Raspberry Pi ideas

Pi4B Pi3B Pi3b+ and PiZeroWs on table

A Raspberry Pi is one of the things that you should consider getting if you are a computer programmer.

Just bought a Raspberry Pi but not sure what to do with it? If that is the case, you had come to the right place. On this page, you will find plenty of ideas on how to use your Raspberry Pi.

By following the ideas here, you will understand your Raspberry Pi and the Linux operating system better. In addition, you will be able to setup your Raspberry Pi to serve some interesting use cases at home.

For example, you will find instructions on how to setup a CCTV for surveillance, Web IDE to help you code everywhere you go, project management platform for tracking your project statuses and etc.

How to use your Raspberry Pi for Python development

Since its inception, the Raspberry Pi had progressed by leaps and bounds. Indeed, one of the reasons why we want to get a Raspberry Pi is its versatility. Apart from the huge selection of hardware, there are many Python libraries for you to build Raspberry Pi applications.

If you want to build something out of a Raspberry Pi, then you will benefit from setting up one for Python development.

Even if you do not build Raspberry Pi projects for a living, setting up a Raspberry Pi Python developer machine can be useful. For example, you may be a Solutions Engineer who build proof of concepts for demo purposes. In this case, you can build your demos with Python and run them on your Raspberry Pi.

If you are thinking of using Raspberry Pi for Python development, then this post is a reference for you.

Why get a Raspberry Pi?

If you are in the computer technology industry, then you most probably have heard about the Raspberry Pi.

When a Raspberry Pi was first launched in 2012, there were limited USD 35 alternatives for Raspberry Pi. Therefore, buying a Raspberry Pi is a no-brainer to get started with Internet of things (IoT) projects. A Raspberry Pi would be an affordable ticket to the world of IoT.

However, as newer single board computers get into the market, it becomes harder to make a buying decision. Especially if you habitually practice delay gratification, you may face quite a bit of procrastination in getting a Raspberry Pi.

So why should you get a Raspberry Pi?

In case you are deciding whether to buy a Raspberry Pi, here are some reasons for you to get one.

An easy way to install Raspberry Pi OS – using Raspberry Pi Imager

Once got an microSD card for your Raspberry Pi in your mailbox, you can install an operating system to run it.

Typically, we download a Raspberry Pi image and use one of the imaging software to write it to our microSD card.

When the Raspberry Pi Imager came into the picture, the download step is consolidated into a single workflow.

Given that, this is how you can use the Raspberry Pi Imager to install Raspberry Pi OS.

How to put your Raspberry Pi server on the internet with ngrok

As I had mentioned in how to host multiple websites from home, a typical network architecture looks like the following:
Home network architecture In such a case, we will need our router to hold a public IP address and perform port forwarding for our home servers.

However, there can be cases where we do not have the environment to put our server on the internet.

In such a situation, you will find ngrok useful. Since ngrok accepts traffic on a public address and relays that traffic through to the ngrok process running on your machine, you can put your server on the internet easily.
ngrok demo diagram

Given that, let’s look at how you can put your Raspberry Pi server on the internet with ngrok.

How to setup a Raspberry Pi security camera with motionEyeOS

When you want to turn your unused Raspberry Pi into a security camera, you can take a look at motionEyeOS.

So what is motionEyeOS? In short, motionEyeOS is a Linux distribution that turns your single board computer into a video surveillance system. Therefore, it is convenient to setup a Raspberry Pi security camera with motionEyeOS.

Given these points, let us look at how we can setup a Raspberry Pi security camera with motionEyeOS.