this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Is an old raspberry pi useful for anything based on Linux? (programming.dev)
submitted 4 days ago by vrek@programming.dev to c/linux@programming.dev
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I don't expect much but I found an old pi I bought probably 2016(may of been 2017). It was supposed to be a pi-hole but was never able to get the dns forwarding to work on my modem. It still works but wanted to somehow convert it to a regular distro(it's based on a micro-SD and I don't have any more microsd readers). I wanted to set it up as a basic system I could ssh into a terminal. Not expecting anything fancy or even graphic based. A lot of stuff I want to learn/practice "work" on windows but are native to Linux, like vim/neovim nmap gcc etc. Is this feasible? Am I under estimating what's possible with it?

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[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You can certainly install some Linux on it (Raspian is Linux) and then just tinker around. Check how much RAM it actually has and see which apps work on it.

[–] vrek@programming.dev 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'll have to check out the ram. I know it boots and network and hdmi work but will have to dig out a spare keyboard to try to log in and see what it can do

[–] tofu@lemmy.nocturnal.garden 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Just I'd enable ssh asap so you don't have to connect all that stuff permanently. There's a way to modify the boot SD card so Raspian comes up with Wi-Fi/network and ssh enabled iirc, so you don't need to connect anything but a power cable

[–] brian@programming.dev 2 points 3 days ago

yeah, it's a setting in the official rpi imager nowadays