It's not uncommon to have a pile-up of old gadgets and tech equipment when you upgrade to a new one. I have an old TV, a monitor, a 7.1 Hi-Fi speaker set, and a bunch of hard disks that have slowly accumulated in a corner of my room. These devices do not serve my daily needs anymore, but are fully functional. After I delved into SBCs, I learned about projects that can give a new purpose to most of my old gadgets that lack modern connectivity and computing power.

Surprisingly, most of these Raspberry Pi projects didn't cost much to set up, and didn't require any electrical connection modifications to complete the setup. Using these simple ideas, my gadgets now serve a role in my home setup rather than collecting dust in a corner. Let's discuss how you can revive your outdated tech with a Raspberry Pi.

An old display

Could be a TV or monitor

The Raspberry Pi’s HDMI port is crucial in reviving any screen that supports an HDMI input. If you have a TV or monitor that's even a decade old, there's a chance that it has an HDMI port. The HDMI port opens endless possibilities because you can convert it into a media center, retro gaming station, smart mirror, and more.

My favorite is a dedicated retro gaming station with a wireless gaming controller and a Pi to constitute an emulation machine. Pick a game emulation Pi operating system (RetroPie, Batocera, Lakka, etc) and load your games onto it. The Raspberry Pi Zero 2W is good enough for all old games from the 2000s.

But if you want a more powerful emulation experience and run PlayStation games, you must use the Pi 4B or the most powerful Raspberry Pi 5. Whatever SBC you pick, the dedicated gaming operating system makes it feel like you're using a console. It's a simple setup that allows me to relax in my spare time and play with old goodies; my niece also loves it.

I prefer a media center with LibreELEC for my old TV because I can connect an old laptop hard disk to the Pi and then connect the setup to the TV to play the available media. It mostly consists of old phone or camcorder videos, family functions, and movies from when DVDs were still a thing.

Hard disk or solid-state drives

Personal cloud storage, backup, or download solution

I have personal data on a few hard disks that I frequently use to transfer files from my main PC. This method isn't bad because I can plug them into a phone or computer and access the data. However, my perception changed after using a self-hosted web file explorer on the Pi Zero 2W with File Browser. Now, all the personal data is readily available for access via all the devices on my network via a web browser. So, you can connect a USB hub to the Pi, ensure you have adequate power for the hard drives, and install File Browser.

If you want more than that and actually need to sync all your data to another device, NextCloud is a better choice. It's a free replacement for OneDrive and has an adequate number of plugins to handle the file sync and add more features. I tried multi-device sync with it, and the Pi Zero 2W and storage drive combination worked wonders. It saved a copy of my data on the NextCloud instance.

A third approach is a DIY network-attached storage consisting of storage drives and the Pi. OpenMediaVault or TrueNAS sits at the center of this setup and makes the files readily accessible for other self-hosted services you want to use.

Lastly, a Pi and a hard disk drive can become a great downloading tool. You can offload all your tasks to the Pi and save on electricity costs because it consumes much less than a standard laptop or PC.

Hi-Fi speaker system

Gain Bluetooth and web streaming features

In the era of wireless audio streaming, my Tribit and JBL speakers have overshadowed the old Sony Hi-Fi 7.1 speaker set that only accepts AUX connectivity. I use the JBL one with my TV using an optical connector, and the Tribit one wirelessly, but the Sony speakers didn't have Bluetooth.

So, I paired the Raspberry Pi with a speaker system using a USB DAC that lends aux input capabilities to the Pi. Using this method, you escape soldering an audio hat on the Pi. For the software part, I used moOde OS, which supports local audio playback, is accessible via a browser, and enables the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi controller on the Pi.

Now, I can play music wirelessly on the Bluetooth route or play the local music collection via Wi-Fi instead of purchasing a smart speaker.

Printer from another era

Build a printer server

A printer with USB connectivity can only accept print commands from the system it's connected to, and that's a problem if you have multiple systems but only one printer. If the printer doesn't have network ports and only a USB, you can connect it with a cheap Raspberry Pi Zero 2W to build a print server.

As always, a great piece of software and a physical USB connection to the device are necessary in this setup. You must connect the printer to the Pi’s USB port and then install CUPS, which creates a self-hosted print server and supports a huge range of old USB printers.

I love that you can send print commands via any device on your local network. You don't need to send the file to the main PC and issue a print command. For 3D printing enthusiasts, OctoPrint can create a similar web interface with granular control.

Repurposing old devices is easy with Pi

All the devices I mentioned above accept a USB or another common physical connection interface, like USB, to combine with the Raspberry Pi. Assigning a role to a gadget that has lost its need over the years with modern connectivity is quite comforting. A Raspberry Pi brings wireless capabilities onboard and doesn't need extra juice to be up and running. For $10-$15, you can make any old gadget a tad smarter with the Pi.