Hey everyone!

So I've hopped on the Raspberry Pi bandwagon and I've had a blast learning all kinds of new things. While I'm sure a few of these might be well-known, they're some things I would have loved to know from Day 1 and figured new users might like to know.

Watchdog:
This is the holy grail of the Raspberry Pi. Surprisingly I haven't heard much about this initially which shocked me, as this little program built-in hardware combo is worth its weight in gold-embedded silicon. Basically, watchdog takes pieces of data every so often to make sure the device is running fine. If it crashes or if it takes longer than N amount of Raspberry Pi's (N = 1 the number you set in the settings) to do a job, it'll reboot automatically; this keeps your Raspberry Pi from running at 1/1000 of its potential or basically being next to frozen.

To setup watchdog, you just have to run the following codes in Raspbian as described in this article:

sudo bash
apt-get install watchdog chkconfig

chkconfig watchdog on
/etc/init.d/watchdog start

nano /etc/watchdog.conf
^{enable / uncomment the line: “watchdog-device = /dev/watchdog”}

Finally, the most important part which I did not see on that article is that you need to enable the following line in /etc/watchdog.conf:

max-load-1 = 24

This means that if it would take more than 24 Raspberry Pi's (thus 25 ) to do a specific job, then automatically reboot the system because it is running way too slow. THAT line will make your RPi reboot properly and keep running at its best.

Change Username:
As explained by happyharrysco1 in this forum post, you can quite easily change your username.

You simply need to run this command:

usermod -m -d /home/newusername -l newusername pi

Where "newusername" is, obviously, your new username, and then open the following document and edit your sudoer from "pi" to your new username:

sudo visudo
pi ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Having errors? Turn off overclocking:
While this goes without saying, some of us might think that overclocking couldn't possibly be the source of our problems *cough*such as myself*cough* but it surely can be. I've actually had multiple instanced where overclocking caused kernel panics turning installations and it drove me crazy trying to troubleshoot it. So if you're having problems, even if it isn't a kernel panic and would make no sense, start from step 1 and turn off overclocking.

To turn off overclicking, simply use the NOOBS config tool:

sudo raspi-config

Setting up a static IP SSH and VNC:
If you plan to user your Raspberry Pi without a monitor and/or keyboard mouse, or you just want an easier or remote way to access it, SSH and VNC are vital tools for the process. Be default, SSH should be enabled in Rasbian and/or NOOBS, so that's simple enough. For VNC, I prefer tightvncserver which can be downloaded by typing the following into shell / terminal:

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver

Then just run tightvncserver by literally typing "tightvncserver" into the terminal. You can Google for more customization features for tightvncserver if you want to get fancy.

To set up your static IP address, I find it easiest to do half the work through X and half through terminal. I start by typing "startx" into terminal and, when the desktop loads, I proceed to open the wireless settings and set up my network as normal (start menu > Internet > qpa_gui).

Before saving the network settings, simply type a name for the saved network into the "IDString" box, then save.

Change "iface default inet dhcp" to "iface NetworkName inet static" where NetworkName is the name you saved in the IDString box, then add the following lines below it using your static IP and respective network settings:

address 192.168.1.10
gateway 192.168.1.1
netmask 255.255.255.0

Save that file and it should be good to go. If you're having problems with setting up the network, feel free to refer to this article or this one for additional inspiration. Do note that those articles don't necessarily use my preferred form of the wpa_gui.

Backing up / Cloning your Raspberry Pi SD card:
So finally, the coup-de-grace.. For sketchy testing or developing on the Raspberry Pi, for creating an army of Pi's with the same disk image, or just to back up your work so you don't lose it, we have the amazing Win32DiskImager!

This beautiful program allows you to read (download and save) and write (overwrite / install) disk images from the SD card. The first is to back up an entire replica of the card whereas the latter is to write an exact copy or "image" to the card, overwriting anything currently stored there.

It is as simple as downloading the tool (Google "Win32DiskImager"), opening it, choosing the drive letter of your SD card, setting a location to save or finding the location of a disk image, then just click read or write, respectively, and it'll do the job for you.

For more information on this and a lovely article filled with step-by-step pictures, go here.

I really hope this can at least help a few people on their new adventures with their Raspbery Pi(s) and I wish you the best of luck!

..and just remember, when in doubt, you can always turn to Google or ask your fellow Pi builders here. We're always there to look out for our own.