Mastodawn

[object Object]Feb 28

things are going just great for raspberry pi:

- the only distro that ships the drivers for my display is raspberry pi os so fuck it, terrible it is
- I dd it to the microsd card
- I can’t kvm to the pi4 cause nothing uses microhdmi so I don’t have an adapter
- there’s no way to configure networking and SSH without imager cause all methods were removed in favor of fucking Canonicial cloud-init of all things, which they haven’t actually implemented
- my nixpkgs has a broken rpi imager

[object Object]Feb 28

holy fucking shit maybe it should go without saying that I’m not asking for help and I’m especially not asking for help based on something you got from fucking ChatGPT

raspberry pi community are you ok?

neoluddite Feb 28

@zzt @jpm They hired a UK spy cop a year or two ago and a lot of people left the community over it. Mostly the rPi community is just techno fascists and other morons now.

I love this, so I Feb 28

@neoluddite @zzt yep that’s why I’ve switched any new SBC purchases to OrangePi, but I’ve still got plenty of RPi’s I use hanging around

Brendan Jones Mar 1

@jpm @neoluddite @zzt I’ve recently been returning to the idea of finally setting up a pi hole with a Raspberry Pi, but this thread gives me pause. Would it be better to do it on an Orange Pi than a Raspberry Pi?

[object Object]

@Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite I highly recommend used x86 hardware for non-embedded computing tasks (essentially anything where you don’t need GPIOs, a specific form factor, or passive cooling).

my home file server is a Dell Optiplex 9020M USFF that I got from an enterprise surplus sale for $20. it’s currently running about 10 fairly heavy daemons and a ZFS NAS with the 8GB RAM it came with. they’re a bit more expensive now — eBay says $40, but it’ll be cheaper if it’s available locally

1/

[object Object]Mar 1

@Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite in spite of its name, it looks like pi-hole will work fine on x86 hardware: https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/ from my experience, it’ll run much better on x86 than it will on the pi. it seems like Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora are officially supported.

if you go for one of the Dells I mentioned, take note of its ports and available upgrades (this is enterprise hardware so Dell’s docs are still available). if you need above gigabit Ethernet, you may need a USB adapter.

Prerequisites - Pi-hole documentation

Operating system and network requirements

I love this, so I Mar 1

@zzt @Brendanjones @neoluddite yup, ex-corporate SFF/USFF PCs work great for this kind of stuff, and I can confirm that PiHole works great on them.

The only reason you might want to use a RasPi or other SBC is if you really do need low-latency and low-jitter GPIOs for some reason (eg you’re running an industrial production line)

@zzt @Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite Those Optiplex USFF machines are no joke. I have a couple running various tasks now and they haven't skipped a beat. The cooling system is remarkably quiet and effective for what it is.

Dare I say the Intel igpu on these is perfectly fine and dandy too

[object Object]Mar 1

@vxo @Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite exactly! I actually have a whole ryzen+ARC desktop I built from used parts (a nightmare build for various reasons) to replace the 9020M in case I run out of resources on the machine, but it’s still chugging along reliably enough that taking it down and swapping the deployment over hasn’t made my todo list yet

the desktop’s also gonna be louder than the USFF even though it’s a box full of noctua and I’m not looking forward to that

𝙲:\𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚣𝚎𝚗> █Mar 1

@zzt @Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite I've been on the market for a surplus USFF PC for a while now but all I see is 5 to 10 times that price on eBay (in Europe). If I had found one for 20$ I would have bought it in a heartbeat

サムエルはツナマヨおにぎりをたべます。Mar 1

@trkzn don't know what country you're in but this kind of refurbished hardware reseller is maybe what you're looking for https://www.remarkt.nl/desktops (I'm not connected to this in any way fwiw).

Refurbished PC? Koop een desktop of computer

Op zoek naar een refurbished PC? Wij leveren refurbished desktop computers direct uit voorraad! ✓ Gratis verzenden ✓ Morgen in huis

David Gerard Mar 1

@samuel @trkzn ex-corporate desktops are super cheap - 4GB RAM is unusable for desktop work in 2026 but it's awesome for a box that sits there doing stuff. i hit ebay for these things

𝙲:\𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚣𝚎𝚗> █Mar 1

@davidgerard @samuel Yeah I've been watching eBay for a while, but as I'm looking for 8 gigs machine with a mid range CPU prices tend to go higher and higher these days.

David Gerard Mar 1

@trkzn @samuel about £50 for 8gb RAM is achievable lately with rather too much digging, but yeah number is going up

David Gerard Mar 1

@trkzn @samuel check the job lots section too if you have similar sort of friendsh

(tho not a lot on offer in the UK at present for example)

𝙲:\𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚣𝚎𝚗> █Mar 1

@samuel I'm in France, thanks for the link I'll have a look.

@zzt @Brendanjones @jpm @neoluddite I've had great luck running a pihole on old laptops that have wired ethernet. So, totally agree on small power efficient x86 systems.

All our normal laptops run Linux, so they just have a local pihole install as well. Nice for travel.