Raspberry Pi 4, 8GB DRAM version, as desktop computer

[Cowboy T]

How much DRAM does it have?

[pepsi2451]

I have been using a pi 3 b+ to test a local voice assistant using Rhasspy. So far it seems to work well. I will probably upgrade to a pi 4 and run something like home assistant to control lights and stuff.

I was just going to print a case for it but the performance of the Argon Neo case looks pretty good. I don't plan to overclock but I might pick one up anyway.

[Cowboy T]

In that case, don't bother with the fan HAT. Just get the Neo case itself; at stock speeds, it does a fine job.

[Danodog]

How much DRAM does it have?

8MB of RAM

[Cowboy T]

8MB of RAM

In that case, I would suggest using it as a desktop computer for most daily tasks. Don't expect AMD Ryzen performance out of it, of course, but it's got enough oomph to do that.

Here's my formula for this.

1.) Raspberry Pi 4, like what you have.
2.) Original Argon One case, without the M.2
3.) Crucial or Inland 1TB SATA SSD disk drive, 2.5" form factor
4.) USB 3 external disk drive case for SATA drives
5.) Overclock CPU to 2.0 GHz, video to at least 650 MHz (I use 750 MHz)

First, apply all updates to Raspbian. That's the standard "apt-get update" and "apt-get dist-upgrade" that we've been using for years on Debian-style distros. Reboot. This will also update your firmware to support booting from the USB ports.

Configure your Pi 4 to boot off of first the USB drive, with the MicroSD card as a backup, just in case. It's actually pretty easy to do this. The "raspi-config" utility lets you do this.

There's a script on the Raspbian desktop that copies the entire contents of the MicroSD card over to the USB 3-powered SSD. It also resizes the partitions on the SSD to use the entire SSD. It also handles any PARTUUID tweaks for you in /etc/fstab, automagically.

After that, just modify the /boot/cmdline.txt file manually to point to the PARTUUID of "/" on your USB 3 SSD, reboot, and you should be booting from the USB drive. You'll know it by how much faster the Raspbian desktop comes up versus before.

[Danodog]

In that case, I would suggest using it as a desktop computer for most daily tasks. Don't expect AMD Ryzen performance out of it, of course, but it's got enough oomph to do that.

Here's my formula for this.

1.) Raspberry Pi 4, like what you have.
2.) Original Argon One case, without the M.2
3.) Crucial or Inland 1TB SATA SSD disk drive, 2.5" form factor
4.) USB 3 external disk drive case for SATA drives
5.) Overclock CPU to 2.0 GHz, video to at least 650 MHz (I use 750 MHz)

First, apply all updates to Raspbian. That's the standard "apt-get update" and "apt-get dist-upgrade" that we've been using for years on Debian-style distros. Reboot. This will also update your firmware to support booting from the USB ports.

Configure your Pi 4 to boot off of first the USB drive, with the MicroSD card as a backup, just in case. It's actually pretty easy to do this. The "raspi-config" utility lets you do this.

There's a script on the Raspbian desktop that copies the entire contents of the MicroSD card over to the USB 3-powered SSD. It also resizes the partitions on the SSD to use the entire SSD. It also handles any PARTUUID tweaks for you in /etc/fstab, automagically.

After that, just modify the /boot/cmdline.txt file manually to point to the PARTUUID of "/" on your USB 3 SSD, reboot, and you should be booting from the USB drive. You'll know it by how much faster the Raspbian desktop comes up versus before.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I could use a desktop. I have a laptop that I use 100% of the time. It might be a good idea for a dedicated web surfing machine.

[augoldminer]

I am looking at getting a raspbarry pi 4B 8 for my security camera system.
i want to be able to check my security camera system remotely using my laptop. And to see what has been happening around my motorhome while i am not there.
i want to set the cameras to record motion to the RPI with a ssd hard drive and connect it to my internet modem and give it a address that i can connect over the internet to my laptop anyplace i can get a connection for the laptop.

I know you can get a camera that will connect to a smartphone BUT i have zombie finger and have a lot of problems with smartphones touch screens not working with my fingers.
i have to use a special stylus pen just to get money out of my bank ATM
So i only use dumb flip phones.

[Cowboy T]

There are cameras specific to the Raspberry Pi, if you head on over to www.raspberrypi.org. They've got several models, one of them hi-res. They should serve well.

[mshill]

I just found this thread... I have pi-hole running on a RPi Zero, ruTorrent/vpn running on an RPi 4B 2GB, wireless AP/vpn running on another RPi 4B 2GB, and run a desktop on a RPi 4 4GB overclocked to 2G/750Mhz. I can run Zoom on the desktop without any issues. I also have another RPi Zero and two other RPi 4B 2GB waiting for applications.

So much that you can do with the RPi 4B and it supports two 4K monitors.

[Cowboy T]

Hey, that's pretty good!

I'm in the process of migrating my Internet servers over to RPi 4B's with external SSD's. Pi's are good stuff.

[yellowsulphur]

Learning Kubernetes and successfully deployed a 4 node Raspberry Pi cluster. Pretty cool stuff. Still, a lot to learn though.

[Mr. Blue]

I had a Raspberry Pi 3 that I played SNES/NES/Sega games on. Fun fun.

[Cowboy T]

Learning Kubernetes and successfully deployed a 4 node Raspberry Pi cluster. Pretty cool stuff. Still, a lot to learn though.

OK, that's very cool. And yeah, Kubernetes takes some study. I'm re-acquainting myself with Juniper JUNOS after quite a long hiatus, and I'm getting there.

BTW, all my external servers are migrated to Raspberry Pi's now. On UPS power, they should last a few days if a tree hits a power line.

[Cowboy T]

I had a Raspberry Pi 3 that I played SNES/NES/Sega games on. Fun fun.

There's a restaurant nearby whose owner is an IT engineer. He's got a lot running on Raspberry Pi's, including a full-blown console video game. Yep, in the restaurant, and yes, he allows customers to play if they wish.