This first video covers the hardware setup of a Raspberry Pi 4b+ device (4gb or 8gb) to be used with the Nextcloud services.
The series includes the installation and setup of the service using Ubuntu Server 20.4 (64-bit).
Ubuntu is a Linux based operating system. While Ubuntu provides a desktop for the operating system, this feature isn't covered (in order to save on computer resources) and focuses on setting up the necessary
service using a traditional command window (used in Unix and Xenix operating systems) using SSH (Secured Shell) or the traditional terminal window.
This 90 minute video covers everything that is needed to prepare the device to work with the Nextcloud application that will be covered in the next video.
Video 2 covering the installation of the Nextcloud application will be produced in February 2022.
Overclocking Raspberry 4
In January, all three Raspberry 4 devices were overclocked to 1.9 GHz. Based on information provided, this adjustment doesn't void any warranty on the device (as long as it doesn't go above 2 GHz and the video processor isn't overclocked as well).
This can improve the performance of the device from the standard 1.5 ghz provided when you purchase the device.
Since this cloud server application is an internet project, this adjustment should work better for internet applications since many web server run at the minimum of 2 GHz.
Using Raspberry Pi with 4k televisions
Because of the configuration of the video features of the Raspberry Pi, plugging the device into a 4k television
may result in difficulties getting a picture to appear. In order for the device to work with your display, the
following settings must be applied:
From the command screen (may have to use SSH to log into the computer as discussed in the video series) type
in the following:
sudo nano /boot/config.txt (press enter)
The following lines should be added to the file on the screen:
hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=16
Once entered, press ctrl X. Press enter to save the file.
Once you are out of nano, type in the following:
sudo reboot (press enter)
The screen should appear on a 4k television (using 1080 resolution).
If the screen isn't appearing, make sure that you are using the mini HDMI connector next to the power supply.
If after plugging in your display into the first HDMI connector and there isn't any improvement, edit config.txt
and add the following:
hdmi_max_pixel_freq:0=200000000
hdmi_max_pixel_freq:1=200000000
Once the file is saved and the computer is rebooted, this will disable 4k mode using a lower resolution to match your display.
Unless you plan on using a Raspberry Pi to watch 4k videos (using Kodi), having 4k isn't necessary for this device.
Using a 4gb or 8gb Raspberry Pi 4b+ with this project
This application relies on a great deal of allocating RAM for caching applications used on the cloud server to increase performance and speed.
These resources can take 50% of the memory installed on the hardware for this purpose.
While the project was started with a 4gb model (the 8gb hadn't been released yet) it did work well to use for daily operation until recent upgrades for Nextcloud and the requirement to use PHP 8.0 slowed the system down.
This upgrade was necessary to facilitate the security needs used in MySQL 8.0 Servers due to the built in encryption systems used. It was decided to upgrade the server to the 8gb model once version 22 was released.
With the 8gb model, the system can allocate 2gb of RAM for cache services while providing additional space needed for collaboration server tasks (working on office documents such as spreadsheets, presentations, and electronic documentation) that can be viewed, edited, and added in a group setting.
If you plan on using this to work with Microsoft Office documents, it is better to use the 8gb model than the 4gb model.
Power Point presentation
For details, visit the website Nextcloud.com
Transcript