There are a lot of reasons not to give them your money. They’re assholes to the maker community and they openly talk shit on a lot of their customer base. That’s beside the point, though, really.
It’s just not a spectacular option for hosting. In order to get a Rpi competitive with even the shittiest laptop from 7 years ago, you’re going to end up spending more than you would spend on a decent laptop from 7 years ago.
If it is a computer that turns on, it will likely function orders of magnitude better than an Rpi and won’t bind you to ARM architecture. My entire hosting setup was pulled out of a recycling pile for free. Install ubuntu/ubuntu server and enjoy yourself.
If you intend on spending any amount of money on this hobby, I cannot express enough how much I recommend against any of that money going toward a Raspberry Pi.
EDIT: A lot of you seem to be reading this as “Raspberry Pis are all nonfunctional” and getting mad about it. Don’t do that.
Edit 2: Good to see that all the stupid parts of reddit made it here
Are other single board computers like OragnePI or Libre Computer any better?
@MarioBarisa
Not…overly? Many can’t run a mainline kernel. Most have lackluster performance.
If you already have one, it’s meeting your needs, and you’re not bothered with the flash storage failing, carry on. But you really are better off scrounging a junk laptop/workstation in most other cases.
That said, I’ve also had that bite me. Some of those are junked for a reason and they can be flaky. Availability can differ in your area. 🤷♂️ Use what works for you.