If you're thinking about bringing a Raspberry Pi on a road trip, your first thought might be to bring along a RetroPie rig (here's how to install RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi 4 if you want to see how quick it is to set up). However, maker and developer ImJustWhelmed, as they're known over at Reddit, has put together a really awesome road trip Pi setup that lets you stream movies and TV shows easily—and locally—while on the go.
The setup is a little complex but the idea behind it is simple. The Raspberry Pi is hosting a Plex media server which lets you stream movies, TV shows or whatever else you've got stored locally. You don't need an internet connection to make it work, you just need enough storage space to host all your data.
Because an internet connection isn't necessary, this makes it ideal for taking on the road where a network connection isn't guaranteed. It also helps that there's a lot of versatility in using a Raspberry Pi. You can add additional features to your build, like RetroPie for retro gaming while on your trip.
ImJustWhelmed has opted to use a Raspberry Pi 4 to power the operation but you could get away with using a Raspberry Pi 5 in its place. The Pi is connected to a 2TB SSD that connects via USB for storing the Plex media. A portable TP-Link travel router is thrown in, as well, so the Pi can be assigned a static IP and work as part of a mobile LAN. ImJustWhelmed also included a Roku 4K Stick in case there is an internet connection so streaming even more content is possible.
The main operating system used for this project is just Raspberry Pi OS which serves as a platform for the Plex server to run on. This also makes for a handy mini desktop, so you could browse the internet, emulate games and do pretty much anything else you can think of. However, there's no screen so you'd have to remote in like with any other headless setup.
If you want to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, you can check it out over at Reddit where ImJustWhelmed has shared plenty of details about its construction.
