If you want to host something on a Raspberry Pi, you should consider using literally any other piece of hardware

There are a lot of reasons not to give them your money. They're assholes to the maker community and they openly talk shit on a lot of their customer base. That's beside the point, though, really.

It's just not a spectacular option for hosting. In order to get a Rpi competitive with even the shittiest laptop from 7 years ago, you're going to end up spending more than you would spend on a decent laptop from 7 years ago.

If it is a computer that turns on, it will likely function orders of magnitude better than an Rpi and won't bind you to ARM architecture. My entire hosting setup was pulled out of a recycling pile for free. Install ubuntu/ubuntu server and enjoy yourself.

If you intend on spending any amount of money on this hobby, I cannot express enough how much I recommend against any of that money going toward a Raspberry Pi.

EDIT: A lot of you seem to be reading this as "Raspberry Pis are all nonfunctional" and getting mad about it. Don't do that.

Edit 2: Good to see that all the stupid parts of reddit made it here

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Can you expand on some of this?

I haven't really heard much regarding them being bad to their community/customer base, though I haven't bought in a few years.

In regards to cost/performance, what are you meaning you'd need to spend extra on to match that of an old laptop or recycled machine?
- Not OP, but my Lenovo tiny computer on ebay is about $60 and will run circles around a raspberry pi
  
  Power usage isn't too much higher, it's upgradeable, and it's x86-64 architecture so more things are supported.
  
  My tiny has an i7 and was a bit more expensive, but it's a powerful little guy. I added more ram for a total of 32, and it does better than my "old" server (technically from same era).
  
  Can't speak for the other stuff.
  
  facts, at this point you are paying for size, gpio and the fact that its a form factor with industrial grade options easily available. not really as useful for a hobbyist at the price though.
  
  For projects I prefer an ESP32 unless it needs a fancy GUI.
  
  Any ESP32 you would recommend with easy wired networking (like DHCP client), easy language (python, node, c#. Tbh these are just the ones I know), easy IDE, and a bunch of libraries (like OSC, WebSockets, mqtt, rabbitmq, as well as stuff for various GPIO stuff)?
  
  I've gone down a street of node-red on a raspberry pi, and I find it really easy to make complex things.
  But 90% of my stuff is node->JS function->node. And I feel like I could do better!
  
  Do you run Windows on yours, or have you installed a different OS to run things?
  
  I run proxmox on bare metal. I have a couple VMs for docker, and video game servers.
  
  Not op but I have 3 tiny PCs and I run Linux on them. But then I don't run windows at all because it honestly sucks.
  
  Windows is pretty great though
  
  for what...? Stealing your data, sending telemetry about how your kids play minecraft, serving up Ad's in your start menu, forcing updates that reset your configured preference, overriding group policies, abusive licensing, trying to shove bing and edge down your throat?
  
  No just overall experience. Everything runs better on Windows really. Anonymous usage shit doesn't matter to me really. As for anything I need to do Windows just does it better, I don't run into weird driver issues or update problems that cause things to crash miserably or lock me out of my boot sector with obscure errors I have to spend forever troubleshooting through a rabbit hole of forum posts and obscure nonsense. All the software I would ever need to use works fine including all the obscure stuff I have to use for work that I otherwise spend forever troubleshooting in arch, Ubuntu, mint, etc. Using wine, proton, or etc. It just works. I could plug any USB device in on Windows and get a little pop-up that says "you dude your shits ready to roll" and it's good. I used Linux for 15 years or so on and off and I was vehemently pro Linux like you are but dude it really does suck. Only way it works is if someone develops a distro with exacting, specific hardware in mind and tests it for a good couple years then releases it for others to use with the exact same hardware. Cases like Chromebooks, steam decks, Enterprise mainframes and servers. Yeah, that's fine, someone is putting in the time and effort to build specifically for this things. As for everything else, if you want shit to work and get your day to day work done as a grown up, not a great situation unless you somehow hit some sweetspot of hardware config that will supported. Otherwise most of your computing time is gonna be spent getting your computer actually functional
  
  The primary reason I have to fiddle with things in linux is because I want to do things that really are not possible in windows. I still have to use Windows for work because I am tied to specific software and in these cases I have no other choice.
  
  But I find I spend equal time fixing and supporting my windows machine as I do with linux. There are lots of valid complaints about linux and I have my own, the biggest is on Manjaro which I run for my daily it frequently has expired keys and updates just stop running correctly and the error messages are just bad.
  
  I personally hit the tipping point with windows on windows 10. Initially I loved it, and it seemed like a good upgrade from windows 7 which I had previously been using. But then Microsoft started forcing anti user features. I decided that rather than have to spend time after EVERY FORCED update hunting down the settings and registry hacks that had been changed again to what I expressly wanted.
  
  I personally see the value of Windows, but I would just disagree with it having a better experience. The experience is equally frustrating and the biggest thing holding people back is that they are used to the frustrations and dont think of them as being as significant as they are.
  
  Same with the HP elite desks, and don't forget you can get off lease Chromebooks with much better specs than pi for ~$60 as well
  
  The EliteDesks are nice, but beware top venting if you're planning to stack them vertically
  
  Yeah if someone is planning to stack I would definitely suggest they make sure they aren't buying the top venting models
  
  I have a few PIs already and like them, but if I was doing a system today I’d probably go with the HP Elite Desk (800 Gen 2 or 3 perhaps), sourced as an ex-gov unit which can be had very cheap. The PIs have gotten expensive enough that they’re basically price equivalent once you add a case and possibly an SSD to it, at least locally. Have used those HP systems at work and they’re decent little boxes.
  
  The caveat is that I’m not too fussed if I’m drawing extra power, as long as the performance justifies it. If power was a primary concern then the PI may still win out. I’m also not going to need to consider size in anything I do, and then then the micro PC form factors aren’t massive.
  
  Yeah, choosing between the two definitely isn't a black and white situation. I still use my pi's for a lot of things, and power is definitely a factor. Neatness is also a factor as well. Having a project where you need an SATA or m.2 drive especially as buying an enclosed case alone for that is gonna cost $40 at least and you have to give up a USB 3 port to do so. Again though not every project needs that and a lot of projects like a pihole or emulation box can function just fine with SD.
- if you don’t want to be replacing sd cards
  
  The truth hurts, but this is the truth. Clawing at those little shits is the most annoying thing ever.
  
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  I think you still need a SD card, and that looks like workaround and not the way its made. Also USB doesnt have enough power for disk so you need external psu or powered hdd case. I was using 1 SSD from USB and it was working, but it was struggling and system got corrupted eventually
  
  Because SD cards come with the Pi by default
  
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  I've heard log2ram can make the SD cards last much longer, I usually just make it read only though.
- If you don't want to be replacing sdcards every two weeks, you'll need to add a hard drive with an enclosure which will also need power. You'll also need an upgraded power supply for the pi. To deal with any sort of scale, you'll need more than one in a swarm. If you don't want them just out in the open air, you'll either need to coat them or put them in cases. It just all adds up to way more than a $5 ebay laptop with a broken screen that has 20x the performance.
  
  Don't buy garage SD cards. I have cards that have been in use for years.
  
  Dang I gotta stop getting my cards from garages?
  
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  I have an SSD connected to mine which doesn't need external power and runs fine off the "official" power adapter. The case I have isn't the greatest (two pieces of acrylic and some stand-offs lol), but it costed 50p and gets the job done.
  
  As for scale, you're beyond a Pi at that point.
  
  I had the same, but it got corrupted eventually. It seemed it was working fine, but it was impossible to complete smartctl test. I believe that rpi cant handle peak power draw every SSD. That SSD was running fine for 3-4 months and before that I had one running for 2-3 years. I feel like its kinda random and depends on your luck

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