As a complete beginner, what can I do with a raspberry pi 4b?
I’m basically completely new to networking and currently setting up a NAS. I have this raspberry pi 4b that I got but now can’t think of a use case for it…
Any ideas of something that is very useful to host or have running on the pi4b?
Edit: I’m a complete beginner, and will use trunas on another server with jellyfin so my raspberry pi gets blown raspberries atm 👎



I’m running Home Assistant on mine at the moment. It’s amazing. Really. Apart from being an great smart home solution I’ve found it a good solution to create dashboards for life.
I have set up our family calendar, train schedules that change routes depending on the time. Waste collection notifications. It warns me to get a raincoat and umbrella in the morning. I get news headlines for my interests…
Before that I’ve tried a lot. It was my first step into home labbing 2 years ago. It brought me back to my youth. Breaking the family computer and trying to fix it before anyone noticing it.
Most of the stuff I ran used Docker.
Within a year I grew out of my pi setup and bought a second hand mini Lenovo that now runs Proxmox. Minor investment, huge upgrade. Moved away from dockers also.
The pi is a fun gateway drug.
Big +1 for second hand corporate mini PCs
They’re cheaper and better in every way than the Pi
Only get the Pi if you need a specific HAT or GPIO. And even then get a zero.
Or if you want to run the machine via PoE.
There are machines (like the Futro s740) that can be powered by POE as well.
And what’s the cost on those compared to a Pi?
That depends on your area. These machines are not available new (at least not at a reasonable price) but they are readily available refurbished for around 35€ (4gb ram) to 50€ (8gb ram) per piece in Germany.
Why no docker?