login, and now things are back to normal.