As a complete beginner, what can I do with a raspberry pi 4b?

I’m basically completely new to networking and currently setting up a NAS. I have this raspberry pi 4b that I got but now can’t think of a use case for it…

Any ideas of something that is very useful to host or have running on the pi4b?

  • tburkhol@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    10 hours ago

    I got my Pi4 to be a media player - LibreElec or Kodi - for my old, not-smart TV. It plays my library of CDs&DVDs, frontend for OTA TV, and a variety of streaming services. Fanless, so it doesn’t distract from audio, low power, so I don’t mind leaving it on 24/7. You can configure it to listen to a USB IR receiver, but I control mine from phone via web. The actual media library/NAS and tvheaded run on an old desktop in another room.

    My favorite thing is all the sensors you can hook up. Adafruit & Sparkfun have a wide array of sensors with breakout boards for simplicity and well documented python libraries. I started just logging temperature, humidity, then air quality, CO2 to my own database and web page, but eventually expanded to full HomeAssisstant system.

    Pihole.

    • Andres@social.ridetrans.it
      3·
      9 hours ago

      @tburkhol @rook Protip for Pi4B TV usage: if your TV has a USB port, you might be able to power the Pi from it. I turn the TV on and my 4B gets power from it, boots up, and starts Kodi (I’m using libreelec) automatically. When I turn the TV off, the TV hardware stays powered for like 5 mins before going into a low power mode which kills power to the Pi.