Ask HN: How are you using your Raspberry Pi?

https://twitter.com/dcskycam/with_replies

It's a Pi 4B with the HQ Cam (6mm lens). The ML models are trained on my MBP, converted to tflite, and run on the pi itself.

The main use case is the timelapses, but after seeing that that most of the helicopters that flew by weren't transmitting ADSB, I figured I could help out the @helicoptersofdc crowdsourcing project (run by someone else) by contributing heli spots in an automated manner that might otherwise go unreported.

I also have a 3B+ running pihole on the LAN.

I also have one dedicated to running the RetroPie[2] distribution and I use it for playing old video games.

I have another with an RTL-SDR dongle[3] attached, and running the OP25[4] software, and I use it as a scanner for listening to local fire/police/ems dispatch channels.

I had given some thought to doing a "cyberdeck"[5] project, but honestly it doesn't have much (if any) practical application, and most of the parts and stuff I bought for that have been repurposed for the "AI box" thing instead.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32310799

[2]: https://retropie.org.uk/

[3]: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/

[4]: https://github.com/boatbod/op25

[5]: https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberDeck/

https://github.com/bediger4000/station

I'm hoping to detect the "tide" in the atmosphere with barometric pressure readings, but I haven't done anything towards that.

I'd also like to have an automated way to pick out high/low temperature for the day. I've got 2 thermometers taking temperatures. There's data loss caused by both sensors quitting and operational issues, so I have a lot to learn and figure out in processing the raw data.

It's hilarious to use commandline tools to get a way better and faster experience than with a fancy machine. For example, watching Youtube videos faster, with LoWeRcAsEd titles for videos, and without clickbaity thumbnails, comments, etc.

Having to buy a new machine every X years is ridiculous in this day and age.

Have other pi's doing many things, but that's the most creative so far.

[1] https://blog.penguincoder.com/garage-opener-1/

* Adblocking DNS on unbound and nsd with policies to serve different results on WG mesh

* Tiny Tiny RSS

* Gitea and Youtrack

* Some home-built apps with Grafana and Postgres

* Homechart

* Wireguard mesh for deployment and on-the-go access to those services

Everything is managed through a Nix flake and deployed through deploy-rs.

Nextcloud, Zabbix and Docspell are running on an old laptop which I plan to migrate to a Pi4 when I can get my hands on it.

https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11

Raspberry Pi Zero: Brachiograph

Raspberry Pi 4B: Octoprint

Raspberry Pi 4B: Home Assistant

Raspberry Pi 4B: NAS (running Kopia as backup target w/ USB HDD, not speed-critical)

Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: ham radio-related software for portable use (e.g. WSJT-X, etc.) using cell phone via WiFi as display/input via RDP

To do: MiniDexed synth module, eInk display driver, network a UPS via NUT, RetroPie, Ham Clock, etc., etc. I've also used them previously as a fax server, digital signage for office lobby, and other things I'm forgetting

https://blog.line72.net/2019/08/02/announcing-realtime-bus-t...

[1]: https://ropieee.org/

Also Combian 64 is very cool https://cmaiolino.wordpress.com/

- a Pi 4 8GB which runs Home Assistant along with Zigbee bridge, and PiHole - a Pi 4 4GB used to debug/flash my Precursor[1] - a Pi 3A+ currently in search of a use-case, after being used for a university research project - a Pi Zero 2WH for Pwnagotchi :-)

I was able to snatch the Pi 4 4GB and the Zero 2WH at very good prices by connecting the excellent RPILocator[2] to IFTTT (not sponsored :-)

[1]: https://betrusted.io/ [2]: https://rpilocator.com/

I was worried about latency, and that I would have to overclock it (the guides I read on the net suggested I would have to). Latency was a problem in the start, when using the Pi's built in audio jack, but once I switched to an external sound card the latency vanished. Didn't even have to overclock it, though I added a couple of cooling ribs just in case.

Sensor and pump control for a self-watering flower bed.

I used to run a server with my unifi controller, NAS gateway, and IRC server, but I found an old office PC that does that for me now with about 10x the performance.

- Two Pi 4s used as secondary DNS servers (with RPZ for blocking crap like Pi-Hole but using ISC BIND) for home network (fed from hidden primary).

- Pi 4 as a Linux workstation

- Pi 2 as a proxy between my solar inverter and WAN to intercept/decrypt traffic containing panel optimizer data not available from API

- Pi Zero W as serial console server.

I've considered PCIe -> SATA adapters, the boards that do this nicely aren't available - Radxa Taco, Wiretrustee SATA board - or have too few slots - PiBox- and the performance gain, about 30%, doesn't seem worth it when accessed via the network anyway. Of course I'd love to be corrected (hey Jeff).

I also use a pi as a home central server, and other pis for related things around that.

I actually love using the Pi4 with 8G RAM as a desktop with two monitors. I'm not a gamer, so I don't feel any lag.

Lately I've been re-learning a lot of my old electronics project material with the newer Pi Pico microcontroller. I'm actually putting a larger project together with it, that will hopefully go online and not just be for myself.

I have nicely tiled widgets with CSS grid that displays real-time bus arrivals and current hourly weather forecast. I'm going to add live streams from my IP cameras around my place. Some kind of calendar widget would be nice too, to remind me of important events at a glance.

For me, projects like this make learning something I am not all that interested in but required to use for work (in this case SQS) much more fun because I get to learn something that interests me (in this case getting an LCD screen to work with the Pi)

https://pilabor.com/series/raspberry-pi/media-player-with-li...

- running Carbide Motion to control a CNC - running a backup of a wiki and forum which was taken off-line so that I can refer to it

I really should set up a media/file server and work up a suitable backup strategy.

I bought a nice case and M.2 SSD for it, and it has been running happily for almost two years.

no firewall ports just plug it in and ready to go in a second, and i use ssd's instead of sd cards for speed and reliability. Works without thinking about it for at least 1 year now.

- Pihole

- Apache, subversion (proxied through Traefik on a 3 node x64 Docker Swarm cluster)

- NodeRed, MQTT (ESP8266 temp / humidity probes various locations around the house, running since 2017)

- OctoPrint for PrintrBot (3D printer circa 2015)

- OctoPrint, Klipper for Ender 3

Also, a 4 node K3s cluster each with 400gb ssd and 2Tb seagate managed by Longhorn

apparently I don't know when to stop :-)

* Kiwix server hosting Wikipedia offline among other info

* RetroPie

Present:

* Home Assistant (home automation)

* Zigbee2MQTT (non-propriety home automation hub)

* Pi-hole (ad blocker via dns)

Future(?):

* WireGuard VPN

* Micro weather station reporting

* FlightAware station (tracking Airplanes flying nearby)