5 cool things you didn’t know you could do with the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi family has grown a lot since the progenitor board started making the rounds in 2012, and the same can be said about the collection of projects you can build with these credit-card-sized systems. From the community-favorite ad-blocker Pi-hole and retro gaming setups to complex Home Assistant and weather station configurations, these tiny boards pack enough oomph to bring all your tinkering fantasies to life. But if you’ve grown bored after running the usual tried-and-tested experiments, here are some obscure ideas that are worth trying out on your green SBC.

5 TeamSpeak server

A low-latency, self-hosted alternative to Discord

Discord is undoubtedly one of the best communication tools out there, but TeamSpeak is a solid alternative when you want a self-hosted solution for your VoIP needs. Whether you’re into hardcore simulators where a tiny delay in communication can result in a team-wipe, or want complete control over your server, you won’t be disappointed with TeamSpeak.

Since TeamSpeak has x86_64 packages, you’ll need to undergo the complex procedure of installing the Box86 emulator if you want to set it up on the Arm-based Raspberry Pi. But if you’re using a high-end Raspberry Pi model, you shouldn’t encounter major performance issues when hosting your own TeamSpeak server.

4 ADS-B tracking

Aviation aficionados, assemble!

Contrary to your average Raspberry Pi-powered surveillance system or personal cloud, monitoring aircrafts using their ADS-B frequency may not be on everyone’s bingo list. But if you’re an aviation enthusiast, capturing real-time flight patterns using a Raspberry Pi can be a fun project.

The only caveat is that you must invest in an RTL-SDR-based dongle alongside an R820T tuner to build the aircraft tracker.

3 Car dashboard

Your average car dash can’t emulate Burnout games

If you’re tired of the limited features in your automobile’s bland-looking dashboard, you can build your own dashboard with a Raspberry Pi. Besides displaying your car’s statistics and playing your favorite music, the Raspberry Pi-flavored car dash can perform many useful functions, including streaming your media library, operating as a personal assistant, and even running your favorite retro games!

Unlike the other options on this list, this project is more complicated on the hardware side, as you’ll have to acquire a touchscreen display with precise dimensions to mod the Raspberry Pi dashboard into your car.

2 Programming hub for Arduino boards

Nothing better than writing codes for an MCU on your SBC

Arduino microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi SBCs are used extensively in computing projects, and once you take the plunge into the DIY landscape, you’ll find projects that rely on both families. But did you know that it’s entirely possible to program an Arduino MCU using your (non-Pico) Raspberry Pi board?

Since the Arduino IDE is available as an ARM64 package, you can set it up on your Raspberry Pi. Afterward, you can plug the Arduino into the Raspberry Pi like you would on a PC, and use the SBC to run code on the microcontroller.

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1 Docker experimentation machine

There’s a huge number of ARM64 apps you can host with Docker

When you think about experimenting with home lab projects, Raspberry Pi units don’t seem all that tempting. After all, virtualization platforms like Proxmox can barely work on these Arm-based SBCs even after multiple tweaks. However, containers, especially those hosted with the help of Docker, are an entirely different story.

Sure, you won’t be able to access the typical x86-64 and x86 images, but the Docker Hub houses enough ARM64 packages to satisfy any containerization enthusiast. So long as you’re not limited by the memory, you can run multiple self-hosted containerized services on your Raspberry Pi. Heck, if you’re not comfortable with the CLI nature of Docker Engine, you can switch to the Docker Desktop – or even a completely different distro like UmbrelOS – and experiment with containers to your heart’s content.

Building your dream projects with a Raspberry Pi

If you’ve already worked on these ideas and are looking for more, we’ve got you covered! While the all-powerful Raspberry Pi 5 starts to crumble before large LLM models, it’s more than capable of providing decent performance in the smaller AI text generators. However, trading enthusiasts can combine the pint-sized board with a miniature display to turn it into a price ticker that displays the details of your favorite stocks in real time. And the list grows even longer once you include the suite of applications you can host on your Raspberry Pi with the help of Docker containers.

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