Navigating the Umbrel 1.2 hardware choice

The choice between Raspberry Pi and NVIDIA Jetson determines the hardware foundation for an Umbrel 1.2 deployment. Raspberry Pi setups utilize a specific storage architecture where the base OS lives on the microSD card. All apps, data, the Bitcoin blockchain, files, settings, and configurations reside on the external SSD. This design lets you reflash the SD card without losing your data. NVIDIA provides an alternative through the Jetson Orin Nano 2 for Physical AI applications like robotics, vision AI, and delivery drones.

The Jetson Orin Nano 2 includes improved Tensor Cores and higher memory bandwidth. Engineers at CTai LABS recently showed that systematic memory, model, runtime, and platform optimization can shrink a Physical AI workload from a 64GB Jetson AGX Orin configuration to 32GB. Connect Tech supports this platform with more than a decade of NVIDIA Jetson experience.

Avoiding the Mender update failure

The Mender update system causes frequent failures for users attempting to jump between versions. I see logs where the system reports that no public key was provided for authenticating the artifact. The update also fails when the device reports a broken device manifest file or an empty artifact name. One error specifically shows that no server URL exists in the mender configuration. The system also falls back to defaults when UpdateControlMapExpirationTimeSeconds and UpdateControlMapBootExpirationTimeSeconds are not set in the /var/lib/mender/mender.conf file. One user attempted to update from 1.1 to 1.2.1 by running sudo mender install for the amd64 update, but the system returned errors because the current Artifact name was empty.

I recommend the clean flash method for Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 users to avoid the problematic in-UI OTA updates. The in-UI process causes apps to fail to start for many users. First, I use the Umbrel 1.5 built-in backups to save everything to a USB, NAS, or another Umbrel. I download the umbrelos-pi4.img.zip from the official GitHub releases. I flash the new image to the microSD card using Balena Etcher or Raspberry Pi Imager. I insert the flashed SD card and connect the external SSD before I power on the Pi. The Pi detects the data on the SSD and restores all settings. This first boot process takes between 5 and 10 minutes. I then access the system via umbrel.local or the Pi’s IP address.

Beyond the containerized app store

The software ecosystem contains various paths for those moving beyond basic app stores. Umbrel and CasaOS both provide a dashboard to install existing containerized software. Umbrel includes an app store with over 300 apps. I note that the Umbrel source code follows the PolyForm Noncommercial license. This license allows personal and nonprofit use but is not an open-source license. CasaOS uses the Apache 2.0 license and allows users to add third-party repositories.

Alternative platforms have different priorities for homelab and team environments. CapRover manages containerized apps with a single dashboard and automates Let’s Encrypt certificates. TrueNAS focuses on storage with ZFS datasets, snapshots, and replication for data integrity. Cloudron manages centralized app management with per-app backups. Coolify uses Docker Swarm for one-click app repositories. YunoHost provides a Debian-based distribution with an app catalog. Dokku is a command-line platform that uses git push to deploy applications.

PhreshOS provides a different experience for people who build their own tools. It runs programs written specifically for the system using web technology. These programs share one sign-in, one Desktop, and a way to reach other programs via Services. Programs open as windows on the Desktop Map. Users can also use a phresh command-line tool to connect external AI agents like Claude Code or Codex to the system. PhreshOS uses the MIT license.

Nginx Proxy Manager provides a web-managed reverse proxy and handles Let’s Encrypt issuance. Users can route subdomains to containers without manual Nginx configuration. Dokku is a command-line platform that uses git push to deploy applications. It manages environment variables and persistent storage through volume mounts. For teams that need identity management, Cloudron manages Keycloak and Vault deployments. It manages ingress routing and certificate handling to ensure stable public access.

Can a user reliably manage a large containerized stack on a Raspberry Pi without an external SSD?