So i have a pi5 8gb sorta collecting dust, ive mess with it a little but i have a laptop and im not sure what use to give the pi 5? i wanted to explore ai stuff but ai requires a powerhouse of a device? Im also thought about nas but i feel i dont need nas right now?
What would you advise i do with my pi?
Set it up as a PiHole.
Which reminds me: I need to finish getting mine hooked up to my LAN properly.
Same. I got mine a static IP, but everything I try to make it work, I get no network at all.
Any chance your pihole and router are both trying to be the DHCP server for the network?
Entirely possible. This is my second adventure into RPi and I have zero idea what I’m doing. I can not overstate how out of my depth I am in this. I have real expertise in several things, but this end of tech is not one of them.
Haha, I feel ya. Try logging into your router’s admin panel and see if you can disable DHCP from there, it might fix things. (Also be prepared to to set static IP on the device you connect to the panel from in case it has issues connecting if disabling DHCP doesn’t fix things or resetting your router to factory settings should also re-enable the router as the DHCP server again).
Home Assistant? Replace google / nest / alexa.
I have a better assistant for my home. It’s called me.
When I get home from work, I don’t rely on some app to open my door. I use my hands, and unlock the door with my keys.
When I want to know how much juice is left in the fridge, I walk my ass to the fridge and check myself.
When I want to set the house on fire to committ insurance fraud, I walk down to the gas station, fill my cannister myself, and come back home and pour it everywhere myself. No app needed!
People are SO dependant on technology these days! Jeez!
The typical advice (from anyone who hasn’t outright drank the kool-aid) is to avoid automating things like locks or doors. If your shit gets hacked, you don’t want it to allow physical access. And automating door unlocks is an easy way to accidentally allow people into your house.
Instead, most try to focus on automation for things like lights turning off when you leave home, automatically dimming the lights when you start a movie, automatically stealing from billionaires when a new movie hits streaming services, blocking ads, self-hosting your own smart speakers to divest from Google/Amazon/etc, meal planning, etc…
Leave the locks dumb, because you can’t hack a pin and tumbler system. Leave building molotov cocktails dumb, because it can be a fun family activity.
I always like to think: what happens if some random hacker (either a bored teenager or hostile state) was able to control this thing?
Operating locks? Hell no. Controlling my thermostat/furnace? Hell no.
Monitoring locks? Like, having a sensor that indicates that a door or window is locked or unlocked and can notify you when it changes? Well, personally I still don’t do that because broadcasting to the internet that my window is unlocked seems dangerous, but I could also understand how that could be helpful, especially for people with OCD.
Controlling my window-mounted AC units? Mild inconvenience at worse. I could go without them in the summer and just be a bit uncomfortable (and some years I do to save money). They aren’t powerful enough to be dangerously cold. I could always unplug them or kick them off my wi-fi if I had to. Worst-case scenario is that someone runs up my electric bill if in away from home for a bit. The ability to change the settings, set automation, and monitor room temperatures remotely is convenient enough to be worth the risk.
Lights? No problem at all, especially because I still have dumb lights in some fixtures that I just don’t use often. So the worst-case scenario is that someone turns them on/off when I don’t want, and the solution is just… Unscrew the bulb, unplug the fixture, or flip the switch to cut the power. Or turn on a dumb light. LED’s are so efficient that I probably wouldn’t notice a difference on my electric bill if all of my lights were on vs off for a full billing period. In exchange, I’m able to use light turning on as a much gentler alarm in the morning, or turn everything off from bed when I’m ready to sleep, or if I’m out at a friend’s house it’s nice to have lights on before I go home.
Each piece of automation is its own evaluation. What could go wrong, and how much damage would that cause? What information do I care about potentially being leaked? How much efficiency and convenience am I getting in return?
The pie itself probably uses more power than turning off leds in an average apartment
I’m told that trying a cloth around the neck of a molotov cocktail is as effective and much safer. It will break and ignite as easily.
Well I don’t know if dependent is the right word. I’m fully aware that Home Assistant is something I play with for fun.
I can check the app and see how much power my solar has generated today, how hot my water heater is, or see what temperature it is inside or outside. None of that is helpful for anything other than for fun.
Though I can do thinks like bump up the target temperature of my hot water when the solar is making too much power in order to store that energy as heat, which is pretty cool.
What can I say, this is some people’s idea of fun. I got security cameras (that I can view through home assistant) and put them not pointed at entryways or windows because I don’t care about security, I pointed them at areas where the dog is and the kids play so I can play with object and facial recognition, all locally processed.
It’s ok to not think it’s your idea of fun, but if anyone uses home assistant in a way that they rely on rather than just for the fun of playing with the technology then I’d love to hear what that use is!
But… Fraudzoid’s app looks so nice… and my Fraudzoid Blaze subscription practically pays for itself!
Me, disabled and using smart tech to improve a shitty situation, while reading your total lack of understanding or imagination of anyone’s situation but themselves: 🙄
I have a little person I feed drugs to do all this stuff for me.
Unclear if you’re holding a midget hostage, or are a parent. In either case, the drugs are problematic. Although for entirely different reasons depending on the answer.
They’re a big fan of drugs so it’s not problematic or any of your business.
I’m with you my man. Don’t let the haters get to you.
Mail it to me
Close. Mail it to me lol
Mail it to me too please
Is it too late to add myself to the queue?
Damn Brits always trying to get into a queue.
Sell it for double your money back.
Jellyfin server
Check out /c/selfhosted
Pi hole if you don’t have one, others have mentioned home assist, you could also look at ubo pod, although that isn’t out yet. Really just use it to host whatever you want
CasaOS seems like an easy alternative for a multi purpose server
PiHole and Plex? Plex will help generate need for a NAS. It worked for me.
Can confirm. Didn’t need a NAS before I started hosting my own Plex/Jellyfin server. Then suddenly I was considering 40TB and going “hmm this is probably way too small for actual daily use, but it’ll be a good start and I can expand on it later.”
Useful? I think you’re doing this hobby wrong.
/s.
deleted by creator
https://www.seti.org/news/seti-at-home-going-into-hibernation/
UC Berkeley has announced that the volunteer computing part of SETI@home will stop distributing work and go into hibernation on March 31.
I have a Pi 4 running as a PiHole and Pi 5 running as an SDR server with 2 radios attached to it. Both are connected via Tailscale as well so I can access both from anywhere I want, especially useful for the PiHole so I have adblocking anywhere on any device.
The Pi 4 is massively overpowered for a PiHole, but if you got one laying around doing nothing, go for it.
I have my PiHole running on a Pi Zero with a USB Ethernet adapter. The WebUi is a bit slow, but the actual DNS with unbound as a backend isn’t any slower than on a Pi 4.
Indeed. I ended up with the 4 because a local electronics shop had it for a good price back in the day.
Do you have a 3D printer?
Yes i do, its not the greatest but it gets the job done.
Check out https://docs-os.mainsail.xyz/
If you have a 3D printer where you just take an SD card out, put it in the computer, put your STLs on, put it back in the machine, then print… You’ll like this. I have my Pi set up with MainsailOS and what it does is basically control your printer. It even integrates into my slicer so I just slice my file then hit print and it starts immediately over WiFi.
If your printer is WiFi connected already this may be less useful but Klipper is pretty powerful for tuning and stuff so it’s still a benefit.
Octoprint for your 3d printer.
Set up Pinchflat, automatically download podcast audio without ads, connect your podcast app to it via an rss feed.
Fuck yeah, thank you.
RetroPie? A Pi can handle most of the older, amazing games.
Pi4 is better for anything with video as it has a a hardware decoder. They dropped the hardware decoder in the Pi5 and I think you need to buy an extra module to have one for them.
Oh wow, thank you. I didn’t know that!
Setup a Tor Relay. Help the Tor network.















