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Devices: Unraid, Raspberry Pi Zero, and Samsung DeX
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Hardware
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XDA ☛ I paid for Unraid after using TrueNAS for free, and I'd do it again
When building my own custom network-attached storage (NAS) device, it was difficult to resist the often-recommended powerful and free option, TrueNAS. It seemed to have it all, including a solid reputation, enterprise-grade roots, full ZFS support, and it was available for absolutely nothing. Using TrueNAS felt like I was running some serious storage software that enthusiasts preferred over alternatives, such as Unraid.
I tried Unraid in the past and even had it running with an all-SSD NAS from LincPlus. It was great, allowing me to mix and match drives to suit my immediate storage needs. It was easy, intuitive, and allowed me to get a centralized storage space up and running for the home with scope to run a few services. Strangely enough, the free choice isn't always best, and depending on what you need from your NAS, paying for the OS could be the answer.
In fact, if I were to start fresh today, I would pick Unraid and pay for it over TrueNAS.
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HowTo Geek ☛ Got a Raspberry Pi Zero? Here's the first project you should do
The Raspberry Pi Zero and the Pi Zero 2 aren't powerful devices, even by the standards of Raspberry Pis. However, their tiny form factor and negligible power draw make them excellent for low-power applications and services. This is how I use mine.
Run a Pi-hole on your Pi Zero
The Raspberry Pi Zero, and its newer, slightly more powerful sibling, the Pi Zero 2, aren't going to win any performance awards, but they're still useful for certain lightweight self-hosted services.
The very first project I set up on my Pi Zero was a Pi-hole.
A Pi-hole is a self-hosted, network-wide adblocker that protects every device on your network. It works by acting as a DNS sinkhole, which selectively blocks domains only known to serve up ads.
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Mobile
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Make Use Of ☛ I finally found a real reason to use Samsung DeX
Samsung Desktop Experience (DeX), which is Samsung's attempt to give you the ability to run apps in discreet Windows similar to a desktop operating system, ushered in an era of great promise: your phone could be a phone, but could also get real work done if you connected a display with a mouse and keyboard.
Today, DeX is widely available on most Samsung devices, even my relatively old S22+. Many think DeX is a solution in search of a problem because while it looks like a desktop UI, it's pretty slow and cumbersome when you try to use it as one, and windowed Android apps only get you so far. But I've found a reason to use DeX that has little to do with its intended purpose.
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