Chapter 3 Using your Raspberry Pi^41THE OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI BEGINNER’S GUIDE
Next to the clock is a box with a scrolling line graph and a number; this is the CPU monitor
(H), and lets you see how hard your Raspberry Pi is working. If it shows ‘0%’, it’s doing nothing;
if it shows ‘100%’, the Pi is working as hard as it possibly can.
Next to this is a speaker icon (G); click on it with the left mouse button to adjust the Pi’s
audio volume, or click using the right mouse button to choose which output the Pi should
use. Next to that is a network icon (F); if you’re connected to a wireless network you’ll see the
signal strength displayed as a series of bars, while if you’re connected to a wired network you’ll
just see two arrows. Clicking the network icon will bring up a list of nearby wireless networks
(Figure 3-9), while clicking on the Bluetooth icon (E) next to that will allow you to connect to a
nearby Bluetooth device.
The left-hand side of the menu bar is home to the launcher (K), which is where you’ll find the
programs installed alongside Raspbian. Some of these are visible as shortcut icons; others are
hidden away in the menu, which you can bring up by clicking the raspberry icon (L) to the far
left (Figure 3-10).
The programs in the menu are split into categories, the names of which tell you what to
expect: the Programming category, for example, contains software designed to help you write
your own programs – as explained starting in Chapter 4, Programming with Scratch – while
Games will help you while away the hours. Not all of the programs will be detailed in this guide;
feel free to experiment with them to learn more.
3Figure 3-9:
Listing nearby
wireless networks3Figure 3-10: The
Raspbian menu