OrangePi SBC, Armbian, Pihole – quick and dirty
Preamble (just skip it or click and read it, whatever)
A quick way to get yourself your LAN - well not ad-free but way ad-less.
This blog post will be some weird mix between this existing post [here]fixlater, updates for it and less verbiage.
Just a side note: Browser-based ad blocking is way more efficient rather than filtering using DNS filter lists. The reason for this is that those in-browsing scripts can adjust the appearance of a website directly while DNS based blocking simply does not allow content from specific domains to be loaded. Depending on the used browser the result may vary.
So why wasting time and money to set something up like this? Three reasons:
- Especially on mobile devices you cannot simply install ad filtering software without enhanced access to your device (like “rooting”). Yes, there are apps like Block This! but maybe you need your VPN capabilities elsewhere
- Other apps do not depend on browsers and sideload their ads other way, like the YouTube app on Android or any ad-funded app. If you cannot attack the enemy from within you have to surround him.
- You have lots of devices and/or share your LAN/WiFi with others and want to serve your legacy of ad-free browsing with just being connected to the network
To be clear: This tutorial is way not bulletproof nor it is dedicated to total newbies and there will probably be tons of room for improvements. Some basic knowledge about Linux, especially Debian and networking is highly recommended. Though if you have questions do not hesitate to get in touch with me on Twitter I may do a kind of bulletproof tutorial from scratch if someone sponsors me a new OrangePi One SBC or any other more expensive board :-P. I decided to continue this in English as you may have noticed. Simply to get more reach.
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