10 Ways to Reuse Old Hardware with Raspberry Pi

We all have that one old monitor or set of speakers from our childhood PC, lying around and collecting dust. I recently decided to convert one of my old LCDs into a smart TV, which got me thinking, what other old hardware can we turn into creative projects with a Raspberry Pi?

A Raspberry Pi is perfect for giving old hardware a second life. With the right setup, it can turn almost anything into a useful device, from a simple monitor to a full home server. It’s a practical way to reuse spare equipment.

In this article, I’ll share my list of ideas to reuse old hardware in simple and practical Raspberry Pi projects. Let me know which ones you prefer.

If you’re looking for inspiration for your next Raspberry Pi project, I’ve put together a list of 75+ ideas with full descriptions, difficulty ratings, and links to tutorials. Whether you’re a beginner or more advanced, there’s something here for you. Grab the list for free here!

Turn a Laptop Screen Into a Smart Display

I keep my old laptops in the closet just in case I need to scavenge them for parts. If, like me, you have an old laptop lying around, you can use its LCD panel as a display with your Raspberry Pi.

Nowadays, laptop LCD panels have very good resolution and quality. Also, they inherently have a small form factor, making it easier to conform to any hardware or mechanical requirements.

This combination can be productive in several ways. For example, you can connect this LCD panel as a monitor and connect your Raspberry Pi OS to a mouse and keyboard, making it a daily driver.

Alternatively, you can turn your LCD into a smart status screen using the Magic Mirror app. A Magic Mirror is a project in which you install a display behind your mirror to show a dashboard consisting of important information.

https://youtu.be/cVmDjJmcd2M

Another cool use case I can think of for an LCD is turning it into a smart home command center by installing Home Assistant on your Raspberry Pi and connecting it to the LCD.

Using a laptop LCD as the command center for your smart home has the added advantage of its small form factor, which can give a more aesthetic look.

Put an Old Hard Drive into a DIY NAS

Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a device that provides storage over a network. I love using a NAS in a home or office to provide easy file sharing between my devices. Or to use it as my personal cloud storage solution wherever I am.

The Raspberry Pi is ideal for use as the main computer in a NAS. The NAS’s main computing unit serves all files from the connected HDDs to all the users on the network.

If you have any old hard drives, you can use them for this project. You can connect hard drives to your Raspberry Pi using a USB-to-SATA adapter or a PCIe HAT for HDDs/ SSDs if you are using a Raspberry Pi 5.

With a hard disk connected to your Raspberry Pi, you can use one of the following software options:

• Open Media Vault: popular software to easily set up a NAS system on your Pi in minutes. It also provides an interactive interface for managing various storage devices, files, and other resources.
• Samba + Network File System: a simple and barebones file server that can get the job done. It requires some configuration and command-line knowledge to set up. 
• NextCloud: Another popular NAS software option for the Pi. It’s a slightly matured and developed version of NAS software.

No matter which path you choose, you will end up with your own personal cloud storage solution. You can also install Jellyfin or Plex Media Server on your Raspberry Pi to host a media server.

To learn more about NAS and all the different options available to you, you can check out this in-depth guide on how to build a NAS.

Revive Old Speakers for Smart Audio Streaming

Another cool project that I like to do is to combine an old set of speakers with a Raspberry Pi to turn it into a smart audio streamer.

We can use a Raspberry Pi to run our required software or streaming service and connect it to the speakers using an auxiliary cable or a USB-to-Aux adapter/sound card to listen to music.

By installing MoOde on a Raspberry Pi, you can create an audio streaming interface for your local music collection. It provides audiophile-grade functionality that’s completely free and open source.

Alternatively, we can also install Volumio on our Raspberry Pi. Volumio lets you listen to your local music collection and stream from popular services such as Spotify and SoundCloud as well.

If you are confused about which of the two alternatives to use, you can check out this guide on the 3 best ways to use Spotify on Raspberry Pi, which gives you a good idea of how the different solutions compare head-to-head.

With the recent push towards wireless connectivity and limited support for older audio connectors, we are all ending up with a bunch of old speakers that no longer connect to our hardware. By converting them into a smart audio streamer, you can give your old speakers new life.

Convert a Webcam into a Security System

When I upgrade my webcam to a higher-resolution model, and my old webcam is lying around collecting dust, it doesn’t mean it’s completely obsolete. You can reuse a webcam with your Raspberry Pi to create your own personal security system.

To turn your camera and Raspberry Pi into a security system, you can install ZoneMinder on your Raspberry Pi. ZoneMinder is an open-source CCTV solution; you can use it for home security, baby monitoring, and many other camera-based tasks.

Alternatively, a more minimal approach would be to use RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) to stream your webcam video over your LAN.

You can take this one step further by using OpenCV to enable your Raspberry Pi to recognize objects and people in the video feed, which can then serve as a face-recognition-based unlock system for your front door.

Besides using this as a security system, there are plenty of other projects you can try with a camera. Check out this tutorial that lists cool project ideas for Raspberry Pi + Camera.

Want even more ideas? I put together a free resource with over 75 Raspberry Pi project ideas, each with a quick description, tutorial link, and hardware requirements. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for something to do this weekend, this list will keep you busy for a while. Just click here to get instant access.

Repurpose an Old Printer as a Network Print Server

I had an old USB printer that needed to be manually connected to my laptop or PC to print. I got tired of it, so I decided to use a Raspberry Pi to convert it into a smart printer. A network print server is an application that shares a local printer with any devices connected to your network.

To add a printer and its associated drivers to your Raspberry Pi, you can use the CUPS program. If you have the full desktop version of Raspberry Pi OS, CUPS is pre-installed. Otherwise, you can install CUPS via the official repository.

In addition to installing the printer drivers on your Raspberry Pi OS, CUPS lets you share the printer over your network.

However, to share the printer over the network, you will also need to install and configure Samba on your Raspberry Pi. Samba enables network-based file sharing and can also share between Linux and Windows PCs.

For a more in-depth, step-by-step guide for implementing this, consult the article “RPI OS: How to add a printer on your Raspberry Pi“.

If you have an old printer that lacks network capability, adding a Raspberry Pi to turn it into a network printer can be a quick and rewarding project.

Plug in Unused Controllers for Retro Gaming

One way I love to use my Raspberry Pi is to play retro games. Operating systems such as RetroPie have been around since the beginning of the Raspberry Pi, and it’s fun for me to revisit games from my childhood.

Retro Gaming is conventionally referred to as playing games from old consoles, such as the Game Boy, Atari, or Commodore, using emulator software.

The first thing we need to do is install a retro gaming-based OS on our Raspberry Pi. While Retropie is the oldest and most mature option, newer, better options have emerged in recent years.

Once the OS is installed, the next step is to add games. Most emulators use ROM files, which can be found online and transferred to the Raspberry Pi. In most cases, this means copying the files to the SD card or using a network transfer, depending on the system used.

With everything in place, all that’s left is to connect a controller and start playing. Most systems support USB or Bluetooth controllers, so setup is usually quick, and the games are ready to launch right away.

Retro gaming is a great way to reuse your old controllers. Besides being a great use case for Raspberry Pi, it can be a great learning experience and a fun way to introduce yourself and your kids to Raspberry Pi.

Relevant Tutorials:

• How to use a PS4 controller on Retropie? (the easy way)
• How to Pair PS4 Controller with Recalbox? (Bluetooth)
• How to Connect a Bluetooth Controller to Lakka (Successfully)

Mount a Camera onto a Networked Time-Lapse Station

Did you know you can use your Raspberry Pi to share the camera feed over the network as well? This can be a great method to reuse any old digital camera that you already have.

Once you get the hang of using your Camera with your Raspberry Pi, you can easily convert it into a network camera using software such as MotionEye.

MotionEye is a web interface for the Motion service, commonly used on Raspberry Pi to connect to, manage, and monitor cameras.

Additionally, you can convert your camera into a time-lapse camera. The concept of a time-lapse camera is simple: you take photos at regular intervals and stitch them together at an accelerated frame rate.

You can then live-stream this time-lapse video to your local network to get a Network Time-Lapse Camera.

Raspberry Pi has a ton of other similar use cases for a camera, and there are several cool camera-based projects you can do using a Raspberry Pi.

Related Tutorials:

• Install a Camera on Your Raspberry Pi: The Ultimate Guide
• How Do I Know if My Raspberry Pi Camera is Working?
• How to Use The Raspberry Pi Camera with Python in 2026
• Raspberry Pi: How to Use picamezero to Take Photos and Videos

Give a Microphone New Duties as a Voice Assistant

One of the coolest projects I’ve seen is turning a Raspberry Pi into an AI Voice Assistant.

However, the first bottleneck people face when attempting this is that the Raspberry Pi lacks a built-in microphone. If you have an old microphone lying around, you are perfectly poised to try this fun project.

The key idea is very simple: you transcribe the audio captured by your microphone into text that can be fed into an LLM. The AI assistant then responds, which you convert to audio and play through the speakers.

Open-source tools such as Mozilla DeepSpeech and Piper allow you to convert between text and audio.

Once you have figured out how to translate between audio signals and text, all you need is to add an LLM AI mind in between. This can be done very easily using local AI tools, such as Ollama or LlamaC++, on a Raspberry Pi.

Alternatively, you can also choose to use a pre-built AI Assistant solution to run on your Raspberry Pi. For example, Open Voice OS is software that can run on your Raspberry Pi and serves as a modular voice assistant.

For those of you looking for a more in-depth guide, we also have an article that walks you through the complete process of creating an AI voice assistant using the Google Assistant Cloud platform.

Creating your own voice assistant may seem challenging at first; however, completing your own Jarvis can be quite satisfying and fulfilling. It is also a great tool to learn more about AI tools.

Relevant Tutorials:

• 5 Easy AI Projects on Raspberry Pi for Beginners
• What is a Raspberry Pi AI Kit? Everything You Need to Know
• How to Run ChatGPT Locally on Raspberry Pi with Ollama

Turn an Old PC Case into a Digital Time Capsule

In my opinion, creating a digital time capsule can be a fun and engaging activity with tons of educational opportunities. It makes a fine addition to my home network so I can share my media with everyone in my family.

A digital time capsule is a place to store all your media, including family photos and videos. The two key elements of such a storage are the capacity and longevity. The biggest hurdle for Raspberry Pi is the storage capacity.

With the Raspberry Pi 5 and its PCIe port, the Raspberry Pi’s connectivity has significantly improved. I found another neat PCIe HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5. This HAT (Amazon Link) lets you connect up to 5 SATA SSDs or HDDs to your Raspberry Pi.

However, something like this will need a good container/ case to house the entire assembly and keep it safe from elements. For this, you can use an old PC case, especially if a smaller case is available.

Having addressed capacity, we can now discuss longevity. You need your time capsule to stand the test of time and not fail due to any component or hard disk failure. To ensure reliability, we can set up RAID on our Raspberry Pi.

To ensure time-capsule-level longevity, we can also use RAID 5 or RAID 10.

Finally, to serve this data to our users and to allow anyone on your home network to upload their data to this time capsule, we can use media server software such as OpenMediaVault or Jellyfin. Jellyfin is primarily a media server software that enables users to create a personalized streaming platform. However, it can also be useful for our use case.

Make a Dumb LCD into a Smart TV

Productivity → 💼💼💼💼
Fun Factor → 🕹️🕹️🕹️🕹️
Difficulty → 🛠️🛠️

One of the most common use cases I have seen for the Raspberry Pi is turning a dumb TV into a smart one. Both my home and work LCDs are based on Raspberry Pi + OSMC-based media centers. In fact, the Raspberry Pi 5 outshines most smart TV processors and can deliver a significantly better user experience.

If you have an Old LCD or dumb TV, you can easily turn it into a smart TV or media center by connecting it to your Raspberry Pi.

There are multiple ways to implement this; the most common and straightforward method is to install KODI on your Raspberry Pi and be done with it.

KODI is a software that allows you to play videos, music, and other digital media files from local and network storage media or the Internet. You can also watch Netflix and other streaming services using KODI.

Kodi can be installed as a standalone package from the official repository. Alternatively, you can use OSMC or LibreELEC images to get a full-fledged KODI-based entertainment system right out of the box.

While KODI is the default option for this use case, there are other modern alternatives, such as Plex and Jellyfin. However, these are more geared towards a media server role than a front-end/smart TV role.

Android TV can also be installed on a Raspberry Pi. Android TV is the OS that most smart TVs run. This will provide you with the most familiar user experience.

No matter which path/ option you chose, turning your old LCD into a smart TV is a great use case for Raspberry Pi. As I said before, I have this setup installed on my home TV and an LCD in my office lunchroom as well. And both are running great.

Using old hardware for new projects is an ideal way to recycle old electronics. Many old devices can be transformed into useful tools and learning projects.

Whether it’s turning an old screen into a smart display, reviving speakers as a streaming system, or building your own DIY server, building these projects can be fun, productive, and a great learning experience.

Ready to try this for real?

Reading is easy. Doing is different.
Once you start your own setup, things don’t always go as planned. That’s where people lose hours.
Get help right away instead of figuring everything out alone.

Start with help →

🔒 Start today. Cancel anytime.

• Avoid the usual beginner mistakes
• Get guidance on your setup
• Access step-by-step videos for most projects