What is the Raspberry Pi and why you should buy one
The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer that debuted in 2012 and is now in its fourth generation. It is one of the best-selling British computers of all time and as of May 2021 has sold over 40 million boards globally. Here I’m going to explain why you should buy and one and what you can do with it.
Firstly, it is a computer to learn things on. You need an existing computer already with an internet connection to download the Raspberry Pi OS operating system and load it to the memory card which is inserted into the Raspberry Pi. It can connect to a TV/monitor with a HDMI lead and you can use your existing keyboard and mouse with it.
It runs open-source software called Linux which means there’s no license like Microsoft Windows but still gives you all the functionality of a computer with a guided user interface (GUI) akin to Windows. The Microsoft Office equivalent on the Raspberry Pi is called Open Office which has most of the functionality of Microsoft Office but is completely free. It even has VBA (albeit some functions (APIs) are not supported) which can allow you to create macros. The Raspberry Pi OS contains it’s own web browser called Chromium which is like Chrome only suited for the Raspberry Pi.
So What Can you use it for?
Learn and operate Linux
First and foremost, you can learn to use the Linux operating system via a Terminal on a Raspberry Pi. This is an open-source command line operating system which is far more powerful and flexible than the command-prompt in Windows. Many large corporations use UNIX-based servers including financial institutions and software houses. Learning to navigate in Linux, edit files in editors such as nano/vi and write shell scripts (programmable Linux scripts) can help you massively if you work for corporations that utilise this.
Learn Programming languages, SQL and connect up hardware accessories
You can install programming languages like Python and Scratch onto it and even databases such as MySQL and load schemas to aid or brush up your understanding of SQL. Great for budding coders and computer scientists alike. What’s more, you can create all kinds of projects using the Pi such as temperature monitors, light sensors, motion sensor CCTV to name but a few. The shear possibilities are endless, check out the website www.thepihut.com for the range of accessories available.
Check out this link for a comprehensive list of things you can use a Raspberry Pi for: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/different-uses-raspberry-pi/
So what do I use a Raspberry Pi for?
I personally use my Raspberry Pi as a ‘headless’ unit; one that is connected to the home router via ethernet cable, and I remotely access it via a Terminal on my Mac computer.
One of the best uses for a Raspberry Pi for me at least are to run a private VPN so I’m able to access my home CCTV and home network access storage (NAS) drive remotely from anywhere in the world securely. This is achieved by a program called WireGuard which has a client installed on each of my devices; iPhone, iPad, MacBook that connect to the home network.
PiHole is another excellent program which removes the bulk of the nuisance adverts that plague websites making your surfing experience that little bit more enjoyable.
Deluge is a torrenting application that is accessed via a browser and instead of using a computer to download torrents the Raspberry Pi can do so with ease. This way any malicious files (which you’ve inadvertently downloaded) are stored on the Pi in a Linux operating system and are unlikely to cause harm to your other venerable Windows and Mac computers. If you happen to own a NAS drive (which I do) you can simply transfer files from the Raspberry Pi to the NAS drive easily. This way the downloaded files are available for all computers that are on my home network.
Recently I’ve been learning to ‘dockerise’ my applications (namely PiHole, WireGuard and Deluge). This allows better use of the Raspberry Pi resources by “virtualisation” of the Linux operating system (check out one of my favourite YouTubers; Network Chuck’s clip for more info — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FtERdqKa2s).
Conclusion
I’d recommend the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 Model B which costs between £50 to £60 ($69 — $83) from eBay or Amazon or thePiHut.com. This is a perfect computer for children to learn computing skills (and to give them a break from their smart phones or game consoles) on or even people working in IT that want to learn about more computing and tinkering. You’ll need a power supply cord, a case, a fan and a mouse and keyboard and don’t forget a micro HDMI lead to connect it to a monitor/TV.
In subsequent articles I’ll explain how I installed and configured a dynamic fan (which actively monitors the CPU temperature and switches the fan on and off accordingly), how I configured WireGuard, PiHole and Deluge via Docker. Stick around…
