Just because it can be kept running doesn’t mean it hasn’t outlived its usefulness.
The Heart of Linux
A month or so ago on Google Plus a spirited discussion took place on old hardware. Many held the belief that if old hardware can be used, for any reasonable need, it should stay out of the recycle cycle for as long as its able to be used, for any reasonable need. Well yeah…ya think? My organization has been doing this going on eleven years now.
To that point, there was a report that a mail server failure in a large business office remained a mystery for two days until someone found an old Pentium II back in the corner of some obscure closet with a burned out power supply. It is reported that the Slackware/Debian/Red Hat machine had been plugging away as a mail server for a number of years, completely unattended. That’s feasible I suppose, but I further suppose that it’s a modern day parable about how open source can indeed, carry the day.
Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue
With nothing but my head peeking around the door, I signaled her to enter and I turned by back quickly as I went into the bedroom to make myself presentable to the general population. I came back out of the bedroom and placed the electronic voice simulator to my throat.
I’m not going to argue that the Raspberry Pi should always be the device of choice for every situation. Sometimes it just doesn’t cut it and using it in a given situation will cause more work than necessary. Whenever I am asked the above question, I usually get the details of what the person is intending to do, and then talk about the pros and cons of the Raspberry Pi for that use. One of the things I always remind the person is that no matter how good Device X might be, you need to consider the community behind the device. In my opinion, a constantly growing supportive community is what the Pi offers over all other devices.
