While the Pi 4’s CPU’s are the best yet in the Raspberry Pi hardware line, they are still not quite capable of tasks requiring heavy compute needs. Even the desktop experience is still not something I would want to use as a daily driver. While it could drive a NAS, performance would likely be sub-par. I have found running a Kubernetes cluster on a Pi 4 consumes nearly 60% of CPU just running standard Ingress and web interface services like Portainer, so the Pi’s ARM-based CPU still has a long way to go to catch up to something like Apple’s M1.

Thank you Mike and Erica for the wonderful interaction. I have been on the fence about getting a Raspberry Pi for a while now, but I guess this convinced me to get one.

I want to pick Mike’s brain for any ideas he might have for projects for a particular context. The context I am thinking of is rural India and it is a slightly unique place globally because it is a large, young, “rustic” demographic with access to cheap internet. What kind of IOT / hardware projects or avenues would you think are relevant for us? Are you aware of any people / projects that we can take an inspiration from?

Hi mortz,

Assuming you have access to stable electrical and Internet connectivity, the Pi could make a good, reliable server for a variety of functions. Obvious services like file sharing, monitoring, security, along with IT-focused capabilities like running a Gitea server and even a Kubernetes server (Rancher’s K3s and Ubuntu’s microK8s work out of the box on the Pi’s ARM-based hardware).

As for a place for interaction and inspiration (in addition to my book ), take a look at some of the projects Pi enthusiasts have posted in the Raspberry Pi reddit at:

Raspberry Pi Projects Hub (reddit.com)

Best of success with your Pi journey!