I run it for my pi-hole. It's been great. It tells you when there are package updates when you log in, which I find helpful.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
140 points (98.6% liked)
Selfhosted
61021 readers
353 users here now
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
-
Be civil.
-
No spam.
-
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
-
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
-
Submission headline should match the article title.
-
No trolling.
-
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.
-
AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Got a tutorial link to set up the piehole with it? In the process of setting up my piehole with the default instructions from their website.
- Flash DietPi
- Boot
- Run
dietpi-software - Search for pi-hole
- Select and install
Thanks but I was hoping for a link with some more breakdown of the installation process and more resources to learn.
Dietpi.com
They have images for all sorts of devices, and for virtualization platforms (I run mine in VMware).
I ran a different one once before (built a Linux VM, installed Pi), this one was much easier, and it just works.
Unfortunately I can't remember whether I downloaded pihole from some package manager within DietPi, or whether I used the instructions on pihole's site. It's not hard either way, it's really just one package.
A gui is unnecessary for something like pi-hole. As for updates, you can easily automate installation of security updates via unattended-upgrades.
Given pihole's recent record with updates, I'm not sure I want them firing automatically.
Whether you automate pihole upgrades is separate from whether you automate debian package updates. I recommend at least automatically installing security updates for the OS, unless you want to manually keep track and do this for all your devices.
It's great. I've been using it for nearly a year and it just works brilliantly.
@tenebrisnox @Teppichbrand Would you recommend #DietPi for a #RPi Zero running a slim #HomeAssistant that will be dedicated to drive a kiosk? (no camera feeds)
I have been running Hassio on my rpi2 dietpi (supervisor mode) for 3-4 years now. Surprisingly, it's alive still. I am mot sure hassio still support this method (all docker managed), but if you're comfortable with linux you can make it work.
Yes I agree it is great. I am using it on a Raspberry Pi 400 for pihole. It's lean and conveniant.
How does it handle kernel updates? Can it do live patching?
I run DietPi on an OrangePi5+ to run Jellyfin on. It's brilliant
I've been running DietPi for years. Its so lightweight and stable. I love GUI-less Debian and its chefs kiss on a Raspberry Pi.
But does it work on other SBCs like OrangePi ?
I've been using DietPi on my SBC home servers (NAS, media service, pi-hope, etc.) since 2017 or so.
It's an excellent distro for headless operation and makes CLI easy to use for somewhat casual users.
For media, I use Jellyfin on an M1 MacMini.
How do you get around RAM requirements on SBC home servers with little devices like this? I am often streaming 4K files and the encoding/decoding can sometimes be mildly intensive depending on the file.
I have a Raspberry Pi 4B. Clients can directly play the media without any need for realtime transcoding. I could 4K transcoding being challenging for older Raspberry Pi SBCs.