The RAM crisis has been claiming victims left, right, and center, and the Raspberry Pi is, once again, taking a massive hit.

Previous price rises were unavoidable, and today, Raspberry Pi has announced another raft of equally unavoidable increases. They're significant, too, bringing into question whether or not the little single-board computer (SBC) is worth it anymore in some use cases.

So, what's it cost now? That depends on your location, but the table below plots the dollar increases across the current range.

Generally speaking, the more RAM you want, the bigger the increase. Makes sense. Not every model is affected, with some of the lower RAM variants of recent Raspberry Pis being kept at their current rates for now.

"As painful as these price rises are, there are some brighter spots in the picture. We’ve been able to hold the price of Raspberry Pi 400 with 4GB of memory at $60, and the 1GB and 2GB variants of Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 at between $35 and $65. These are capable and versatile modern Raspberry Pi computers at affordable price points."

In addition, older models, including the Pi Zero, are unaffected as they use older LPDDR2 which Raspberry Pi says it holds significant stocks of. There's also a new 3GB version of the Raspberry Pi 5 being introduced today to provide another option to help customers get the most they can from their budget.

The Raspberry Pi has an almost limitless number of applications, but at its heart, it's a cheap computer. But unless you're actually building something, these unfortunate price rises may no longer make it as attractive as it once was.

The 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 now costs $305 in the U.S., and remember, that's just for the board. You don't get anything else with it. No storage, no case, no operating system.

If it's a cheap computer you want rather than a tool to make something with or tinker around on, a cheap mini PC suddenly looks like a better buy. It'll probably come with Windows 11, but you can still use Linux instead if you prefer.

A mini PC can still be efficient when it comes to power, albeit perhaps not quite as good as the Raspberry Pi, and in almost every case, will have a more powerful CPU.

If you want a cheap home server, for example, or to build your own NAS, run Plex or Jellyfin, or even just learn a little about self-hosting or a number of software tools, a mini PC will be as effective as a Raspberry Pi. A mini PC will also likely be upgradeable, with most having user-accessible RAM and storage.

At least if you were eying up one of the higher-spec models. Unless you absolutely need all that RAM, the cheaper ones still exist (even if they're not quite as cheap anymore), and they'll still serve you well.

But thanks to the RAMpocalypse, the higher-tier Raspberry Pis don't necessarily make the sense they once did. Which is sad. I love the Raspberry Pi, I've got a bunch of various models in my stash that I've tinkered with on a number of projects over the years.

What I hope most of all is that the prices settle and we can go back to some sense of normality. It's a glaring example, though, of how affordable computing is being attacked just as much as those wanting a beastly gaming rig.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Raspberry Pi is all about getting computers into the hands of anyone who wants one, and its budget pricing has traditionally reflected that stance. Unfortunately, as memory prices continue to climb, that rule is getting a lot harder for the company to adhere to.

It's only been a few months since Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5 prices were increased to offset the rising costs of LPDDR4 memory. December 2025 saw prices raised by up to $25 for the Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of memory.

Now, unfortunately, another price increase is on the way. Co-founder and CEO of Raspberry Pi, Eben Upton, published an update on the company's site detailing the price hikes.

Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5, as well as Compute Module 4 and Module 5, with 2GB or more memory, are all affected. The biggest change comes to the 16GB models, which are going up by $60. Here's a look at the price increases.

• 2GB — $10
• 4GB — $15
• 8GB — $30
• 16GB — $60

Combined with the price hikes from December 2025, you're now looking at a very different Raspberry Pi market.

The Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of RAM, for example, used to cost $120. In December 2025, it climbed to $145. With the most recent February 2026 price hike, it has now surpassed $200. That's roughly a 70% price increase.

Upton notes that while Raspberry Pi 500 and 500+ models are a part of the price hike, the Raspberry Pi 400 will not change and will remain at $60. Similarly, 1GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 models are not subject to the price increase.

As for products that use LPDDR2 memory, including the Raspberry Pi Zero and Pi 3, there is no price hike due to the company having a generous stockpile purchased before the "RAMpocalypse" began.

What's causing RAM prices to skyrocket, and is there an end in sight?

RAM prices have reached insane levels of late due mainly to the AI infrastructure build-out. AI datacenters require an unholy amount of memory to operate, and thanks to their deep pockets, AI firms are able to buy up the world's supply for years ahead.

It's a competition that consumers and other companies are losing, and there's unfortunately no real end in sight.

However, that doesn't mean Raspberry Pi's CEO is giving in. Upton notes that the company is "working hard to limit the impact" of the global RAM shortage, going so far as to state that it looks "forward to unwinding these price increases once it abates."

What do you think about the Raspberry Pi price hikes caused by RAM shortages? Let me know in the comments section!

Much of what you'll see at CES 2026 will be iterative upgrades to the same technology you're used to. Laptops receive generational performance gains, and monitor resolution continues to increase, which generally only interests the kinds of people who are growing tired of whatever's on their desk. Thankfully, HP brought something genuinely interesting to Las Vegas this year — the EliteBoard G1a.

I know it looks like a keyboard, but it's actually a mini PC with a choice of AMD's Ryzen AI 300 PRO mobile processors inside. That includes an NPU rated for up to 50 TOPS, which classifies the EliteBoard G1a as a Copilot+ PC. Of course, it still is a functional keyboard on the outside, but its primary intention is to replace AIO PCs and help prevent limitations of screen sizes. If you ever saw the Raspberry Pi 500, it's like that.

HP calls it "the first and only AI keyboard PC," and part of its inspiration was noticing how many hybrid workers were constantly working from laptops with their lids closed, switching instead to an external monitor. If those high-end displays are permanent fixtures, then why not put the "PC" part into something more convenient than a full-size laptop and keep the video-out? It's a great idea, but it gets even better when you see how much thought went into this.

An upgradeable and serviceable AI PC

It's essentially the same keyboard experience as HP's EliteBook laptop range, though we're told the key travel has been "tuned for the desktop space," which I think is fair to assume means a deeper typing experience. You get a number pad, too, if you're into that kind of thing — and our advice on the best laptops with numpads strongly hints that many of you are.

But we all know what a keyboard is, so let's talk about the components inside this curious PC-in-disguise. By far, the best news about the EliteBoard G1a is the fact that it's using standard parts that you'd find in most upgradeable laptops. That includes DDR5 SODIMM RAM for memory and M.2 NVMe solid-state drives for storage.

The rest of the board is serviceable with a top-down design for the spill-resistant keyboard portion that users can replace "in ten minutes" and a removable bottom panel that gives easy access to the cooling fan and its various PC components. Other valued extras, like an optional fingerprint reader, depend on the HP EliteBoard G1a "Next Gen AI PC" you choose — of which, there are two.

Both EliteBoard G1a models are similar and almost identical at a glance. However, one has a permanently fixed USB-C cable while the other is detachable.

The former gives you an extra USB4 port to compensate, but both variants support up to four 4K monitors running at 60Hz — an ambitious spec sheet for what looks like a regular keyboard.

Its remaining multi-option component categories, such as wireless networking standards and storage capacity, will be configurable in HP's online store.

Of particular note is the configurable battery, which gives the EliteBoard more flexibility if you just need to hook it up to a monitor for a few hours, as HP claims around 3.5 hours of use on a full charge.

A battery-powered mini PC built into a rugged but slick keyboard that replaces your laptop during daily commutes to the office? I'm into it. The EliteBoard G1a reminds me of my beloved HP Envy Move — an AIO PC with a battery — in that it dares to do something different without resorting to gimmicks. It's a well-deserved winner of the CES Innovation Award, and I can't wait to try it.

What do you think of the HP EliteBoard? Is it innovative or gimmicky? Would you ever use it at work or even as a permanent home PC? Let me know!

What you need to know

• The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced a new official storage product for the Raspberry Pi 5.
• The new NVMe SSD comes in 256GB and 512GB capacities, though the larger won't be available until November.
• Prices start at $30 for the smaller SSD on its own, but also comes in a bundle with the m.2 Hat+ which is required to attach the drive to the Raspberry Pi.

The traditional way of running software from a Raspberry Pi has always been using microSD cards. But even the fastest of these are limited compared to even slower SSDs, but that doesn't have to be a problem anymore.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation now has its own officially branded and supported SSDs for the Raspberry Pi 5. Starting at $30 for 256GB, these NVMe drives are based on the older PCIe 3 spec, but compared to any microSD card will feel like they're on a different planet.

This isn't the first SSD that anyone will have used on the Raspberry Pi 5, it was one of the first things folks thought of using with the PCIe port on the newest version of the tiny computer. From the Raspberry Pi blog:

"But the most popular use case for the PCI Express port on Raspberry Pi 5 is to attach an NVMe solid-state disk (SSD). SSDs are fast; faster even than our branded A2-class SD cards. If no-compromises performance is your goal, you’ll want to run Raspberry Pi OS from an SSD, and Raspberry Pi SSDs are the perfect choice."

It's not a simple case of plug and play, you also need the m.2 Hat+ to attach the drive to the Raspberry Pi 5. The good news is that you can buy a bundle for an extra $10 on top of either of the two drives that includes this, so you're good to go. Our pals at Tom's Hardware have a full review of the Raspberry Pi m.2 Hat+ to show you what you can expect to get.

There will be a 512GB version sold from November that will cost $45, and as you'd expect, these are reasonably priced. The smaller m.2 2230 form SSDs that these are, aren't that common, especially in PCIe 3 trim. They're more often seen as PCIe 4.0 upgrades to handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally lately.

Using an SSD is particularly important if you're actually trying to use the Raspberry Pi 5 as any form of desktop computer. The natural application is Linux, but you can, with patience, get the ARM64 version of Windows 11 running on one of these. Our pals over at Tom's Hardware have tried this, albeit several months ago, so the process could be better now. But it's still possible, and you're certainly going to benefit running any desktop OS from one of these over a USB drive or a microSD card.

The 256GB Raspberry Pi SSD is now available to buy from authorised resellers such as CanaKit in the U.S. with prices from $30.

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So, Google's switch to Manifest V3 for browser extensions looks like it's finally killing off the uber-popular ad blocker, uBlock Origin. Regardless of the extension, app, game, or whatever, it's never fun when a big company kills off something many people love using.

But it also highlights the point that you can't really rely on, well, anything these days. At least, not unless it's something you have total control over. That's the point of the words I write today because, truthfully, a browser extension isn't the best way to go if you rely on ad-blocking tech.

As we're seeing now, if support ends, you're out of luck. What you should be doing is hosting a personal ad blocker at home. Nobody can take that away from you. It's not expensive to get set up, and it gives the power back to you. Grab a cheap Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a microSD card, and spend about 30 minutes getting everything set up. It really is just better.

Cheap hardware and free software for network wide ad blocking

Besides putting the control back entirely into your own hands, the other benefit to this is that you're not just blocking ads on a single device. By using a Raspberry Pi deployed with software such as AdGuard Home or Pi-hole, you can apply it to every device on your network. Be it on your phone or PC or even blocking ads on your Xbox.

This isn't a full guide on what to do, but if you're interested, there are links below that will tell you how to set up either Pi-hole or AdGuard Home. I've tried both, and both work great, though I did find the UI on AdGuard Home a little friendlier to beginners.

All you need is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (or even the original Pi Zero W), a microSD card that's at least 8GB, and a PC. The setup then takes no more than about half an hour, but when you're done, you'll have full network ad blocking, reports, and control over whitelists and a bunch of customizations.

• How to set up AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi
• How to set up Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi

Put the control in your own hands

Both of these pieces of software will give you similar levels of control as you'd get in the browser with uBlock Origin, but with the added benefit of applying that to every device you own.

But more than that, with a piece of hardware running on your own network, you're no longer at the behest of Google making changes like it has or any other issues that may relate to your favorite extension stopping working.

The broader picture is that we should all be more reliant on ourselves over others. Pi-hole is open source, and AdGuard's business is blocking ads, so longevity should be on the cards. However, once you have the program installed locally, in theory, it should be able to run indefinitely.

This thought process should apply to all our data. It's too easy to rely on cloud services, but if they go down or go away forever, what happens then? It's like GOG offering offline installers for the games it sells. Make a way to keep your own software and data, and some of this reliance goes away.

The Raspberry Pi continues to be one of the most impressive computers on the planet. Not for its power, but for the possibilities. This thing can be programmed with a mind-boggling number of purposes, from small servers and NAS to controlling your home automation or even just a small Linux computer to learn some new IT skills.

Whatever you want to use it for, it's a pretty solid bet that you'll need a static IP for it. Unless you're using something like the Raspberry Pi 400 hooked up to a display, you're likely using it headless. That is, without a GUI. In the case of the Raspberry Pi Zero, this is even more likely.

Setting a static IP for your Pi is really easy, and doesn't have to involve your home router which sometimes can mess it up anyway. Case in point, the last Raspberry Pi I set up on my home network I assigned a static IP in the router settings, and it just sort of forgot about it and assigned a totally different IP to my ad blocker so it didn't actually work properly. That's why you should follow these steps and set it up on the Pi itself for the best results.

Setting up your Raspberry Pi

This guide assumes that your Raspberry Pi is already set up and you've flashed it with the Raspberry Pi OS already. If you haven't and need a helping hand, we have a guide on setting up a headless Raspberry Pi using nothing but your Windows PC.

Before you can set a static IP for your Raspberry Pi you will need to know what IP address it's currently on. At this point, the quickest method is probably to log into your router's software and grab it there, especially if you're doing a headless setup. You'll need the IP address to connect over SSH and do the rest.

With the IP address in hand, open a terminal (WSL or PowerShell is fine), and connect with the following command:

ssh pi@YourIPaddress

Accept the fingerprint by typing yes and hitting enter. If this is the first boot you'll need to log in with the default password, which is raspberry. It's a good idea to change this, but for the purposes of what we're doing here you don't need to and can just carry on with the next step.

How to set a static IP on your Raspberry Pi

To set the static IP properly you'll need a few things. The first is the current IP of the Pi which you've already got, the next is your router's gateway IP and the current DNS IP address. We can get these last two from the Raspberry Pi terminal.

Router gateway IP address

Enter this command into the terminal:

ip r | grep default

Note down the first IP address given as this is the one you want.

Router DNS IP address

Again in the terminal, enter this command:

sudo nano resolv.conf

This will open a file in the nano text editor and the IP address you're looking for is immediately after nameserver. Note this down and press Ctrl + X to close out.

Setting the static IP address

The final step is to set the static IP address for your Raspberry Pi. It involves appending some details to the end of a configuration file. You must make sure you either use the IP address already given to your Raspberry Pi or that you're using an address that is currently vacant.

To begin, enter this command:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

This will open up the dhcpcd.conf file in the nano text editor. Use your cursor keys to navigate all the way to the bottom.

Make sure not to change any of the existing items in this file, then at the bottom, you'll be entering a block of text following this template:

interface NETWORKTYPEstatic ip_address=YOURSTATICIP/24static routers=YOURROUTERIPstatic domain_name_servers=YOURDNSIP

You'll replace the terms in capitals with the following:

• NETWORKTYPE — Type either eth0 for ethernet or wlan0 for wireless.
• YOURSTATICIP — Whatever static IP you want to assign to the Raspberry Pi.
• YOURROUTERIP — The gateway IP address acquired above.
• YOURDNSIP — The DNS IP address acquired above.

When finished you'll end up with something that looks a bit like this:

interface wlan0static ip_address=192.168.86.250/24static routers=192.168.86.1static domain_name_servers=192.168.86.1

Now, press Ctrl + X followed by Y to close and save the file. You'll need to reboot the Pi for the changes to take effect, which you can do with this command. 

sudo reboot

Give it a minute to reboot, reconnect over SSH, and then use this command. 

hostname -I

This will confirm the IP address matches what you set above. It should match, and now your Raspberry Pi should retain this IP any time it boots. Ensure you don't assign anything to this IP address, either manually or through your router settings, and you should be good to go!

The only limit to what you can do with a Raspberry Pi is your imagination, but even if your ambitions are a little more basic, there's still lots of fun to be had. In many use cases, you'll be looking at using a Raspberry Pi headless, that is to say without it being attached to a display. It's also perfectly possible to set it up this way using your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC. Here's how.

Grabbing the software you need

Before you do anything, you'll need both a copy of the OS for the Raspberry Pi and something to flash an image of it to the microSD card. Raspberry Pi has its own imager but for the purposes of this guide we're using a third-party app called balenaEtcher since it has uses beyond just the Raspberry Pi and is a useful tool to have around.

Then you'll need to go to the Raspberry Pi downloads page and grab a copy of the OS. We're just going to use the standard Raspberry Pi OS for this guide, a customized version of Debian Linux built especially for the Raspberry Pi. There are various downloads available from the Raspberry Pi website, but for the purposes of what we're trying to do here grab a copy of the "Lite" download.

You ideally want the Lite version for headless setup, especially on a Raspberry Pi Zero, as it's a much lighter image with a smaller download footprint and importantly, no desktop UI. As we won't be using it there's no need to waste resources on it.

How to flash the Raspberry Pi OS image on Windows 10 and Windows 11

The first step is to flash your microSD card with the OS image for the Raspberry Pi.

1. Locate the downloaded zip file of the Raspberry Pi OS Lite image.
2. Extract the files and note the location of the extracted image.
3. Load up balenaEtcher on your PC.
4. Select Flash from file.
5. Select your extracted Raspberry Pi OS image from step 2.
6. Connect your microSD card to your PC.
7. Click Select target.
8. Choose your microSD card.
9. Click Flash.

BalenaEtcher will now run through a short process that should only take a couple of minutes (depending on your hardware), and when you're done leave it attached to your PC for the next step.

How to set up Wi-Fi and SSH access on your Raspberry Pi

The key to being able to set up a headless Raspberry Pi is being able to connect to it from your Windows PC. For that, you'll need it to be on your local network, and while you could use Ethernet, on the Raspberry Pi Zero, in particular, this requires additional hardware and it's really not necessary.

To connect the Raspberry Pi to your home network and allow remote access we need to ensure it has two things:

• Your Wi-Fi network SSID and password
• SSH

Both of these we'll add from your PC.

1. Ensure your Raspberry Pi OS microSD card is attached to your PC.
2. Open File Explorer.
3. Select the microSD card, it should be called boot.
4. Within the root directory, right-click and select New then Text Document.
5. Name this file ssh.
6. Right-click and select Rename.
7. Delete the .txt extension.
8. When prompted to confirm, click yes.

It's important to make sure the blank file has no file extension to function properly. You'll know it has been successfully changed as the icon will now look like a blank piece of paper compared to one with lines on it.

Next, we'll build a file containing your Wi-Fi network credentials.

1. Ensure your Raspberry Pi OS microSD card is attached to your PC.
2. Open File Explorer.
3. Select the microSD card.
4. Within the root directory, right-click and select New then Text Document.
5. Rename this file to wpa_supplicant.conf ensuring that the .txt file extension has been replaced.
6. When prompted to confirm, click yes.
7. Right-click on the file and choose Open with ....
8. Select Notepad or your own preferred text editor.

Once you have the wpa_supplicant.conf file open in a text editor, you'll need to enter some code to tell your Raspberry Pi how to connect to your network. Set up your file like the image above.

Enter the name of your Wi-Fi network inside the ssid quotation marks and your network password inside the psk quotation marks. Then save the file. Also, ensure you change the country to the two-letter code for your location.

Then save the file and close Notepad.

How to set up the Raspberry Pi using SSH

There was a time that you'd have to install a third-party application such as PuTTY to use SSH on Windows, but that's not the case anymore; you can simply do it through the terminal. PowerShell works just fine, but if you have WSL enabled you can also use the Linux terminal assuming you have SSH enabled in it. Ubuntu, for example, has it out of the box, but Debian does not.

For this, we'll be using PowerShell. Before getting started, make sure the boot microSD is inserted in the Raspberry Pi and that you power it on. You also need to find out the IP address on your network for the Raspberry Pi. There are many ways to do this, but the easiest is to just look in your router's settings for connected devices and locate it there. If you're only using one Raspberry Pi on your network, the default command below can be used. 

pi@raspberrypi.local

Then follow these steps.

1. Open Windows PowerShell.
2. Type ssh pi@yourIPaddress.
3. When prompted at the authenticity message, type yes and press enter.
4. When prompted for a password, enter raspberry.

You should now be presented with a short welcome blurb from Linux having successfully connected to the Raspberry Pi. The prompt will also have changed from PowerShell to pi@raspberrypi.

The first thing to do is to change the default password from raspberry.

1. In the terminal type passwd.
2. When asked for the current password, enter raspberry.
3. Choose a new password and press enter.
4. Confirm the new password and press enter.

Assuming they match, you'll see a confirmation message that you successfully changed the password. This is now the password you'll use when logging in to your Raspberry Pi over SSH.

The basic setup of the Raspberry Pi is now done, but there are a couple of basic commands to run first before you exit out of it. These are basic Linux commands that you'll use quite often, but essentially it'll ensure your Raspberry Pi is all up to date. Enter these two commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

The first run-through of these commands may take some time, especially on a Pi Zero. Then, once you're done with your Raspberry Pi, you can quit back to regular old Powershell simply by typing ''quit'' into the terminal.

While you can use PowerShell or any installed WSL Linux distros to SSH into your Raspberry Pi, if you're going to eventually handle multiple machines there are more elegant ways to handle and manage your connections. On Windows, there's the old favorite, PuTTY as well as the popular and elegant cross-platform client, Termius.

And that's all you need to know. By now you'll have a fully functioning Raspberry Pi that you can interact with and get creative with all without the need for a display, mouse, and keyboard.

This process is the same whether you go for the Raspberry Pi Zero or the regular model, but the Pi Zero is a great way to dip your toe and start to learn about Raspberry Pi. If you're new to things like SSH, terminal, or even just Linux in general, it's such an affordable way to get started and learn some new skills, with the added bonus that the maker ecosystem is enormous. The only limit is your imagination.

What you need to know

• BitLocker is the built-in encryption solution for Windows Professional Edition.
• It has been historically very secure and an excellent encryption option to safeguard your data.
• YouTube creator Stacksmashing released a proof-of-concept video showing how a Raspberry Pi Pico can sniff the Master Key from an external TPM to breach BitLocker encryption.

One of the few things you can do to secure your Windows PC is to enable BitLocker. This has been tried and true advice from cybersecurity experts for years. That being said, a new vulnerability has been discovered by the YouTube channel Stacksmashing. The hack shows a method of sniffing the Master Key in transit from the External TPM to the CPU due to them being unencrypted. While it might be possible to patch this, I don't think it will be viable as it would likely require a hardware solution. 

This was possible with a Raspberry Pi Pico, usually under $10. If you have an older PC with an external TPM, look into securing your data using other methods, such as locking your folders or using cryptography to encrypt with EFS. 

How was it done?

Stacksmasher discovered that during bootup, a device must send something to the CPU to tell BitLocker to enable bootup, and it might be possible to intercept or sniff that traffic. Using the custom-configured Raspberry Pi Pico, the user placed leads directly on the connectors on the motherboard to access the LPC bus that handled the traffic between the external TPM and the CPU. 

The Raspberry Pi then used customer software written by Stacksmashing called TPM Sniffer to read the binary data sent across the LPC bus and attain the Bitlocker Volume Master Key. 

"During boot, the different components of the system, for example, the BIOS, hash their firmware and their configuration and send that hash to the TPM. This process is called a measurement. We basically measure the current configuration of the hardware. On the TPM, this hash is used to update so-called PCRs: Platform configuration registers [...] if the PCR is correct, the TPM will unseal the key."

TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module and is important to BitLocker and other encryption methods. A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a secure, tamper-resistant chip that generates, stores, and safeguards encryption keys. Typically built into the motherboard, it's also available as a standalone module for system integration. 

It is important to note that the TPM is built into the CPU for most current CPUs and PCs, and this vulnerability would not apply. If your PC is using an external TPM, though, your data could be at risk if your device falls into the wrong hands. There are other methods to protect your data beyond just BitLocker if you have an external TPU, as discussed above. 

Should I be concerned about this hack?

No, this vulnerability shouldn't apply to your hardware unless you're running an older PC with an external TPM. Also, the only way an attacker could achieve this is if they had extensive hands-on time with your device. If you keep your devices safe and secure, you have less risk of falling prey to this attack method. That being said, new and interesting vulnerabilities are always discovered, and we should always take extra precautions to protect our data and personal information. 

If you want to learn more about hacking, discovering vulnerabilities, and defending against cybercrime, check out our guide on how to get started in Cybersecurity.

What you need to know

• Uno Platform allows developers to use code across multiple platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android, the web, and macOS.
• A recent update to Uno Platform added support for MediaPlayerElement when targeting the web and Linux.
• MediaPlayerElement is a control that developers can use to play media within apps.
• Uno Platform allowed developers to use MediaPlayerElement on iOS, Android, and Mac Catalyst before this month.

Uno Platform just announced an update that will make it easier for developers to make web and Linux apps that stream media content. The update to version 4.9 adds support for MediaPlayerElement to those platforms. MediaPlayerElement is a control that devs can use to stream and render media content in Windows Forms or WPF desktop apps, but thanks to Uno Platform, it's possible to use the same tech on a variety of other platforms.

If you're an everyday user, the announcement from Uno Platform may look like a lot of jargon. The main takeaway is that apps have a new option for media playback. Developers can use code that they've already worked on and figured out and then bring it to new platforms. MediaPlayerElement was available in Uno Platform on iOS, Android, and Mac Catalyst. Version 4.9 adds support for Linux and the web.

The CTO of Safe@AllStar, Mike Aleckson, shared how being able to use MediaPlayerElement across platforms helps both developers and users:

“Over the last three years, Uno Platform has been critical to our cross-platform mobile solutions built to protect thousands of child athletes.  Without Uno, there’s no way our small development team could’ve built and delivered our technology as quickly as we did to both the IOS and Android environments”

 “And the Media Player component now available for the Web Assembly environment is going to be a big positive in re-using our existing codebase for our youth organization training and certification app now in development.  The end result will be more and more young people being protected, in part, through the wise use of innovative technologies like the Uno Platform.”

Uno Platform shared an example of an app using MediaPlayerElement on a Raspberry Pi, iPhone, Surface Duo, PC, and the web.

The update to Uno Platform 4.9 also added support for WebView2 control for Android, iOS, and Mac Catalyst. This addition makes it possible for developers to add external web content within apps.

Uno Platform summarized the rest of the biggest changes in its blog post about version 4.9:

• Indexer and MVVM toolkit support for x:Bind expressions 
• UIElement.ActualOffset support 
• ms-appdata support for SvgImageSource, to load app packaged SVGs 
• Many performance improvements for WebAssembly using JSImport/JSExport 
• Many performance and memory improvements in the XAML Generator 
• Performance improvements in TextBlock rendering for Skia heads 
• DEPRECATING Uno Platform Solution Templates for Visual Studio 2019

In some corners of the Internet, self-hosting is a big thing. There's a huge community to be found in places like Reddit, some great podcasts and so many helpful resources to learn from.

But what does self-hosting actually mean?

In simple terms, it's all about hosting your own services over reliance on a public cloud, wherever that comes from. It could be file storage, it could be a media server, a home automation system, security cameras, you name it, there's probably someone who's at least tried to self host it.

I've been very happy with my little home setup and the journey it took me on. I've started to learn some skills along the way and as we go into 2022, here's a little about the what, the why, and the still to come.

Why bother self-hosting at all?

Public cloud services are extremely convenient. That's why they're so popular. And I'm not saying services like OneDrive are bad; far from it. But for reasons I don't fully understand (perhaps getting older and angrier, perhaps lockdown boredom), through 2021 I started taking more interest in which companies had access to my data.

Some of it is about privacy, but there's also a growing skepticism deep within me about reliance on a few big cloud providers for too many services. The recent AWS outages serve as a stark reminder that when something goes wrong, I can't access my doorbell properly. This seems like a ridiculous problem to have.

So, I started looking at what I could do to both be more mindful of my data and the rabbit hole then led to self-hosting. I haven't replaced everything that relies on someone else's infrastructure, but I've made a start. And perhaps I'm a little surprised at how enjoyable the whole process has been.

Learning new skills along the way

One of the best parts of this whole process has been starting to learn some new skills. I'm hardly an expert in any of them, but without getting into self-hosting I'd probably never have touched any of this.

I've been learning to use Linux since the first great lockdown of 2020, when I got bored and thought I'd give it a try. But that's always been on a desktop level like Windows 11. Through self-hosting, I've started to dabble in the world of servers and Docker containers while learning more about tools like SSH and even networking basics.

I love learning new IT skills, but in recent years I've definitely been a bit of a slacker. In recent months I've dabbled with Ubuntu Server, Docker, Portainer, building my own configuration files and the wonders of VLANs, all through getting into self-hosting. And the great thing is that it really is an endless rabbit hole. One thing leads to another which leads to another and so on.

A year ago, even though I'd been spending more time using Linux, in particular WSL on Windows 10, the command line still daunted me. Going into 2022 I find that working in a terminal is strangely satisfying.

What I'm actually self-hosting

So, to the good stuff: what am I actually self-hosting? I've tried a bunch of different apps and services across a number of devices. I started out on my Synology NAS before branching out a little and repurposing old hardware. I have a 2012 Apple Mac Mini that's useless as a Mac now, but it makes a fantastic little server box. My old Raspberry Pi 3 was found in a drawer and that's doing work as well.

The main service I've fell in love with this year is AdGuard Home. I've used Pi-Hole in the past but never really got attached to it. As good as it is, my inner noob is much more at home with the slick user interface and more beginner-friendly approach you get from AdGuard Home. It's running on my Raspberry Pi right now, though 2022 may see it relocated when I finally get proper fiber.

Also running on that same Raspberry Pi is a rudimentary local file server. It's a simple Samba setup, mostly in existence because I read a blog post on it and thought I'd give it a try. It's set up with a small USB flash drive connected to the Pi and I've been using it to share files across my home network that I don't need long-term or syncing to all my devices. It probably won't be around too much longer, but it's been handy.

On the old Mac Mini is where the bulk of the load lives right now. It's not running macOS of course, instead using Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS. Even for a computer approaching 10 years old, Ubuntu Server is extremely lightweight with no desktop environment weighing it down. And currently, everything on here lives in a Docker container which is managed through the Portainer GUI.

Portainer is especially good for Docker novices like me, as it removes the need to handle Docker Compose files directly. You can either use one of the pre-selected app templates or simply point it at the Docker image for the service you want to set up and leave it to do the rest. To access the apps, all that's needed is a web browser.

Currently being hosted there is:

• Podgrab - A local podcast server that allows streaming or downloads and can generate OPML or custom RSS feeds to use on other devices.
• Whoogle - Google search but without Google's crap. The search results are identical but it's faster and much cleaner without ads and trackers.
• Libreddit - A tracker-free, extremely fast front-end for Reddit. You can't log in, but if you never comment, like me, the experience is pretty perfect.
• YouTube DL - A GUI for the well-known YouTube DL command-line app.
• Homer - A customizable dashboard for accessing self-hosted services and more.
• Guacamole - A clientless remote access gateway that allows easy SSH access to my various devices from a web browser.

And over on my Synology NAS, I've finally got round to setting up a Plex server again with live TV and DVR thanks to HDHomeRun integration. I've also been using Nextcloud these last couple of months, set up on a DigitalOcean remote instance. Nextcloud is really fantastic and I use it for a number of purposes, including syncing offline copies of my work for the site, managing calendars and email, file backups and sync, and even handling RSS.

All of the services I'm self-hosting, with the exception of Plex, are free and open-source, which has been another priority throughout 2021.

2022: Homelab

To say I'm hooked on self-hosting is an understatement. It's addictive, and much like building a gaming PC, there's always the "next step" with hardware and software.

In 2022, I'm determined to carry on what I've learned and build upon it, developing more skills and trying things I previously would have run away from like Forrest Gump at full tilt. So I'll be dipping my toes into the world of homelabs, which goes hand-in-hand with self-hosting.

A homelab can be a giant server rack full of thousands of dollars of gear, or it can be a Raspberry Pi. And anything in between. Most of the services I've been using are incredibly lightweight which means there's really no need to spend money on new, expensive hardware.

I am looking to expand though. On the list of things to start learning in 2022 is virtualization with Proxmox/VMWare ESXi, Kubernetes, and (finally) starting to learn to code, well, something. I plan to pick up another 2012 Mac Mini or something similarly old, small and cheap, to maybe cluster together, and at least a Raspberry Pi 4.

I've already built a cheap home server rack from an IKEA Lack table of all things (post coming on that in the new year) and grabbed some ex-enterprise network gear for peanuts to set up a fully wired network in my office, separate from the home Wi-Fi.

We've no idea if 2022 is going to be better or worse than 2020 and 2021 at this point, but I'm going into it with a new hobby and a pretty massive to-do list.

Pi-hole is a popular piece of software that's generally associated with Raspberry Pi (hence the name) that helps you to block ads and trackers and whatnot across all of the devices on your home network at the same time. It's great, really, and its popularity is well deserved. I love Pi-hole. But it isn't the only software out there that can do this.

An alternative is called AdGuard Home. You might be familiar with AdGuard already, there are mobile apps and browser extensions, even a Windows app, but this is a little more than that. AdGuard Home operates very much like Pi-hole, covering your whole network from one device, usually a Raspberry Pi.

It's easy to install and configure and why, personally, I like it more than Pi-hole is that it feels a little more beginner-friendly. It's also free and open-source, just like Pi-hole, so you can have a look through the code and see what's going on if you wish. You can install it directly onto Windows 10 or 11, but it does also run natively on Linux, including the Raspberry Pi, macOS, and in a Docker container, so you certainly have options.

For this guide, I'll be focusing on using a Raspberry Pi, as it's the one that makes the most likely application. It's small and low-powered and in the spirit of Pi-hole. And having a Raspberry Pi-powered on 24/7 is a lot more efficient than leaving a full Windows machine powered up.

What you need

Before you begin you'll need to assemble some bits. For this guide we'll be needing:

• A Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi Zero
• A microSD card (8GB or larger)
• A micro-USB or USB-C power supply (depending on your Raspberry Pi)
• Access to another computer

Now, to work.

How to set up a Raspberry Pi and set a static IP address

Before getting AdGuard Home installed, you have to set up the Raspberry Pi with an operating system, access to your home network, SSH, and a static IP address. None of this is too complex nor takes too long. To help you out, we've got dedicated guides linked below that will take you through each step.

There are different operating systems available, but it doesn't really matter beyond being a base to run AdGuard Home from. So the easiest thing to do is head over to the Raspberry Pi website and download the Raspberry Pi OS lite version. This is perfect for a setup like this as it's much lighter weight thanks to having no GUI. This is why you'll need to follow these guides, get SSH and local network enabled, and set a static IP address on your Raspberry Pi. Without a static IP, you'll have a much harder time using AdGuard Home.

• How to set up a headless Raspberry Pi, Wi-Fi, and SSH
• How to set a static IP address on a Raspberry Pi

How to install AdGuard Home on a Raspberry Pi

Once your Raspberry Pi is set up, you've got SSH enabled, and it's connected to your home network, it's time to get going. Open up your favorite terminal or SSH application and connect to your Raspberry Pi.

If this is the first time you're connecting, you'll want to connect using

ssh pi@yourIPaddress

and the stock password is raspberry. You'll want to change that but we'll skip past that for this guide. The next good idea is to run

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

to ensure you have all the latest packages on your Raspberry Pi.

With that out of the way, we're ready to install AdGuard Home. As it's open-source, the whole project is hosted on GitHub, and that's where we can go to have a look at the code and find all the documentation we'll need. To install Adguard Home, all you need is this one command.

curl -s -S -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdGuardTeam/AdGuardHome/master/scripts/install.sh | sh -s -- -v

A word of warning: You shouldn't ever just run any old script on your system. In this case, we're running it from a trusted source and the script, install.sh is hosted on the GitHub repository for you to take a look at. But a general rule of good practice is to ensure you either know exactly what you're installing or that the source is trusted.

The command above will basically download the install script from the AdGuard Home GitHub repo and run it. The script contains all the necessary information to download and install the entire AdGuard Home package, so all you need to do is sit back and let it finish.

If for any reason you want to uninstall or reinstall AdGuard Home, use the same command above but attach the

-u

or

-r

flag to the command.

How to set up AdGuard Home

Once it's installed you're done in the command line and it's time to fire up a web browser. You'll need to navigate to the IP address you set for your Raspberry Pi on port 3000 to access the AdGuard Home GUI. So, something like http://192.168.86.200:3000.

1. Hit the big green Get started button to begin.

2. By default you'll be shown the IP address and ports AdGuard Home will use. If you're happy with these, simply click Next, else change them to something you'd prefer first.
3. Choose a username and password before proceeding.
4. Note down the IP addresses given to you, these are what you'll use to tell your home network to point at AdGuard Home.

5. Click Open dashboard to get started configuring.

The stock settings are pretty good to get going with, and there's a lot of customization you can do to tailor your protection to meet your own needs. AdGuard Home currently has three DNS blocklists to choose from, which gives you options if perhaps one of them is getting a little too aggressive and you wanted to try an alternative before creating custom rules.

You can, of course, create custom rules, and the logs can be kept for up to 90 days or much less if you'd prefer. The stock settings are good enough, but honestly, it's down to you to go poking around and set things up how you want them.

There's not really a one-size-fits-all solution. Everything is really clear and easy to understand and one of my own favorite features is being able to flat out just block an entire service, like Facebook, with a single click.

How to point your devices at AdGuard Home

Remember those IP addresses you were given during the setup? This is where both of those come into play. Exactly how you do this will vary wildly, because different routers do things in different ways, but essentially you'll take those IP addresses and you'll enter those into the DNS settings on your router. That is, if you want complete network coverage.

You can do the same on a device-by-device basis, too, and again, it'll differ across Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile. Wherever you have a DNS setting for your network connection, though, that's where you enter these.

It's a good idea to reboot your device, too, to ensure it's properly taken effect. But now, you should be seeing fewer ads, you'll be getting fewer trackers, and you shouldn't be noticing any real dip in your connection speeds. Even though the Raspberry Pi is small and low-powered, it's plenty capable of handling everything you throw at it in a home environment.

Alternatives to Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is the most obvious device to use, but it's not the only one. As mentioned previously, AdGuard Home can be natively installed on macOS as well as Linux, and there's an official Docker image for it, too. You can use Docker on Windows and the Windows Subsystem for Linux, so if you only have a Windows machine, there's still a way to use Adguard Home.

The GitHub repository is a great place to start as it has all the documentation and links you need if you're considering alternative hardware. But a cheap Raspberry Pi Zero and about half an hour of your time is definitely one of the better ones.

What you need to know

• Windows 11 is having compatibility issues on the most expensive, recent rigs on the market.
• Windows 11 is also having a grand old time running on the Raspberry Pi 4.
• The Raspberry Pi Windows 11 setup can run Minecraft, sort of.

While Microsoft enthusiasts with $5,000 gaming rigs are suffering at the hands of Windows 11's strict adoption requirements, one person is living the good life without a trouble in the world. That person is Etaprime on YouTube, who has been enjoying Windows 11 on his Raspberry Pi 4.

The Raspberry Pi 4 can handle Microsoft Edge, the calculator app, and more, all via the power of Windows 11. It can even run Minecraft, albeit in an undesirable state. For the full rundown of what the Pi can and cannot handle when paired with Microsoft's latest OS, check out Etaprime's video. Spoiler: It's not a big fan of the YouTuber's Elgato capture card.

It's an impressive video, given what's being run on what. And then, when you compare it against all the people with standard PC setups claiming they're ineligible for Windows 11, it's even more impressive. Mind you, much of said ineligibility can be attributed to Microsoft's TPM requirements, the likes of which are even confusing seasoned PC users, many of whom have never had to consider the security inclusion before now.

With that said, many of the people who have managed to get Windows 11 running without issue (on standard rigs, not a Raspberry Pi 4) are having a good time with it thus far. You can be one of those people if you're on the inside loop and are keen on grabbing the Insider build that's available right now.

And if you want to know how to install Windows 11 on a Raspberry Pi 4, check out Tom's Hardware's guide that'll help you recreate all the aforementioned fun on your own setup.

A recent, silent update to the official Raspberry Pi OS that added a Microsoft repo caused a bit of a ruckus among the community, many of whom weren't happy about it being there or the way in which it had been added. Both new images and existing installs ended up with it, and while the official purpose is in relation to Visual Studio Code, the controversy had already set its roots.

This isn't discussing whether it's right or wrong or whether anyone should be worried. The good news, if you're in the camp that doesn't want a Microsoft repo "phoning home" every time you use apt update, the repo can be disabled.

Here's how.

How to disable the Microsoft repo on the Raspberry Pi

The fact the Microsoft repo isn't shown in sources.list might lead you to think you're stuck with it. Fortunately, as long as you know where to look, you can disable the repo and continue using Raspberry Pi OS.

The steps here were carried out on the desktop version of Raspberry Pi OS, but you'll also be able to carry this out if you're running a headless setup and have connected over SSH.

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Enter cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d

3. Enter sudo ls to check for an item called vscode.list.

4. Next, enter nano vscode.list to open the file in nano (substitute for your preferred text editor if required).

5. Comment out the last line of the text file with the Microsoft URL in it.

6. Save the file and exit the text editor.

Now, run

sudo apt update

and you should no longer see the Microsoft repo being pinged on your Raspberry Pi. If you plan to run Visual Studio Code on your Raspberry Pi at all, however, you should probably leave it alone. Nevertheless, if you really don't want it, you can simply stop it from operating and be on your merry way.

What you need to know

• Raspberry Pi OS is the official Linux image provided for the Raspberry Pi single board computer
• The most recent update seemed to add a Microsoft repo with no warning.
• The official explanation seems to be an endorsement of Visual Studio Code.

Microsoft has been embracing Linux more and more in recent times but it's fair to say many a user still view the company with trepidation. And this latest news adds a little fuel to that fire, as it seems a Microsoft repo has been added to Raspberry Pi OS with the latest update.

As reported by Hot Hardware, the latest update adds a Microsoft apt repository to Raspberry Pi OS without admin consent. Default repositories are pinged every time the user runs a simple

apt update

command, and as such, the Microsoft repo will "phone home."

The official reason seems to be an endorsement of Microsoft's open source IDE, Visual Studio Code, which recently became officially supported on ARM-based Linux devices, like the Raspberry Pi. It's less Visual Studio Code folks have a problem with, and more the fact this was done without warning or consent, and that many still have concerns over Microsoft building profiles with the telemetry it collects.

Many Linux users don't want their machines pinging Microsoft every day. Whether their concerns are founded or not, that's their choice. And as one particularly vocal commenter pointed out, modifying the sources.list in Linux without consent just doesn't happen. It also doesn't just apply to new images, it has been built out to be added to existing machines, too. Even Lite images of Raspberry Pi built for headless deployment. They all have the Microsoft repo now.

While it could make working with Visual Studio Code much easier, it's clearly an unwelcome move among the Raspberry Pi community. Especially the seemingly underhanded way it was handled.

What you need to know

• Uno Platform ported the Windows Calculator to Linux.
• The ported calculator can now run on devices such as the Raspberry Pi and Tesla vehicles.
• Uno Platform allows developers to use the same code across every major platform.

Whenever Uno Platform gains support for a platform, such as Android, macOS, and WebAssembly, the team behind it ports the Windows Calculator over to the platform. Now, the Uno Platform team has ported over the Windows Calculator to another platform, Linux. The company announced support for Linux in August of 2020, and now it has a proof of concept to show off. Uno Platform shares more details in a recent blog post.

"The new addition [of Linux support] makes it the first and only C# UI toolkit to enable creation of single-source applications for most popular desktop, web and mobile platforms," said Uno Platform in a press release when Linux support was announced. Uno Platform allows developers to use C# and XAML code to create apps on all major platforms.

Microsoft made the Windows Calculator open-source and placed it on GitHub early in 2019. Rather than focusing on improving the calculator on Windows, the Uno Platform team takes every chance it can to get it running on different operating systems. The end result is Uno Calculator, which is now available on iOS, Android, macOS, WebAssembly, the web, and Linux.

The port by the Uno Platform Team is available through the Ubuntu Snap Store, which makes it easy to download. In addition to being available on Ubuntu, Uno Calculator can run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Linux Mint, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, Manjaro, Kubuntu, KDE Neon, elementary OS, CentOS, and Arch Linux.

With support for all of those Linux platforms, you can run Uno Calculator on everything from a Raspberry Pi to a Tesla.

Uno Platform's support for Linux utilizes a combination of Skia, SkiaSharp, and GtkSharp, which as a result, also makes it a target for Windows 7, Windows 10, and macOS.

What you need to know

• Visual Studio Code is a free, open source code editor from Microsoft.
• It's available cross-platform on Linux and Mac, and also Chromebooks that support Linux apps.
• Official ARM support for Linux now brings the application to ARM based Chromebooks, Linux machines like the PineBook Pro and the Raspberry Pi.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is one of the most popular pieces of programming software on the planet, in part because it's available on any plaform a developer might want to use it on. At least, mostly. One missing piece was ARM support for Linux devices, but with the latest update, 1.50, that's been rectified.

It may sound like small news on the face of it, but this has two potentially huge applications. The first is the Raspberry Pi. While hardly the first choice in hardware for intensive software development, the Pi runs an ARM CPU and Linux and now it can run Visual Studio Code. The Raspberry Pi 4 is also a pretty potent little machine in its own right, with up to 8GB of RAM now on offer, but Visual Studio Code also makes it extremely easy to leverage remote machines for more intensive workloads.

The other big application is ARM Chromebooks such as the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. It's been possible to install Visual Studio Code on Chromebooks with Linux support for some time, but ARM-powered devices have been lacking. Now it's officially a thing, downloading the ARM installer from the Visual Studio Code downloads page will get the job done.

The same applies as to the Raspberry Pi, too. Generally speaking ARM-based Chromebooks, or even laptops like the Pinebook Pro aren't going to cut the mustard for intensive workloads, but Visual Studio Code needs only a simple extension installed to leverage a more powerful, remote machine you may have access to.

Creating your own VPN on a Raspberry Pi is a relatively straightforward process, involving numerous steps. We've put together a short guide that'll walk you through installing an OS, setting up the VPN, creating users, and logging in using your favorite client.

Products used in this guide

• The Pi itself: Raspberry Pi 4 ($66 at Amazon)
• MicroSD card: Samsung EVO 32GB MicroSD ($14 at Amazon)

How to build your own VPN with Raspberry Pi

Configuring your own VPN is a great way to save a little on a monthly subscription while getting to know the ins and outs of how it all works by setting it all up. This route does come with some risks, however. Since this server will be running on your home network and will be accessible from outside, you'll need to make sure everything on your LAN is secure.

Installing the Raspbian OS

1. Download Raspbian OS ISO.
2. Write the ISO file to your SD card, using an app like Rufus.
3. Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
4. Plug in your favorite keyboard and mouse.
5. Follow the installation wizard.
6. Upon completion, ensure the OS is secured with a password.
7. We'll also need to set a static IP for the VPN server to use. Edit /etc/dhcpcd.conf and set static ip_address to one not used by any other device on the network. Here's an example of what may be present:
   • interface eth0
   • static ip_address=192.168.1.30/24
   • static routers=192.168.1.1
   • static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1
8. Save the file.
9. If you have a static external IP from your ISP you can move onto installing the VPN, but if your ISP provides a dynamic IP address (as in it changes every now and then to a new value), follow this excellent guide on PiMyLifeUp on setting up DNS on Raspbian OS.

Installing a VPN

1. Install PiVPN by pasting the following command into the terminal (and hit enter):curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash
2. Run pivpn by typing it into the terminal.
3. Follow the wizard.
4. Hit Yes on the static IP address confirmation screen.
5. Hit OK.
6. Hit OK.
7. Choose your user, hit OK.
8. Hit OK.
9. Choose Yes to enable automatic upgrades. (Highly recommended.)

10. Choose UDP and hit OK.
11. Enter a random port number not already used by another network service and hit OK. (We recommend setting a custom port to better enhance security against potential scans and attacks.)
12. Confirm your port number by hitting Yes.

13. Choose 2048-bit encryption and hit OK. (You can use 4096, but this would affect VPN performance.)
14. Hit OK and wait a while for various VPN-related things to be installed and configured.
15. Hit Yes when the installer asks you to use OpenVPN 2.4 if you know your favorite client supports it.
16. Choose DNS Entry and hit OK. (Leave on public IP if you have a static IP address and did not set up DNS for external access.)
17. Enter the custom DNS name for the VPN server.
18. Choose a DNS provider.
19. Hit Yes to reboot the Raspberry Pi.

Adding a user to the VPN

1. Run the following in the terminal: sudo pivpn add
2. Enter an identifying name for the user.
3. Set a secure password.
4. Now you need to copy the .opvn files stored in /home/pi/ovpns to devices you wish to connect to the VPN. You can think of these as certificates. Use a USB to take them off the Pi or connect to the device using an SFTP client like FileZilla.
5. Provided with the password and .opvn file, users will now be able to connect to the VPN.

Connecting to the VPN

1. Download the OpenVPN client, or you can use your favorite alternative.
2. Set up a new connection by importing the .opvn file and entering the user password.
3. Connect, and you're now good to go!

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:

1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).

2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

What you need to know

• Linux Raspbian XP Professional is an operating system inspired by Windows XP that you can install on your Raspberry Pi 4.
• The OS has a working Start Menu and several design elements inspired by Windows XP.
• The Raspberry Pi 4 is the only Raspberry Pi powerful enough to run the OS.

If you're missing the grassy fields and blue skies of Windows XP, you can put an operating system onto your Raspberry Pi 4 inspired by the classic Windows operating system (OS). The OS is called Linux Raspbian XP Professional, and it has a working Start Menu, search bar, and menus and icons inspired by Windows XP (via Tom's Hardware). The Raspberry Pi 4 is the only Raspberry Pi model powerful enough to run the OS.

The OS is an XP overlay, so it can't run Windows XP applications natively, but there are several emulators that let you use Windows apps on Raspbian. Linux Raspbian XP Professional has some emulation platforms preloaded, including BOX86.

The PI LAB YouTube channel showcases the OS and details some of its features.

If you want to run Windows applications on the OS, you can also use its built-in Windows 98 virtual machine. Alternatively, you can use Linux programs like the LibreOffice suite.

If you're a fan of tinkering with Raspberry Pi devices and Windows, you can check out our guide on how to install Windows 10 IoT Core onto a Raspberry Pi 3.

There are some awesome Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions out there that can be bought, set up and used within an hour. The downside to these devices is the cost, which can be upwards of $1,000 depending on what you need from connected storage. Luckily, if you haven't quite got enough cash to spare, or wish to build one yourself, it's easy to do with a Raspberry Pi.

Products used in this guide

• Buy the Pi: Raspberry Pi 4 CanaKit ($65 at Amazon)
• Download free NAS OS: OpenMediaVault (free)
• Pick up some NAS HDDs: Western Digital 4TB ($100 at Amazon)

How to set up your own Raspberry Pi NAS

We're big fans of Raspberry Pis. They're excellent pieces of kit that offer everyone the opportunity to purchase a ready-to-go micro PC that can do almost anything — within reason. One such use of the newest Raspberry Pi 4 is to run a home or office-based NAS. We use the OpenMediaVault software in this step-by-step guide. Just follow these steps:

1. Download OMV for Raspberry Pi onto a PC.
2. Create a bootable USB drive with the ISO image.
3. Connect the external hard drives to the Raspberry Pi.
4. Plug the drive into the Raspberry Pi and switch it on.
5. Select Install from the menu.
6. Carefully follow the install wizard (each step is well explained).
7. After updates have been installed, the server will reboot.
8. Wait for OMV to finish booting.
9. Login on the NAS, using the command line (type "root" and hit enter):
   • User: root.
   • The password is what you set during install.
10. Run the command ifconfig to view the set IP address.

1. Access the web interface by using the IP address in a browser on a PC.
2. Log in to the web interface:
   • User - admin.
   • Password - openmediavault.

After the installation process has completed and you've connected a device or two to the Raspberry Pi, you should consider the following:

• Change the web password.
• Activate various protocols, including SSH, SMB, FTP.
• Create file systems for each drive or partition you wish to use.
• Add users for friends and family.
• Create shared folders.
• Install plug-ins (like the excellent Plex Media Server).

There's no true "best" option for everyone when it comes to a NAS. There are many factors to consider, including price, storage capacity, features, noise, and power consumption. Solutions by Synology and other companies are sound choices if you wish to simply plug and play but they come with a few limitations. A Raspberry Pi is vastly more affordable, allows you to finetune how it's all set up, is ideal for those who wish to not rely on third-party support, and lets you master a NAS OS.

But there are some downsides. There's the lack of space within enclosures. When you install the small PC into a case, you don't have any space for a hard-disk drive (HDD), which means you'll need an external enclosure. There's also a steeper learning curve compared to other NAS operating systems.

Our top equipment picks

You'll need a Raspberry Pi at the very least. The other equipment featured here is optional but we highly recommend it.

For this guide to work, you need a Raspberry Pi and while it's easy to buy one on its own, you'd then need to purchase some heatsinks and a power supply. Picking up the CanaKit package ensures you've got all the internals sorted and a means to power the unit.

The case is made of acrylic and wraps around the Raspberry Pi, providing great levels of protection while leaving ports open for enhanced accessibility. The case even comes with heatsinks, just in case there's an issue with the ones supplied with the Raspberry Pi kit, and a fan.

This particular series of drives comes in 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 10TB versions. Depending on just how much space you require, it's possible to pick one up for as little as $65 (1TB). Each drive comes with the company's NASware 3.0 for enhanced reliability and performance. It's also worth noting that WD doesn't ship any mounting brackets or screws with these drives.

What you need to know

• Raspberry Pi 4 is the company's first single-board computer to offer up to 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
• It also comes with a more powerful processor, upgraded connectivity features, and the ability to run dual 4K monitors.
• You will be able to order one starting today for a starting price of $35.

Raspberry today announced the release of its latest tiny single-board computer, dubbed Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. The new model is a significant upgrade compared to the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ that was launched in March last year, even though its design may suggest otherwise.

Raspberry Pi 4 runs on a new quad-core Broadcom BCM2711 processor with four ARM Cortex-A72 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and support for H.265 decoding. Consumers will be able to configure the new model with up to 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, although the base configuration only includes 1GB of RAM. Previous Raspberry Pi models were offered with either 512MB or 1GB of LPDDR2 RAM. Thanks to the newer processor as well as the memory upgrades, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is a major step up from the earlier models in the performance department.

You also get two micro-HDMI ports, which allow the Pi 4 to push 4K output at 60 frames per second to two monitors at once. These upgrades make the Pi 4 a great option for consumers looking for a tiny and silent media center Pi — or a retro game console. In the connectivity department, the Pi 4 comes with Bluetooth 5.0 support instead of the older 4.2 version on its predecessor. Another notable upgrade is the addition of two USB 3.0 ports, supporting up to ten times faster data transfer speeds. To connect the single-board to the internet, you get an Ethernet port as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Along with the hardware improvements, Raspberry has introduced new Raspbian software based on the upcoming Debian 10 Buster release. The latest release brings a more modern user interface, new Chromium 74 web browser, and multiple technical improvements.

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B will be going on sale via authorized resellers starting today. While the base model of the Pi 4 with 1GB RAM will retail for $35, you will need to shell out $45 if you want the 2GB RAM model. The 4GB model, on the other hand, will be available at $55. While the 2GB and 4GB RAM models are no doubt more expensive compared to previous Raspberry Pi models, the significant improvement in performance does help justify the premium.

Of course, being a Raspberry Pi, you'll want to buy a Starter Kit that comes with a new USB-C power supply, heatsinks, and everything else you'll need to run the low-powered computer.

Choose between the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 B+ 32GB Ultimate Starter Kit or Super Retro Gaming Kit with both on sale for $69.99 at Woot. The kits sell for around $90 on Amazon. This is one of the best deals we've ever seen for either version. The only real difference between them is the Super Retro Kit has a case designed to look like a Super Nintendo and comes with some game pads.

The Raspberry Pi is an open platform computer that can be used for any number of things. Android Central has some of the more popular examples of things you can do, including setting it up for retro gaming or a smart camera.

If you go with the Ultimate Starter kit, you might want some retro game pads anyway. Or you'll want to get a larger SD card. Android Central has a break down of some of the best accessories for these kits, too.

The starter kit includes the 1.4GHz quad-core Model B+ Raspberry Pi 3, a 32GB microSD card, a 2.5A USB power supply with micro USB cable, custom LEDs you can install, and more. You'll get a high-quality case, an HDMI cable, two heat sinks, and both a reference card and quick start guide. The Retro Gaming version comes with two retro game pads and a retro case. The microSD card comes loaded with NOOBS (or Download Wizard for the Retro kit), which is a simple operating system installer with the Raspbian operating system designed for Raspberry Pi machines.

It's not Windows 10 as we know it from PCs, tablets, or phones, but Windows 10 internet of things (IoT) Core is another branch of Microsoft's ubiquitous OS designed to be run on low-power devices. Here's how to install Windows 10 IoT Core on the Raspberry Pi 3.

Products used in this guide

• Amazon: Raspberry Pi 3 ($37)
• Amazon: 5V 2A micro USB power supply ($10)
• Amazon: Sandisk 16GB micro SD card ($7)
• Amazon: HDMI cable ($6)

What is Windows 10 IoT Core?

Microsoft's official description:

Essentially it lets you use Windows technologies to build connected devices based on low-cost computing solutions such as the Raspberry Pi.

Microsoft has showcased some examples of projects constructed using Windows 10 IoT Core.

How to install Windows 10 IoT on the Raspberry Pi 3

For the first part, you don't need the Raspberry Pi at all, just the microSD card in its adapter and your PC. A prerequisite is that you're running Windows 10 version 10.0.10240 or higher.

1. Go to the Windows 10 developer center{.nofollow}.
2. Click Get Windows 10 IoT Core Dashboard to download the necessary application.

3. Install the application and open it.
4. Select set up a new device from the sidebar.
5. Select the options as shown in the image below. Make sure you select the correct drive for your microSD card and give your device a name and admin password.

6. Select the Wi-Fi network connection you want your Raspberry Pi to connect to, if required. Only networks your PC connects to will be shown.
7. Click download and install.

The application will now download the necessary files from Microsoft and flash them to your microSD card. It'll take a little while, but the dashboard will show you the progress.

Once the image has been installed on the microSD card, it's time to eject it from your PC and go over to the Raspberry Pi.

1. First, connect up the micro USB cable and power supply.
2. Attach the HDMI cable to the Raspberry Pi and your display.
3. Insert the micro SD card from above into the slot on your Raspberry Pi.
4. Power up!

The setup process

Unlike "proper" Windows 10, there's not much of a setup process here. You'll be asked to choose a language and enter your Wi-Fi password to connect to the web. That's about it. It'll take a couple of minutes, but when booted up you'll see the Windows 10 IoT Core splash screen.

It's deliberately light and you don't have access to much. The Windows 10 part is designed to disappear, since once you deploy an app to your Raspberry Pi, it becomes that app. There's no flipping in and out of Windows and launching apps like you would on a PC.

When booted, you can go back to the dashboard application on your PC, and you'll see your Raspberry Pi listed as one of your devices.

To get a feel for how things operate you can deploy a selection of sample applications to your Raspberry Pi to see how Windows disappears, and all you're left with is the application designed to run on the IoT Core. These include the classic Hello World, an Internet Radio app, and something that network connects to a 3D printer.

Developing is much more complex, but at least if you're interested in this new branch of Windows 10, it's easy and cheap to get up and running. To go further you'll need to download Visual Studio and start building code. Microsoft has a whole bundle of resources at your disposal, however, to help you get the most from your Windows 10 IoT Core experience.

Our top equipment picks

Usually using Linux, the Raspberry Pi 3 is also one of the officially supported Windows 10 IoT core devices, and since it's affordable, easily available and has a massive community and range of accessories, it's an absolute winner.

Additional Equipment

You may already have the extra bits you need to make the Raspberry Pi 3 work with Windows 10 IoT Core, but if not, here's what you'll need to grab.

5V 2A micro USB power supply ($10 at Amazon)

You don't need a lot of power for the Raspberry Pi and this all-in-one power adapter is perfect.

16GB SanDisk micro SD card ($7 at Amazon)

The micro SD card doesn't need to be huge, but it's essential to use the Raspberry Pi 3.

AmazonBasics HDMI cable ($6 at Amazon)

You only need an HDMI cable really during the initial setup, so this affordable option is perfect.

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the new $35 Raspberry Pi 3 board, Microsoft has issued an update for the Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview. It allows the "Internet of Things" version of the OS to be used by the newest member of the Raspberry Pi family.

In a blog post. Microsoft stated:

The Raspberry Pi 3 has a 1.2GHz 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 processor, 1GB of RAM, integrated Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.1. It's now on sale at two retailers and will be made available for sale later at the Microsoft Store.

• See at element14
• See at RS Components

Source: Microsoft

It's been four years since the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the 256MB Raspberry Pi Model A, and to celebrate the milestone, the charity is launching new hardware in the form of the Raspberry Pi 3. On sale for the same $35 as the Pi 2, the Pi 3 offers a 1.2GHz 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 CPU, integrated Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.1.

The Raspberry Pi 3 will be fully compatible with older models, so all the tutorials and projects will work the same on the latest hardware. The Cortex A53 CPU offers an increase of 33 percent in the clock speed, and is twice as powerful as the 900MHz Cortex A7 CPU used in the Pi 2. You get the same 1GB of RAM and 400 MHz VideoCore IV graphics solution as the Pi 2, and the Pi 3 also retains the dimensions of its predecessor.

For now, Raspberry is sticking to the 32-bit Raspbian OS that is used on other Pi devices, with the charity set to consider the value of offering a 64-bit flavor of the OS in the coming months. With eight million Pi devices in the market, Raspberry wants to ensure that the Pi 3 is fully comatible with older models.

The Raspberry Pi 3 is now available for $35 from the following retailers:

• See at element14
• See at RS Components

Source: Raspberry Pi blog

The latest addition to the Raspberry Pi family is here, and it costs just $5. Dubbed the Raspberry Pi Zero, the board is the smallest conceived by Raspberry, coming in at 65 x 30 x 5mm.

Here's what you get for putting down $5:

• A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
• 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
• 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
• A micro-SD card slot
• A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
• Micro-USB sockets for data and power
• An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
• Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
• An unpopulated composite video header
• Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm

The Pi Zero runs Raspbian along with popular applications such as Scratch, Minecraft and Sonic Pi. However, as it does not run the same chip as the Pi 2, you won't be able to run Windows 10 IoT.

The board is already sold out at element14 and Adafruit, although you can pick it up from other retailers listed below. Raspberry has also mentioned that the Pi Zero will also be given away for free with the December issue of MagPi.

• Buy Raspberry Pi Zero from ThePiHut (£4)
• Buy Raspberry Pi Zero from Pimoroni (£4)
• Buy Raspberry Pi Zero starter kit from Adafruit ($29.95)

Source: Raspberry Pi; Via: Neowin

Microsoft is opening up Windows 10 to more hardware with the first non-preview public release of Windows 10 IoT Core that can be used by the $35 Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel's MinnowBoard Max boards. Microsoft launched a preview version of the "Internet of Things" version of Windows 10 in late April.

The first non-preview version of Windows 10 IoT Core contains a number of improvements compared to the preview version launched in April, including support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connections. Other new features and improvements include:

• Improved support for Python and Node.js, including a new Express Node.js project template
• GPIO performance on the Raspberry Pi 2 has improved by 8X to 10X
• Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) are now supported via breakout boards and ICs
• New Universal Windows Platform (UWP) APIs give apps easy control over system management features like time zone and network connections

Microsoft adds that this initial version of Windows 10 IoT Core still requires a PC running the 10240 build of Windows 10, along with Visual Studio 15. It adds:

Source: Microsoft

Designed with the Raspberry Pi 2 in mind, the case comes with a removable frame and side panels, with the design allowing lights from the LEDs to shine through.

For those needing a refresher, Microsoft is focusing on the Internet of Things segment with Windows 10, with a custom version of the operating system rolling out to the platform — including the Raspberry Pi 2 — later this year. The case is available from MCM Electronics in the U.S., and Swag Store, element14, or RS Electronics in the U.K.

Head over to Raspberry's official blog from the link below to read all about the design and engineering effort that went into the case.

Source: Raspberry blog

Microsoft announced today that it is bolstering the "Internet of Things" (IoT) with the release of the Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview for developers and makers working with the Raspberry Pi 2 and Intel's Minnowboard Max.

While we've known for a while that Microsoft was working on bringing free versions of Windows 10 to the IoT space, this marks the first time developers will get a chance to test the operating system out with the Raspberry Pi 2 while providing feedback to Microsoft ahead of a full release this summer.

In addition, Microsoft has also announced a new partnership with Arduino to create a version of Windows 10 that can be employed in a wide range of devices. Microsoft details two key applications that are part of this first release:

• Windows Virtual Shield for Arduino enables developers to tap into the incredible power of Windows 10 devices through wireless protocols. A Lumia 530 contains well over $200-worth of Arduino shield sensors and capabilities, and we've made it easy to access all of those sensors and capabilities from an Arduino as if they were standard hardware shields. Imagine being able to create an Arduino project that includes GPS, Web connectivity/parsing, touch display, speech technologies and more. We're particularly fond of the picture the weather project we've created that lets you bring your children's drawings to life.
• With Windows Remote Arduino we're enabling developers to extend their Universal Windows Application with Arduino commands that execute on a wirelessly-connected Arduino device. It combines the power of Windows 10 device features such as image processing, speech recognition, website parsing, cameras and advanced audio pipelines with the power of physical world interactivity through Arduino.

This looks like a great start to Windows 10 for the IoT, and we're sure to see some interesting applications going forward. You can check out Microsoft's full blog post and how to get started with the Windows 10 IoT Core Insider Preview from the source link below.

Source: Microsoft

So, here it is. The $35 computer that will run a version of Windows 10 later this year. The Raspberry Pi 2 is an interesting little device in its own right, but with the announcement of a collaboration with Microsoft to bring the latest version of Windows to it, naturally it becomes even more interesting to us.

It's not going to be the full fat, pro version of Windows 10, instead a customized version delivered by Microsoft's developer program for the Internet of Things. But it'll be free to download to all Raspberry Pi 2 owners who register.

We've got one in preparation for what's to come, so here's a quick look at what it is – and isn't.

To recap on the hardware first, then. If you're not familiar with the Raspberry Pi, it's so low cost because you get a circuit board and nothing else for the basic asking price. There are cases and add-ons galore, but for the basic $35 asking price you get the circuit board and only the circuit board.

Here's what's on it:

• 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
• 1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• 40-pin GPIO
• 10/100 Ethernet
• HDMI out
• Composite A/V output
• Micro USB power (1.8A @ 5V)
• CSI connector for camera
• DSI connector for LCD display
• MicroSD card slot
• Circuitry

Originally designed to help get kids to learn to code, the Raspberry Pi became a favorite of nerds everywhere. The sequel gets a significant performance increase over both incarnations of the original, with twice the RAM and a promised 6x performance increase from the CPU. But aside from the bump in hardware, it should also be compatible with everything from the first Raspberry Pi, so makers already invested shouldn't have to completely start over.

It's actually pretty incredible that so much is possible from something so tiny. Realistically you're going to end up spending more than $35, partly because you're really going to want to put it in a case for protection if nothing else – a clear case will retain all the awesome beauty of the bare circuit board look. But the Raspberry Pi has an incredible community of really smart people making really incredible projects with it. You're probably not going to want to leave it alone.

For now, if you want to buy and tinker you'll need to load it up with Linux. Microsoft is going to show us more about the Windows 10 Raspberry Pi project later on this year, and we're really looking forward to that. With all the buzz around Windows 10 this is something really fantastic that we'll be following closely.

If you want to know more about the Raspberry Pi, check out the links below, including some helpful posts from our buddies over at Connectedly. If you're picking one up for Windows 10, you'll need to register in the IoT developer program which you'll also find a link for below. And more pictures.

• What is a Raspberry Pi
• System images for the Raspberry Pi
• Your introduction to the Internet of Things with Raspberry Pi
• How to set up a Raspberry Pi server
• The Raspberry Pi foundation
• Register for the Microsoft IoT developer program

Eben Upton, the CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, said today that the decision to add support for Windows 10 in their newly revealed $35 Raspberry Pi 2 was due in part to customer demand. He stated, "We've had people queuing up and saying they want Windows. I think there's a sense that 'you're a real PC' if you run Windows."

Previous versions of the super-cheap, and bare bones, Raspberry Pi could only use a version of Linux. However, the new Raspberry Pi 2 uses an ARMv7 processor, which also allows it to use the Internet of Things version of Windows 10. Upton spoke to The Register about what that means for the folks who buy the product:

Upton does state that people who get the PC with Windows 10 installed won't necessarily be able to use it in desktop mode or to run certain old-school applications. However, apps made for the PC will be able to access Azure cloud services, along with other APIs. Microsoft is expected to reveal more about their Windows 10 Internet of Things plans in the near future.

Source: The Register; Via: Neowin

Three years after the launch of the Raspberry Pi, the vendor is launching a second-generation model that comes with much better hardware. The Raspberry Pi 2 offers a quad-core CPU clocked at 900 MHz, GPU clocked at 250 MHz and 1 GB RAM, all for just $35. The device can also run a customized version of Windows 10, and will be available for free to the maker community involved in Microsoft's IoT efforts later this year.

The CPU is significantly more powerful from the single-core 700 MHz processor featured in the first-gen model. The built-in GPU can decode full-HD at 30 fps, and comes with a h.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec. The number of USB ports have been increased to four (from two), and other connectivity includes HDMI (video out), microSD, 100 Mbit Ethernet port and 3.5 mm audio jack.

The architecture has also seen an increment from ARMv6 to ARMv7, which allows the Raspberry Pi 2 to run full-fledged operating systems like Windows. The Raspberry Pi 2 is on sale now, with 100,000 units on offer initially. Head to the link below to purchase the device from one of Raspberry's distributors.

Source: Raspberry