Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!nntp-feed.chiark.greenend.org.uk!ewrotcd!.POSTED.chiark.greenend.org.uk!not-for-mail From: Theo Newsgroups: comp.sys.raspberry-pi Subject: Re: Just got a Pi1B. What can you actually do with it these days? Date: 11 Jun 2025 12:15:50 +0100 (BST) Organization: University of Cambridge, England Message-ID: References: <101teqs$1rt4d$2@dont-email.me> <102bo0j$1ucvo$1@dont-email.me> Injection-Info: chiark.greenend.org.uk; posting-host="chiark.greenend.org.uk:93.93.131.173"; logging-data="29447"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@chiark.greenend.org.uk" User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (Linux/5.10.0-35-amd64 (x86_64)) Originator: theom@chiark.greenend.org.uk ([93.93.131.173]) Gordon Henderson wrote: > In article <101teqs$1rt4d$2@dont-email.me>, > TronNerd82 wrote: > > >If you can think of any productive use-cases for an original Pi model B > >(not even the B+) let me know, and I'll consider it :-) > > I have a few (dozen) of these - 1B and 1B+ (40 pin GPIO header). I run an > older Debian Jessie on them for Linux and am experimenting with Devuan, > but I also have my own bare-metal framework under which I run either my > own RTB Basic (a modern basic where line numbers are optional) which > supports high resolution graphics but not (yet) sound. I can also run > my own OS under the same framework which is written in BCPL which allows > local editing and compiling of BCPL programs. If you're going non-Linux, RISC OS runs well on the Pi1. It was designed for an 0.5MB 8MHz ARM2, so a 512MB 700MHz Pi1 is ample. It can't use multiple cores so the Pi1 being single core is no problem. Also it doesn't do wifi so you'll have to use the ethernet anyway. Most apps are designed to run on 1990s CPUs so a Pi is no sweat. The main issue is likely to come for heavyweight apps like web browsers, but then you aren't running an ultra lightweight OS on underpowered hardware to surf the web anyway. Theo