There were many, many users who were encouraged to buy a Raspberry Pi when it became so fashionable, but after “messing around” with it for a time, it ended up being forgotten in a drawer. However, it is still a device that can be very useful, so in this article we are going to tell you about some of the uses that you can give to your Raspberry Pi , even if it is one of the first models.
It really is a shame to have invested some money in a device as versatile as a Raspberry Pi and then not use it, right? Here we are going to give you some ideas, all of them simple that do not require having too much knowledge, although it is true that if you already have a Raspberry we assume that you know something and that you do not start from scratch .
You can use Raspberry as a PC
Or almost. Just get a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse and connect your Raspberry with a network cable and you can use it like a conventional PC, at least for office automation. With many of the UNIX versions that you can install on this device, you will find that it already comes with Chromium and LibreOffice, so you can also do it without having to pay for the software.
Actually the system will work quite slow compared to a PC, but if you don’t have too high demands, the work can do the same.
Print server
If your printer is not wireless, with a Raspberry Pi you can “transform” it. Simply connect it to your Raspberry via USB and with software like CUPS you can turn it into a wireless printer, with the RasPi acting as a print server.
Turn your television into a Smart TV
Many versions of the Raspberry Pi already came with an SD card with Raspbian and KODI pre-installed. As you know, KODI is a system that allows you to turn the Raspberry into a multimedia server in a simple way, and of course if you connect it to your TV it also serves to turn it into a whole Smart TV. In fact, thanks to dual boot, with Raspbian you will also have Youtube, Netflix, Internet, etc.
Likewise, you can install Plex Server on a Raspberry Pi to be able to watch your series and movies anywhere.
Create a retro console
One of the most popular uses of the Raspberry Pi is to create an arcade machine or retro console, for which there are RetroPie and Recalbox systems. There are others, but all of them will need you to have a compatible controller that will need a previous configuration, so it is better not to complicate your life. Many platforms can be emulated, from classic MS-DOS games to Commodore 64 games.
Also, there are cases and complete projects that will allow you to turn your Raspberry Pi into a full-size arcade machine, or even a Game Boy.
Minecraft server
The possible uses “gaming” that you can give your old Raspberry Pi are not limited to retro games, and that is that a Minecraft server does not even require a complex graphical interface (it runs in console mode).
Also, since Minecraft Server runs natively on UNIX, you can run it on any version of Raspberry Pi.
Create a bot for Twitter, Discord or others
Twitter is a very diverse social network, in part because it is full of bots: programs that are created with the intention of automatically publishing messages. Some of these bots are quite useful, and serve for example to post updates on your website, but many are annoying and even unpleasant.
Whatever the purpose for which you want to create your own bot, you can do it with your Raspberry Pi, although in this case the most common is to use a Python application (for which there is “Twython”) that requires some programming knowledge. The same goes for Discord (since its API is accessible) and many other websites.
As a monitoring tool
Another of the most interesting uses that you can give to the Raspberry Pi is to create a powerful monitoring tool, both for the network and for example that you receive email alerts if the temperature of your CPU exceeds a certain limit. One of the most popular tools to carry out this project is to use Nagios, which is open source and very easy to install and configure.
Of course, to carry out this project we recommend a Raspberry Pi 2 or higher, since it requires enough processor resources.