I know that I am no technical expert on this machine. But I am a user and a man trying to figure it out. In my endeavors on this small but very interesting machine I have learned a few things. This review is not educational in nature on my part but may become that way through comments. And that is my hope.
There is no way that I can be the only person that is having problems with the numerous operating systems, updates and upgrades (if using as a video game machine or small PC). I originally purchased this machine to have a small portable computer with a port of Windows 10 IoT Core. I learned after purchase that the Windows 10 IoT Core is not a functional version of Windows.
Ubuntu Mate: The main issue that I have is that it does not want to update and the image uses a small partition on the SD card that is not big enough to do anything with. All of my attempts to extend the partition have failed; even with the instructions that are provided on their website. The system runs a little slow with this OS but the positive side is that it comes with support for Audacity. I am a podcast host for the Reflective Riot (rebuilding the podcast at the moment) and in all of my tests this machine works well as a portable podcast recording machine (with usb condenser mics).
Raspbian Jessie: By far this is the best running OS that I have used on this machine. I have had a lot of issues with updating the machine and failures on the connection with the sites in the repositories. It's snappy and worth the download. This OS also has support for Audacity.
RetroPie (stand alone): This is a great way to turn your Pi 3 into a retro gaming emulator. I have had no problems with this OS. I just wish that it had a operating system behind it to use. I suggest that you edit the config.txt file to allocate more GPU memory so that the PSX and N64 games run a little more smoothly (at your own risk).
Now I will dip in to Berryboot. I was looking for a way to dual/triple boot operating systems because I didn't only want RetroPie; I wanted to be productive and be able to download ROMs to the USB drive without having a second computer. Berryboot makes this possible. The issues that I run in to with some of the images that are made for Berryboot is that some of them are not very stable. Prone to freezing and the updates do not work some of the time. It is also harder to overclock and I have not found a way that works at this time to do so. I have issues in RetroPie with the configuration menu with crashing and error messages that say that I cannot edit the system due to it not being directly installed on the SD card.
One thing that I do know for sure is that using heatsinks and the small fan DOES keep the temperatures down about 10*C.
One thing that I do know for sure is that using heatsinks and the small fan DOES keep the temperatures down about 10*C.
With all of the above stated, can anyone help or give any pointers?