Four Versions and (Almost) Seven Years Ago

Six years may not be that long in the grand scheme of things, but think back to what the world was like then. At that time the recent chip shortage was still years away, COVID-19 had never been heard of, and you could buy a new Raspberry Pi for $25. It was at this time that Reddit user KerazyPete fired up a Raspberry Pi 1 Model B revision 0002 and never looked back.

This early Raspberry Pi model, equipped with just 256 MB of RAM, was paired with a RFM12B 868 MHz transceiver to collect temperature and humidity measurements from sensors throughout KerazyPete’s home. All together, this system has been running faithfully in this capacity for 10 years. However, due to extended power outages, the Raspberry Pi has rebooted a handful of times. At last check, the uptime was at 2,331 days, which means this computer has been up and operational for nearly 6.5 years, with the help of a UPS that keeps everything running when there are minor blips in the power supply.

It should not come as a shock that a Raspberry Pi is chugging along just fine after all this time. After all, these little computers have earned a great reputation within the hobbyist community in part due to their reliability. However, it does seem like some small miracle that the uptime is as great as it is considering that the system relies on an SD card and a USB stick for all of its storage. If there is an Achilles’ heel to a barebones Raspberry Pi installation, it is definitely the relative unreliability of these inexpensive storage options. If you have been using Raspberry Pis for any length of time, corrupt SD cards are probably not a foreign concept to you.

Whatever the reasons may be for this extended uptime, here’s hoping that it will still be running when its distant relative, the Raspberry Pi 10 makes its debut. Keep on keeping on, little Raspberry Pi!