rPi vs Android (Good vs Good Enough for a Pi-hole)

[/RaspberryPi]

Here's my thoughts regarding use of an AliExpress Android TV box, versus an rPi for something as lightweight as Pi-hole. [TL;DR - Either is good, your call.]
First of all, if supply chain issues have relaxed when you read this, please stop reading and go buy a proper hobby-friendly RaspberryPi or other ARM-based SBC made for purpose. With that said...
[h=1]Raspberry Pi[/h] + Better in every conceivable way, lots of community support
- Unobtanium or marked-up into stupidity
[h=1]Android TV Box[/h] + Inexpensive, "works fine"
- Fewer support resources. Requires bending device to your will to some degree.
​
The AliExpress 'special' these days is a $28 pre-rooted Android box:
- ARMv8 SBC with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage
- Ethernet + Wi-Fi
- Enclosure
- Power supply
The 4GB version is a few dollars more if you want to do other things, but you only need around 512MB to Get The Job Done.
The closest you can get with a Real Pi is a Pi Zero 2 W + Case + PS + Ethernet for, what - about $40? Not a fair fight performance-wise, the AllWinner H616 will smack around a Zero all day... BUT this is irrelevant to the question asked. They'll both run Pi-hole just as well.
I was more inclined to go with the Android device as it's already in a nice little case. Turned it into a little bit of a bonus when I learned the silly front-mounted clock powered on/off with one little binary. There are ways to fully program it, but lots of fuss, and the simple ability to turn it on or off allows me to script a background task that watches my network:
Solid Clock = All Good | Slow Flash = No Internet Access | Fast Flash = No Gateway
One thing in the Zero's favour you want to note -- You can't trust some Internet rando's promise it'll all Just Work on Android like it did for me; you have to have some confidence in your ability to Google if something goes unexpectedly. If you're not sure, just pay the extra $12 for a much better documented solution. Once everything is setup and works, either solution will probably run forever.

submitted by /u/desktopecho
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