I read the recent article Best Accessories to Supercharge Your Raspberry Pi and wondered how many folks have used Raspberry Pi?
I always seem to have a few older laptops or desktops around to play with and don’t really need an even lower powered device to test things on. Even though they are super inexpensive.
All those accessories seem like they could turn a Pi into a very usable device, for average browsing purposes anyway.
@pdecker :
Hi, 
I´ve never used or owned a Raspberry Pi so far but the topic has always been intriguing to me to some extent. I try to follow reports on it, yet pretty irregularly.
So I´m afraid I cannot be of much help to you. 
On Issues — The MagPi magazine I used to download the pdf version of the magazine issues which are quite interesting, I guess.
The January version seems to be right out now: here .
It be be worth taking a look at it… 
Many greetings
Rosika 
Here I am 
I have a RPi 3B+ in my living room hidden behind the TV.
It runs Raspbian Buster.
It has multiple roles:
My mediaplayer with Kodi, atteched to my LCD TV. (Remote controlled via TV’s remote controller through CEC)
A network scanner with a Canon Lide 60. Usually my wife scans multiple pages with the ‘scanner’ app on her laptop, but all the computers on our network can use it.
Audio endpoint attached to my amplifier; I had various USB soundcards, now a HifiBerry. Pulseaudio runs as a system daemon, and waits connection via module-native-protocol-tcp, usually I send audio stream to it from Spotify on my laptop, but everyone in our network can use it. It can work via bluetooth as well, so phones can use it as bluetooth speaker too.
There’s a settop box for receiving TV broadcast, this is detached from the mains. But the RPi switches it on with a relay, when it recieves a message over CEC, that the input is set to the HDMI that has the settop box connected. When the input ‘moves’ away, the settop box looses power.
Networked display extension: still under construction, I just need some free hobby time to finish it completely.
Different priorities on the interests I guess. I usually complain to myself about how much space is taken up in each LInux Format magazine issue coverying Raspberry Pi related stuff. Mostly I just skip past it or very lightly browse it.
I have a couple Nvidia Shields behind a couple of my TVs. They run AndroidTV and I use the heck out of them. Sometimes for music but more often for TV and movies. They do support gaming too, but I rarely do any of that. At least not on the Shield. I do some gaming on the PC. Tons of Half Life in the past.
I also have an HP multi-function printer/copier/scanner/fax on the network. It’s been a pretty solid performer for the past 5 years or so. I can’t remember the last time we faxed something. Especially since we haven’t had a land line for about 5 years.
We’ve deployed ever 800 pi’s in the field. They are part of our monitoring equipment. Ive used them for many purposes and repurposed them several times.
Pi and ARM SBC - don’t get me started!. Oh all right
Pi4 B :
Headless 4GB RAM model (booting off USB 3 Samsung T5 SSD) running Raspbian Buster (i.e. Debian 10 - 64 bit - arm64/aarch64) next to my WiFi Router / VDSL Modem - I used to run PiHole on it - but that stopped things like SBS On Demand (Australia “free” to watch streaming service) working - and - I used Brave everywhere so that takes care of ads anyway (sorry FOSS) - and it’s also effectively my Jumphost into my home network (I port forward a non-standard port from my router to the pi so I can SSH to it from the world intertubes) and I also run OpenVPN server on there.
Accessories :
Pi4 B :
Ubuntu 22.10 on 8 GB model, currently not using it, booting off 256 GB USB 3 stick.
Accessories :
Pi4 B :
Kali Linux - when I can figure out how to make it boot from USB (or be arsed to restart my Kali self learning exercises).
Accessories :
Pi3 B :
Raspbian Stretch (9) - headless - it’s basically just a TV tuner over my network. I run TVHeadEnd on it and can tune into all the free to air TV stations in my city.
Accessories :
“Official” TV Hat (TV Tuner)
Pi3 B: (not currently in use - was planning to make it into a retro looking Mac Plus [I have a gutted case]).
Pi Zero W (x 2 - not currently in use) - was running a “headless” Kali on one of them. I’ve lost interest in Kali anyway…
Pi Zero 2 W (headless)
Note : the “2 W” is a game “changer” - it’s even 64 bit capable! It’s basically a P3B with half the RAM. I find 512 MB RAM more than adequate for a headless use case. I’m using mine as a “gadget” - i.e. all three of the “gadgets”, USB ethernet, USB storage, USB serial. Note - in Au, the Zero 2 W is very hard to get hold of - I had to pay extra to get in a kit with a bunch of accessories I didn’t need).
Accessories :
I’ve got a bunch of “gadget” thingies for Pi Zero that convert the Pi into what looks like a big thumb drive - but not currently using them - plan is to convert the black plastic case so it can house the USB “hat” (note these have a USB Type A connector - like a thumb drive).
OKAY - so that takes care of Pi and stuff.
I’ve also got a bunch of other ARM SBC’s around the place
Orange P2+E
Running Armbian : with transmission Daemon server - that’s all it does, nothing else, downloads torrents to my NAS - no accessorized.
NextThing CHIP
I have 10. Hardly ever use them. They’re just as limiting as the Pi Zero (512 RAM single core). I also have a PocketCHIP, which I do use sometimes, it’s a neat “toy”. Also - they’re limited to Debian Jessie (I think there’s a way to hack them for Stretch and beyond but looks like a SHITLOAD of work for zero reward). One of the best things about CHIP? They had a CHARGING circuit for LIPO batteries! And a headless CHIP could run for HOURS on a smallish (1" x 1") LiPo! Pi Foundation have still NOT managed this!
Accessories (note NTC marketed their “hats” as “dips”, as in CHIP dip)
Pine 64
Not in use - Pine are UTTERLY USELESS, I stupidly bought two of them when they got advertised on Kickstarter as “world’s first $15 super computer” - MY ARSE! They were trying to cash in on NextThing’s (initial) success with CHIP, touted on Kickstarter as “world’s first $9 computer”. Pure utter garbage with UTTER garbage support.
Orange Pi ??? (forgotten what) - powered off in the bottom of a crate under a pile of other crates.
Banana Pi (the original circa 2014 / 15)
I was using it to take to work to keep my ResilioSync shares, at work, in sync with those at home. Like the CHIP, they also have a LiPo charging circuit on board, except you have to solder leads onto terminals on the board (and my soldering looks VERY ugly!). At the bottom of the same crate the extra Orange Pi calls “home”.
I’m going to plug my favourite Aussie store where I pretty much bought nearly ALL of my Pi Foundation stuff and other Pi accessories : Core Electronics just near my hometown of Newcastle, in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales :
I’ve always been intrigued by the availability, but not a patient tinkerer. @pdecker If you decide to give it a try, we’ll be eagerly awaiting your first impressions!