this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Pi-hole can run on any supported computer+operating system (Linux x64 or ARM based) or in a docker container, you aren't limited to using an actual Pi.
As someone running a pihole off an old radio 2B, your MacBook will be more than sufficient to run what is needed. My only advice would be to get an Ethernet adapter if that model doesn't have one. Losing valid dns queries due to wifi packet loss would be annoying. Beyond that, just google a guide and go, it's super straightforward to set up and manage.
That'd be fine. Laptop cooling fan might die from being on all the time as well as mechanical drive issues at that age but it's solid hardware otherwise. Pihole is not overly intensive. Ideally make sure the pihole machine is on a wired network connection inside your LAN, because wifi routing latency will be bad otherwise. So that may necessitate a thunderbolt ethernet adapter, but I've bodged together much worse before lol.
There's tons of cheap Dell computers with small form factor and much better specs...
I have a couple and they are great machines but don't completely fill the space for the Pi which works great in embedded systems along with having so many accessories, hats, etc.
You can buy some old thinclient lenovos on eBay for super cheap.
There's other board manufacturers as well... basically just replace "raspberry" with some other fruit and there's probably a Pi of it
I personally think the best thing to do is find a used Celeron laptop and disable the lid switch setting. Now you've got a server with a built in UPS.
Or just fire it up in a docker container because you're already running Linux right? RIGHT?
Ubuntu (or Canonical, their parent company) has gotten more pushy with their paid service. Personally for me, I'm moving off of Ubuntu to Debian pure systems or Arch because when I ssh to my Ubuntu file server, the MOTD tells me I can pay for some kind of premium service and get 35 additional security updates. So, that's it. That's my line in the sand. Don't advertise to me on my terminal
(And then there's all the shit about Snap being installed by default, and I'm just at a point where I only want installed what I want installed, etc)
But you do you man. If Ubuntu works great for you, stick with it. You may change your mind later down the road, you may not. As long as you're happy with it right now that all that matters.
If you want a SBC, a lepotato works really well, supposed to be more performant than a 3B. I used as an alternate to a raspberry pi for a klipper setup, running armbian on it now.
There are updated versions of it as well if you need more performance, but they're cheaper than an equivalent pi and importantly, purchasable which was an issue when I was putting together that printer.
If you don't need the GPIO then buy a small form factor office PC like a Dell Optiplex Micro or a Lenovo/HP equivalent. They cost about the same on the used market, are more performant without the ARM headache and use only marginally more power (maybe 5-10w more at idle).
I bought a router that supports OpenWRT, and then installed AdGuard right on my router
Odroid has some nice boards, though I find them pricey.