The projects that I’ve implemented so far since I got my Raspberry Pi in 2019:
- Purchasing my own domain name! How cool is that! (My surname’s TLD is from Nigeria but I’m not a Nigerian Prince 😜)
- Sync up my Raspberry Pi with CloudFlare via tunnel, allowing much more things I can do over the internet, without having to be within the same network!
- Learn more about docker, docker-compose, and Portainer! You will never know how easy and convenient it is to deploy and maintain softwares using docker unless you start to use them.
- Upgrading my Raspberry Pi to run on 1TB SSD instead of a 32GB MicroSD card. You can never have enough storage.
- Build my own cloud server! Now I can safely store my digital life on my own cloud storage without having to rely on monthly subscription to the cloud providers.
- Pihole is a must if we own a Raspberry Pi! Too bad my family doesn’t like it and kept complaining that their website links (especially Google ads on the search results) doesn’t work. Oh well, I’ve set my own devices to block ads and malware and set the rest as default without protection.
- One can never be safe without VPN. WireGuard is so fast and smooth, that I don’t even know I’m using one! (With Pihole guarding me of course)
- Designed a website dashboard to monitor all my docker status, home network status, IP addresses, etc. The website is only accessible to me, and me alone!
- And of course, my own website! Hosted from a Raspberry Pi! (Please don’t hack me or DDoS my website. My poor Raspberry Pi couldn’t take it. T^T)
- Bought and set up a mini x86 server running on Windows Server 2022 Datacenter (yay to free Microsoft Server license with every Azure Student account signed up with your student email!), with several Ubuntu VMs running to host my additional docker containers.
- Implemented Wazuh (SIEM) on one of the VMs, and monitoring all of my Windows/Linux devices at home to make sure everything is all in order! But to be honest with myself, I don’t really know what I’m looking at with the logs. 😅
- Implemented JellyFin media server, so I am being able to watch my dramas wherever I am (with VPN and lots of mobile data of course)! Especially during the long boring train ride from work/home to school for my evening classes.
- Also implemented a web-based torrent client via docker, so that I can use it to transfer my personal files to myself whenever I needed it. No illegal stuff happening here!
- Bought NordVPN subscription, and implemented all my devices to be 24/7 on VPN, so I can safeguard my devices outgoing data footprint while keeping my private IP safe. (Yes, I bought a static from my internet service provider 😬)
- I have also recently bought some CCTV cameras with onvif support to monitor parts of my home, so I have also set up another one of my Raspberry Pi (I have a total of 3 RPi if you got confused by now about how many stuff I forced into that one pitiable main RPi hahaha) to be my NVR (using Shinobi), to have a live view of all the CCTV camera + recordings. I am thinking of getting a simple monitor to set up beside my work desk for viewing (location not confirmed), in case of any unexpected visitors, but it could be overkill, since I can already view it on my phone. LOL
Ongoing projects:
- Setting up another one of my Raspberry Pi to take over my old Panasonic “not so smart” TV in the living room. Installed KonstaKANG’s (*ahem) unofficial Android 14 TV using LineageOS 21 as base and have installed (*ahem) unofficial MindTheGapps to be able to download apps from Google Playstore, but did not thinker or play with it yet. Although I have to say, it works like magic with my TV controller out of the box! Really didn’t expect that at all.
Upcoming:
- Will write here if I think of any new technology that I wanted to try my hands on.
Did not complete:
- Setting up a mailbox and host it on my own! Amazing on how a small Raspberry Pi can do so much. But I’m aware of the dangers of setting up my own mail server, especially with so many spam and phishing going around, that’s why I decided to forgo this project and stick to the regular old email provider. Althought I’m thinking whether I should be subscribing to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Google Workspace Business Standard, or Proton Unlimited. 🤔
