TL;DR
Stuff on sale might be a better choice. Be observant.
Been planning for a three-computer homelab experiment for years. A main computer, a slightly simpler secondary and a tiny always-on microserver. All silent and desitned for offgrid life.
The main computer (the one I’m typing this on) is a Rock 5B running openSUSE Tumbleweed. It’s still limping along but being stable enough for heavy use. After almost a year of tinkering the machine is on the verge of being fully functional. All the bits and bobs are ready. I just have to get everything configured properly. At least that’s what I hope for.
So far the secondary has been a Raspberry pi 400. Not a very powerful computer but enough for flashing SD cards for the main system and for some mental experiments for a Radxa keyboard computer that seemingly never becomes reality. For some reason I also seem to pay my bills with the secondary. Probably because it is located on a desk.
The third computer – the always-on one – has been cooking in my mind intensively for months. Ultimately it came down to chosing between Radxa’s zero 3W and Raspberry pi zero 2W. …and figuring out what Linux distributions to use. The computer is intended to monitor equipment in the household (and run a minimal web server for Fediverse verification). A bit like how the “small brain” (cerebellum) controls the movements of the body at all times. So… A rock 5B as main, a pi 400 as secondary and a zero 3W as cerebellum?
But then I saw one of my favourite online shops having a sale, and the plan changed.
They had the rock 5B (8GB) on sale for a price only a bit higher than a zero 3W (8GB). I just needed to check if I still could buy the KKSB passive case for the 5B before making the online purchase. Within some days there’ll be a new secondary in the household, replacing the pi 400.
Now I just have to figure out where I packed the old Raspberry pi zero. Cerebellum duties awaits.