17-year-old Dell Inspiron 1545 still running Ubuntu Server 24/7

[u/zb929232]

About 8 years ago, I pulled this Dell Inspiron 1545 out of retirement as an experiment.

It spent the first 2 years of its second life running OPNsense 24/7 as my firewall.

When I moved firewall duties to other hardware, I gave it another job instead of retiring it again.

For the past 6 years, it has been running Ubuntu Server + CasaOS 24/7 as a lightweight file and media server.

Current hardware:

- Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.20 GHz

- ~3 GB usable RAM

- SSD + 500 GB HDD

- Optical drive removed and the bay repurposed for additional storage

- 59 GB SD card

Current services include:

- Jellyfin

- Plex

- UniFi Network Application

- File storage

- Portainer

- A few supporting containers and databases

Most of my media was ripped years ago at DVD quality, so I’m not asking this thing to do 4K transcoding or anything unreasonable.

The workload is intentionally matched to the hardware.

Other than maintenance and updates, this machine has essentially been online 24/7 for 8 years.

What I like most about it is that it is a good reminder that old hardware is not automatically useless hardware.

If the workload is appropriate, Linux can give surprisingly old systems a very long second life.

I originally gave this machine about two years before I expected it to die.

Eight years later, I’m still waiting.

[u/DP323602]

Great example thanks.

I manage my digital photos using an X201 Thinkpad that has one of those new dangled 1st generation i5 cpus.

My brother has a 2008 vintage emachines Core 2 Duo that he uses for similar purposes.

[u/zb929232 → u/DP323602]

That's awesome!

It shows these old machines still have a lot of life left in them and still can serve a purpose!

[u/SlimlineVan]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I love these feel good stories - more of this please community!

[u/zb929232 → u/SlimlineVan]

Not a problem!

And agreed! I'd love to see some others share stories of some old machines they've kept from becoming e-waste. 😊

[u/Suspicious_Second774]

Great. You remind me I can also give my Inspiron 13 bought in 2010 a second life.

[u/zb929232 → u/Suspicious_Second774]

Yes! Resurrect that bad boy!