Nicholas Zahansky
Septembr 21, 2023

In today's tech-savvy world, Single Board Computers (SBCs) have gained immense popularity due to their versatility and affordability. I've embarked on an exciting journey of exploring SBCs and incorporating them into my daily life and homelab setup. In this blog post, I'll share my experiences with two of my favorite SBCs: the Orange Pi 5 and the Orange Pi Zero 3. I'll also discuss how these tiny powerhouses have enabled me to complete coursework, enhance my homelab, and why I'm excited to expand my setup further.

Orange Pi 5 as My Daily Driver:

The Orange Pi 5 is a remarkable SBC that I've come to rely on as my daily driver. Over the past 10 weeks, it has proven itself as a worthy desktop replacement. Here's how:

Coursework Companion: With its impressive processing power, the Orange Pi 5 seamlessly handled all my coursework requirements. From writing essays to running resource-intensive applications, it never skipped a beat. I have also used it to write code for my documentation website that I run on my homelab.

Versatility: What I love most about the Orange Pi 5 is its versatility. It supports a wide range of operating systems, making it adaptable to various tasks. I mainly switch between two different operating systems on my orange pi 5. Armbian, which is the operating system I use as my daily driver workhorse and Android, which I use mainly for emulating games that I have dumped from my personal collection.

Cost-Effective: Unlike purchasing an expensive desktop or laptop, the Orange Pi 5 is budget-friendly without compromising performance. Most people seem to overestimate the amount of power they need for most tasks and the Orange Pi 5 handles browsing, video playback, email, word processing, and light coding with ease at less than 15W. That is half the amount of power my laptop uses and still accomplishes everything I used to use the laptop for.

Orange Pi Zero 3 in My Homelab:

Another SBC that has become an integral part of my tech setup is the Orange Pi Zero 3. It serves a dual purpose in my homelab:



3D Modeling Repository: Thanks to its compact size, the Orange Pi Zero 3 serves as a dedicated 3D modeling repository. It stores my 3D models, with the ability to fully rotate them in 360 degrees allowing me to access and work on projects seamlessly.

Documentation Website Server: As a documentation enthusiast, I've set up the Orange Pi Zero 3 as a documentation website server. It hosts my personal knowledge base, making it easily accessible from anywhere.

Expanding My Homelab:

My journey with SBCs doesn't end here. I'm excited to share that I've already purchased two more Orange Pi Zero 3s to expand my homelab. I plan on using one of the zero 3s to serve as a git repository using gitea. This will help streamline the process for updating my documentation site and serve as the pipeline to the site. The third will act as a backup server with two drives in mirror over a USB to SATA converter.

Expanding my homelab is not just about functionality but also about learning. It provides an excellent opportunity to delve deeper into SBCs, their potential applications, and working in a Linux environment.

Conclusion:

In my journey with SBCs, the Orange Pi 5 has proved to be a reliable daily driver, while the Orange Pi Zero 3 has enriched my homelab with its specialized functions. With two more Orange Pi Zero 3s on the horizon, I'm eager to see how they further enhance my productivity and learning experience. Single Board Computers are truly remarkable devices, offering an affordable and customizable solution for a wide range of applications. If you're looking to build your own homelab or explore SBCs for daily tasks, I highly recommend giving them a try. They might just become an indispensable part of your tech setup, just as they have for me.

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