this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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So i have a pi5 8gb sorta collecting dust, ive mess with it a little but i have a laptop and im not sure what use to give the pi 5? i wanted to explore ai stuff but ai requires a powerhouse of a device? Im also thought about nas but i feel i dont need nas right now?

What would you advise i do with my pi?

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[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Set it up as a PiHole.

Which reminds me: I need to finish getting mine hooked up to my LAN properly.

[–] Zagam@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Same. I got mine a static IP, but everything I try to make it work, I get no network at all.

[–] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Any chance your pihole and router are both trying to be the DHCP server for the network?

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[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 month ago (12 children)

Home Assistant? Replace google / nest / alexa.

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[–] Takeshidude@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] ttyybb@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is it too late to add myself to the queue?

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

Damn Brits always trying to get into a queue.

Jellyfin server

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

Sell it for double your money back.

[–] ttyybb@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Pi hole if you don't have one, others have mentioned home assist, you could also look at ubo pod, although that isn't out yet. Really just use it to host whatever you want

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[–] kaotic@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[–] asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev 5 points 1 month ago

!selfhosted@lemmy.world

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Useful? I think you're doing this hobby wrong.

/s.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

PiHole and Plex? Plex will help generate need for a NAS. It worked for me.

Can confirm. Didn’t need a NAS before I started hosting my own Plex/Jellyfin server. Then suddenly I was considering 40TB and going “hmm this is probably way too small for actual daily use, but it’ll be a good start and I can expand on it later.”

[–] UndergroundGoblin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Set up a Tor Relay. Help the Tor network.

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have a Pi 4 running as a PiHole and Pi 5 running as an SDR server with 2 radios attached to it. Both are connected via Tailscale as well so I can access both from anywhere I want, especially useful for the PiHole so I have adblocking anywhere on any device.

[–] Klajan@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The Pi 4 is massively overpowered for a PiHole, but if you got one laying around doing nothing, go for it.

I have my PiHole running on a Pi Zero with a USB Ethernet adapter. The WebUi is a bit slow, but the actual DNS with unbound as a backend isn't any slower than on a Pi 4.

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[–] Janx@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

RetroPie? A Pi can handle most of the older, amazing games. 

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Pi4 is better for anything with video as it has a a hardware decoder. They dropped the hardware decoder in the Pi5 and I think you need to buy an extra module to have one for them.

[–] Janx@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

Oh wow, thank you. I didn't know that!

[–] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Set up Pinchflat, automatically download podcast audio without ads, connect your podcast app to it via an rss feed.

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[–] michael_palmer@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 month ago
[–] milagemayvary@mstdn.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Grumpy404

If the pi ends up with a flavor of Linux:tux:, don't forget the ZRAM compression.

On my debian I use default settings and end up with nearly double available memory.

It also reduces disk usage by giving ZRAM priority over swap.

The rp5 could be a:

Luanti/VoxelLibre server

Kiwix Wikipedia server

Pi-hole of course.

My rp4 can run the three just fine.

Could try something like home assistant
(Rp4 is just a little underpowered but can function)

Could also turn it into a NAS.

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[–] The_Almighty_Walrus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Look up Pi-Hole, it's an adblocker for your whole home network. It blocks ads at the DNS level

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Mine runs Orb and Tailscale as an exit node.

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[–] dr_robotBones@reddthat.com 4 points 1 month ago

Send it to me, I have plans.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Step one, put it in my hand.

Step two, take this $3.50 in all pennies. Those are valuable. They fon't even make those pennies anymore, and thats 350 of them! All for you! Honestly, you're making out on this deal.

Step three, ..........

as heard in the distance

.......sucker!!!

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)
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[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I have one pulling double duty as a Pi hole and emulation console.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

The wife and I made a retro game console. But we mostly use it for kodi

[–] JetpackJackson@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago
[–] FoolHen@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] iamahab@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago
[–] Toes@ani.social 3 points 1 month ago

If you have access to someone with a 3d or can find the parts online; you could build a gameboy with it.

[–] muxika@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

You could host your own federated instances.

[–] Klox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Look at selfhosting apps. Pihole is popular since it has some immediate benefits for other devices in your network. HomeAssistant is amazing if you're into automation. But there's hundreds of cool selfhosted apps that can improve your life depending on your interests. Getting familia with Docker will open up a lot of doors for easily launching servers hosted on the pi. What are your hobbies?

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