got my raspberry Pi and what next?

I am new to Raspberry Pi's too, though not new to computers, having gotten my first job writing Fortran in 1965. There is just something about the Raspberry that is absolutely enchanting. I love to play with it. It brings me back to when my first program ever worked. Though they were not my primary occupation, I love computers for what they are. Just the idea of all those electrons doing my bidding is a true thrill. There is also the more practical side. Solving problems would take person centuries of work to compute. Complex games that would not be possible. Everything inbetween and more.

What you will want to do with your Raspberry depends on who you are. If you play with yours, it will change how you think, and who you are.

As others have said, you need to connect it to the web. Use apt-get to upgrade it, and install whole packages that will be useful. You will probably want to learn a little C++ and Bash. You will also want to try out some of the sensing and control possiblities. Making an LED blink on and off may not sound exciting, but it is the first time you do it. From there it is not a question of what to do, but what to do first. Right now my Raspberry is transfering about 350 ripped CDs from a Linux box disk. Somehow the CPU lost its magic smoke, and I have no other Linux boxes. So I would have had to convert a Windows box to Linux, do the transfer from the disks, then reconvert the WIndows box. Saves my many hours of unpleasant work. Then I will set up a Pi to gather in, and play, the streamed music from playlists at my main music system. Next is to set up a thermostat on the third level where we sleep, and let an Arudino or Pi decide when to turn on the pellet stove and the fan on the woodstove in the winter. Another system will decide when the winds are high enough to start the motor that rolls in the awning outside.

I do most of that (and more) with an aging X-10 system controlled by a laptop that lost its screen years ago. But the Pi looks like even more fun.

If you want it, it is an infinite number of paths that can stimulate and teach you for your entire life and longer. Every project completed spawns ideas for dozens mroe.

My best wishes.

I am new to Raspberry Pi's too, though not new to computers, having gotten my first job writing Fortran in 1965. There is just something about the Raspberry that is absolutely enchanting. I love to play with it. It brings me back to when my first program ever worked. Though they were not my primary occupation, I love computers for what they are. Just the idea of all those electrons doing my bidding is a true thrill. There is also the more practical side. Solving problems would take person centuries of work to compute. Complex games that would not be possible. Everything inbetween and more.

What you will want to do with your Raspberry depends on who you are. If you play with yours, it will change how you think, and who you are.

As others have said, you need to connect it to the web. Use apt-get to upgrade it, and install whole packages that will be useful. You will probably want to learn a little C++ and Bash. You will also want to try out some of the sensing and control possiblities. Making an LED blink on and off may not sound exciting, but it is the first time you do it. From there it is not a question of what to do, but what to do first. Right now my Raspberry is transfering about 350 ripped CDs from a Linux box disk. Somehow the CPU lost its magic smoke, and I have no other Linux boxes. So I would have had to convert a Windows box to Linux, do the transfer from the disks, then reconvert the WIndows box. Saves my many hours of unpleasant work. Then I will set up a Pi to gather in, and play, the streamed music from playlists at my main music system. Next is to set up a thermostat on the third level where we sleep, and let an Arudino or Pi decide when to turn on the pellet stove and the fan on the woodstove in the winter. Another system will decide when the winds are high enough to start the motor that rolls in the awning outside.

I do most of that (and more) with an aging X-10 system controlled by a laptop that lost its screen years ago. But the Pi looks like even more fun.

If you want it, it is an infinite number of paths that can stimulate and teach you for your entire life and longer. Every project completed spawns ideas for dozens mroe.

My best wishes.