First of all, depending on the use you are going to give it, you have to ask yourself if it is worth replacing the hard drive with an SSD. Another aspect that we must also analyze is whether it is worth installing a Linux distribution, provided that the use that we are going to give it is compatible with the application that we are going to use. This is especially recommended if it is a fairly old PC that, at the time, did not get along well with Windows 10.
Uses of an old PC
If you want to know all the uses that we can give to an old PC that we have at home, we invite you to continue reading and you will surely be more than pleasantly surprised.
SIN
Cloud storage platforms are currently the most convenient and easiest way to always have a backup copy of our photos, videos, documents and much more outside of our computer. NAS devices are ideal for this purpose, using operating systems such as OpenMediaVault or FreeNAS, operating systems based on Linux that offer us the same functions that can be found in this type of device.
File Server
But if our needs involve bringing together in one place all the files we use to work or study as well as the devices we want share on the network in one place we can use the PC to create a local or even cloud file server. To carry out this process, it is advisable to use a Linux distribution because it is much lighter than using any version of Windows which still has official support in the form of updates.
Media server
Another interesting use that we can also give to an old PC is that of a media server to always have our music, photos, videos and films at hand, always accessible from any other PC. To create a media server it is not necessary to install a special operating system, since we can use the applications Plex
video game server
In addition to all the uses that we mentioned above, we can also consider the possibility of making it a server for certain video games like Minecraft to avoid having to pay every month for a server over which we barely have control.
Enjoy retro games
If we like retro games, we can convert our old PC into an arcade machine or console to enjoy old games using a Control command. The number of emulators that we can use to convert our old PC into a multiplatform console is very wide and varied, RetroArch being one of the best options, since it brings together all the emulators in the same application.
Security system
If we are planning to add cameras to our home and we do not want to depend on the application for mobile devices offered by the respective manufacturers, we can use our team to centralize all the movement patterns with their corresponding recording without having to use the memory card that includes these cameras or cloud storage servers. But first of all, we need to make sure that the cameras we are considering purchasing include software for manage them from a PC since not all offer this option.
home automation center
If we have started to implement home automation in our home and we do not always want to be aware of our cell phone to manage its operation, we can use our old phone as a home automation center thanks to Home Assistant. Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, as well as Raspberry Pi devices, this platform supports more than 2,600 smart devices Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Philips Hue, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Trâdfri kea, Sonos, Zigbee and many others.
Table of Contents