111–120 of 159 posts
We use a small drink kiosk touch pad powered by Rasperry Pi, using this simple software project: https://github.com/rwth-i6/drink-kiosk Works great. Except the SD card seems to be dying now after 3 years of constant usage (well, less usage during the enforced home-office times).
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> DNSCryptProxy -> Great for ensuring all DNS requests on the network via DNS over HTTPS. Kind of useful because frankly ISPs are sniffing DNS traffic. Also useful for bypassing DNS based ISP filters. If you're using PiHole, you can just use cloudflared to do DoH. https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/cloudflared/ On a different note, biggest reason I've never installed a VPN at home is because I just prefer a deny-eve…
YMMV but I’ve noticed that cloudflared has stability issues over time whereas dnscrypt has been rock solid for me (I run both on different systems). Probably going switch everything to dnscrypt esp since it supports odoh now.
OTOH, I'm beginning to migrate to pfsense and pfblockerng at home. So, it is possible that I may retire my pi-hole at some point. Currently I'm running both as I transition and test.
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Can I heavily recommend the use of them as a pihole + Wireguard VPN + DNSCryptProxy Server. Pihole -> Great use for a network wide adblocker/DHCP server. Wireguard VPN -> In combination with a DDNS setup and some port forwarding enables the use of a global private VPN. I think it's a prerequisite for a decent home-automation setup. DNSCryptProxy -> Great for ensuring all DNS requests on the network via DNS over HTTPS…
Any good tutorials on setting up Wireguard? This (and Pihole) have been on my todo list for a while.
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YMMV but I’ve noticed that cloudflared has stability issues over time whereas dnscrypt has been rock solid for me (I run both on different systems). Probably going switch everything to dnscrypt esp since it supports odoh now.
cloudflared service itself has been running fine. If there were other issues, such as connectivity, then I don't know. Didn't experience any. OTOH, I'm beginning to migrate to pfsense and pfblockerng at home. So, it is possible that I may retire my pi-hole at some point. Currently I'm running both as I transition and test.
My RPi's are like lottery tickets. I buy them with the thought of all they could be used for...then collect duct in the junk drawer. I also tell myself I'm supporting the manufacturer, though it would appear they don't need my help.
Can I heavily recommend the use of them as a pihole + Wireguard VPN + DNSCryptProxy Server. Pihole -> Great use for a network wide adblocker/DHCP server. Wireguard VPN -> In combination with a DDNS setup and some port forwarding enables the use of a global private VPN. I think it's a prerequisite for a decent home-automation setup. DNSCryptProxy -> Great for ensuring all DNS requests on the network via DNS over HTTPS…
The added benefit is that I can force all devices to use PiHole while connected to Tailscale and have DNS-adblocking on the go!
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Can I heavily recommend the use of them as a pihole + Wireguard VPN + DNSCryptProxy Server. Pihole -> Great use for a network wide adblocker/DHCP server. Wireguard VPN -> In combination with a DDNS setup and some port forwarding enables the use of a global private VPN. I think it's a prerequisite for a decent home-automation setup. DNSCryptProxy -> Great for ensuring all DNS requests on the network via DNS over HTTPS…
I tried using a Pi4 for a pihole and it kept crashing. Overheating I think. But, if I solve that, the SD card would kill it eventually.
As far as the SD card goes you can boot off an external hard drive or SSD via USB and that should guarantee longevity.
My biggest problem with headless Pis was that they would randomly disconnect from the wifi network and disappear, turning off power saving on wifi didn't solve it. In the end the real solution ended up being to just create a 2.4ghz-only network and connect them to that. Somehow they just don't play well with networks that have the same SSID for 2.4 and 5ghz on my Ubiquiti gear.
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I should’ve been more specific! I meant Raspbian Lite :) That one certainly doesn’t boot in seconds off an SD card.
Right, I wasn't trying to one-up you, and a "full" Linux distro of any kind will take longer than that, just pointing out that the bottleneck is not the hardware. The thing can boot really fast.
Still, I learned about micro-distros which was quite an interesting thing to discover :) I might try and mess around with some on the Pi Zero I have to see if I can figure out a cool use for something like that.
My RPi's are like lottery tickets. I buy them with the thought of all they could be used for...then collect duct in the junk drawer. I also tell myself I'm supporting the manufacturer, though it would appear they don't need my help.
I use mine all the time for experiments. They're super useful for doing quick one-off experiments to see if something will work. Sometimes I'll keep using them, other times I'll switch to a different platform. Friday I was trying to figure out if I could remotely read realtime usage off my power meter. I've tried using a SDR for it but it uses some proprietary frequency hopping system that is difficult to understand…
That is surprising. I guess it's still economical for them to use these horrible computers despite the fact the mean time between failures is at best three weeks.
I had a 3B running as a car infotainment system with hard shutdowns at least daily for three years. Sold that car and it's now in a drawer, but slated for use in an arcade perhaps.
I've got another 3b running as a Unifi controller that's been running for 2+ years.
I've got two 3b and one 4 running OctoPi (3d printer server) without issues for 3+ years.
Given the mass adoption and heavy usage of RPis, I would venture to day most people don't find them to be "horrible computers". I think in 5+ years the only time I've had an RPi fail at the hardware level and die was due to powering it via the 5V headers and accidentally reversing polarity. Might have also shorted one out when an enclosure was flooded due to bad weather seals.
All anecdotal, but I find most of the time when Pi's fail it's often either voltage sag, poor quality sd cards, or excessive writes to the SD. The SD cards are definitely a weak link in the RPi ecosystem.
Whenever possible, ensure your Pi isn't reporting undervoltage and look for ways to minimize writing to disk (or attach a USB drive for any heavy writing necessary).
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Do you have any references for MTBF or the Pi's failure modes in general? SD cards going out are pretty much the only thing people talk about, and that problem is easy to solve. Another thing is bad power supplies, again easily solved (and not the Pi's fault).
I have always used a few since the days of the original version. On my experience they last until I drop them, crush them with some tool, or step over them. The power supply tends to be much shorter lived. I severely oversize those and even then they like to stop working after just a few years. The SD card is the shortest lived component by far, but it lasts longer and has a better failure mode if you disable swap. (…