Category: Electronics

I was going to use this cool cart I found as a Raspberry Pi station, but I found myself needing a decent Linux server for a project, so I decided to rethink my plans. Being on a budget, I repurposed a 2012 Mac Mini I bought off eBay by installing Ubuntu on it and fitting it into the cart. I was lucky to find a Quad-Core i7 Mac Mini that was already tricked-out with 16GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and an additional 1TB HDD for storage. This makes it a surprisingly swift little machine, despite its age. I had to find the right networking drivers to get the Wi-Fi working, but otherwise it was a pretty painless installation. I’m going to use this for running longer Python scripts, so I don’t have to use up my main computer’s resources.

I wanted a dedicated space for tinkering on Raspberry Pi, so I set this up. I bought a Medical Teleconference cart from a government surplus auction for $50, which I repurposed to be a great adjustable standing desk. Plus, it has lots of built-in cable management and a perfect cubby for holding the Pi. Then I lucked out and found an awesome monitor at the thrift store for $30. The rest of the gear I had lying around. Now I have a really convenient place where I can play with Pi, and as a bonus my home lab has a computer. I plan on using this setup to do some experimenting with Machine Learning soon, so stay tuned.