Turn raspberry pi 4 to a portable pc and WiFi router with VPN

MinaJoeh

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Hello, I’m totally new to tech world and would like to learn how to build a mini pc from a raspberry pi 4 (4GB) model B kit that I got as a birthday gift. Would like to use a Linux os that I can access Microsoft office emails and teams and operate tasks likes in office suite, web browsing. Also, I wonder if a raspberry pi can be versatile enough to be both a pc and portable router with VPN for my phone and other devices. Will probably need to connect the pc with a data plan somehow to act as both modem and router. Eventually I’d like to build my own server with Linux for privacy and away with the annoying ads. Please let me know how to start this nice project.
 


I'll move this to Single Board Computers so it does not disappear so quickly.

Good luck and welcome to linux.org

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Welcome and Happy Birthday!

I will leave it to others to answer your Raspberry Pi questions.

(In case it helps, I have a Mac mini that I ran as small server with a remote desktop. It automatically launched a virtual machine at startup that ran firewall/router software securing the 100 Mbit/sec internet connection for our home. It shows that your concept is feasible, but I assume the Mac mini has more processor power and RAM than a Raspberry Pi. It ran macOS, not Linux.)
 
Welcome and Happy Birthday!

I will leave it to others to answer your Raspberry Pi questions.

(In case it helps, I have a Mac mini that I ran as small server with a remote desktop. It automatically launched a virtual machine at startup that ran firewall/router software securing the 100 Mbit/sec internet connection for our home. It shows that your concept is feasible, but I assume the Mac mini has more processor power and RAM than a Raspberry Pi. It ran macOS, not Linux.)
Thanks. Interesting to know. I’ll look that up to get a better understanding on the process.
 
Thanks. Interesting to know. I’ll look that up to get a better understanding on the process.
Just to be clear, it was the way I configured my setup with a Mac, but may not be the best setup under Linux. I had several reasons to use a virtual machine for my firewall/router (which may or may not apply to you). It was complicated to set up and make it work reliably on that Mac under macOS.

One thing to keep in mind are the risks of running the firewall/router on the same device as your desktop computer. In such a case, if an attacker succeeds in breaking through the firewall, then they "own" your desktop computer with all your personal data, too.

I hope someone shows up here with real Raspberry Pi experience. That would not be me.
 
I don't know much of anything about rasp pi, but MS office does give you the capability to run tasks through a browser. I would check into how easy/hard it would be to browse the internet with rasberry pi first. Who has already done it?
 
My Pi 4B has Ubuntu Mate installed on a USB SSD and can confirm it's fast enough to run Firefox, Libre Office, VLC etc. I also installed Raspberry PI OS on an SD Card which is also usable but a bit less responsive.

Not tried any Microsoft stuff or using it as a router/firewall/VPN but I doubt it has the grunt to handle all these tasks simultaneously.
 
I don't know much of anything about rasp pi, but MS office does give you the capability to run tasks through a browser. I would check into how easy/hard it would be to browse the internet with rasberry pi first. Who has already done it?
Many people. When I looked at the Raspberry Pi website, they offer entire Raspberry Pi based desktop computer kits with their own white and red keyboard and other accessories.

Website:

Personal computer and other products:
 

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