after my win 7 desktop lost its backup harddrive
i only work on RPI.
( like for this forum work and using Processing IDE …)
what is very special is the direct GPIO
now there will be sketch what not run in normal graphic mode
so you might need to setup KMS
but that has some downsides for the full desktop settings.
you have 1GB RAM
for cpu, gpu, ramdisk
and as soon any program starts to talk ( or gets paged )
with the system drive:
that is a uSD card // slow // easy gets wear out by write cycles //
so if you are one of these guys how always has 20 tabs open in the browser
you will learn better.
tip’s about the cards:
in all that years i never found a reason to have a card bigger as 32GB
USB sticks can be used ( also to boot from )
but delay the boot up
and not many types work as bootable : i tested
SanDisk Dual OTG USB Flash Drive 32gb pendrive
( so it can be connected to PC and mobile too )
never ever cut the power without shutdown!
RPI is great for projects where you connect a big TV ( via HDMI cable ) ( powerup that first!)
while keyboard mouse not might be needed as you can operate the RPI via VNC remotely ( or SSH putty)
you should be aware that not all linux software is available for the RPI / armhf
also there is a range of OS available, better stick with RASPBIAN
DEBIAN stretch
Linux version 4.14.79-v7+
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Plus Rev 1.3