Summary

• Unleash the potential of your old printer with a Raspberry Pi-powered print server. Perfect for wireless printing!
• Turn your Raspberry Pi into a retro FM radio with a TEA5767 module - just be careful with those jumper cables.
• Set up a Kubernetes cluster on your Raspberry Pi for affordable container management. Perfect for learning server management.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation forever changed the world of SBC computing with the release of the first-ever RPi model in 2012. Before you knew it, these affordable yet highly capable miniature devices had amassed a large crowd of enthusiasts from all walks of life. As the community continued to grow, so did the repertoire of projects you could create with the Raspberry Pi SBCs.

Today, you can find cool Raspberry Pi ideas regardless of your skill level. But if you consider yourself an advanced DIY specialist, here are ten Raspberry Pi projects that you can experiment with to put your computing skills to the test.

10 Raspberry Pi-powered print server

A great way to enable wireless functionality in your old printer

Printers may not be as useful as they were a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean printed media has become obsolete yet. If you’re rocking a dinosaur printer that can’t print wirelessly, then you can use your Raspberry Pi to breathe some new life into it.

Once you’ve set up the CUPS package, you’re free to add all your printers and schedule jobs using the web interface. The reason why it’s at the bottom of the list is because the print server is not very complicated to figure out; it just takes a bit of time, that’s all.

9 FM radio

Your favorite radio stations inside a tiny Raspberry Pi

By now, you must have noticed that all Raspberry Pi boards (besides Pico and certain Zero models) have a 40-pin GPIO connector at the top. These pins are useful for a variety of purposes, including connecting sensors and third-party modules to expand the functionality of your Raspberry Pi.

Heck, you can even pair a TEA5767 module with your Raspberry Pi and use it as an old-school FM radio. While the software part is easy, connecting the jumper cables between your Raspberry Pi and the TEA5767 can be nerve-wracking, especially considering that one false move could damage both the sensor and your RPi board!

8 Windows 11 machine

It will put your pateince to the test

Despite Windows’ dominance over the operating system market, several platforms are unsupported by Microsoft’s uber-popular OS family. Fortunately, the talented folks at Windows on R managed to get Windows 10 and 11 working on the Raspberry Pi boards. However, this process is extremely cumbersome – and not for the right reasons.

Once you’ve flashed the Windows 11 ARM file, you’ll have to sit through a grueling installation procedure that’s chock-full of driver issues and, worst of all, a barrage of advertisements about Microsoft products. I wouldn’t call it a complicated project – it’s just extremely time-consuming and tedious, though the final result is worth the effort.

7 Kubernetes cluster

Capable of running multiple Docker containers

Kubernetes is one of the most popular platforms for managing containers created using Docker. While a Raspberry Pi may be underpowered for demanding workloads, it’s entirely possible to set up Kubernetes and Docker using your Raspberry Pi boards.

Heck, you can even ditch the virtual environment and run a bare metal Kubernetes cluster on your Raspberry Pi for superior performance. It’s one of the most affordable yet fun ways to get the hang of Docker containers and learn the basics of managing master and leaf nodes in Kubernetes, especially if you’re interested in server management.

6 NAS-berry Pi

Props to you if you build it without using OpenMediaVault

A Raspberry Pi-flavored NAS may not be able to go toe-to-toe with the best NAS enclosures out there, but it’s a great way to back up your important documents without spending a lot of money. For those rocking older Raspberry Pi models, it’s possible to flash OpenMediaVault on an SD card and call it a day.

But if you’re a proud owner of the newest member to the Raspberry Pi family, you’ll have to spend an evening executing terminal commands, modifying permissions, and tweaking configuration files to turn the SBC into a NAS. And that’s before you try to configure a Samba server…

5 Weather station

Monitoring the environmental parameters with a Raspberry Pi

If you like to keep tabs on the temperature, air pressure, and humidity of your surroundings, you'd love to build a weather station out of your Raspberry Pi. Like the FM radio, you’ll need some extra peripherals for this project, namely a sensor (like the BME280 module) that’s capable of detecting minor variations in environmental parameters.

For those already used to handling jumper cables, connecting the sensor to the Raspberry Pi shouldn’t be that big of a deal. However, the real fun begins when you have to alter several lines of code to read input from the BME280 module and record it in a database on your Raspberry Pi.

4 Android with Google Apps and Magisk

Installing Android is easy; configuring Google Apps is not

I consider an Android-powered Raspberry Pi to be a rather simple project: all you have to do is flash either Emteria, AOSP, or LineageOS onto your memory card. However, the difficulty increases exponentially when you install Google Apps on your Raspberry Pi.

Before you can even sign in to your Google account, you’ll need to know the basics of installing ZIP files via bootloader. Once you’ve installed the Google Apps Suite, the next hurdle is to certify your device for Play Protect, which involves a wild goose chase of finding your Raspberry Pi’s Android ID using ADB commands. And that’s before you consider the equally demanding procedure to install Magisk modules on your Android Pi.

3 DIY Game Boy console

With a chassis, buttons, and all the other bells and whistles

Thanks to a plethora of emulation-oriented operating systems, the Raspberry Pi makes for a perfect retro gaming machine. However, just flashing Lakka, RetroPie, or Recalbox onto the microSD card may not be enough if you want the full retro gaming experience.

If you’re someone who possesses the heavenly virtues of grit, passion, and patience, then you can even turn your Raspberry Pi into a replica of the good ol’ Game Boy handheld! While it’s a neat project, you may have to subject your Raspberry Pi to dremels and soldering to get that sweet blast of nostalgia.

2 Natively run Steam games

Way more difficult than turning the RPi into a Steam Link machine

If your TV doesn’t support the Steam Link functionality, then you can use your Raspberry Pi to stream your favorite games from your top-of-the-line PC. But what if you want to remove the PC from the equation, and just run games on the Raspberry Pi?

The good news is that you can not only set up Steam on this tiny SBC, but you can even run select games on it. The bad news is that there’s an extremely small number of titles that run on Raspberry Pi boards without seeming like a PowerPoint presentation. Then there’s the issue of actually configuring Steam to work with your Raspberry Pi. Trust me, you’ll require a lot of patience and plenty of terminal commands for this project.

1 Web server

The definitive project for coding enthusiasts

Although I have a love-hate relationship with coding, I’ll have to admit that fewer things can surpass the joy of creating and hosting your first website. If you’re new to web development, I highly suggest grabbing a Raspberry Pi to build your own web server.

Sure, it’s one of the more complex Raspberry Pi projects, but it can give you a lot of insight into how websites work behind the scenes, especially if you’re a novice developer. As a bonus, most modern Raspberry Pi models are powerful enough to host a small website or two, so you can even grab a free domain name and deploy a full-fledged website using this miniature computer.

Which Raspberry Pi project gave you the most trouble?

And that’s it for the list of our favorite Raspberry Pi projects that required more than a little bit of elbow grease. I had the most trouble setting up the makeshift NAS and getting Steam to run on my Raspberry Pi 5.

But if you haven’t built anything with the Raspberry Pi yet, I suggest checking out our favorite easy-to-make projects instead. Configuring headless Raspberry Pi serves as a great start for any newcomer to the world of SBCs. I also recommend creating a network-wide firewall and a time-lapse camera before tackling the more complex Raspberry Pi projects on this list.