They are still running in The Netherlands, although only in 1 city.

Why choose?

I started with an RPi 1b to read out my weatherstation (WH1080 clone) and post it online with weewx. Then a Bananapi R1 entered to replace my intel system as firewall/core router (savings on power usage, a lot). The RP 1 got replaced by a RPi 2, and tne 1 moved to the smartmeeter for readout. The main server (huge AMD tower) got replaced by a RPi 3 (again, power savings), Bpi R2 replaced the R1 when bananian development stopped. RPi 3 died on me (sd slot failed) and I got a replacement. As the 1st RPi3 was dead anyway, I tried to repair it (only use of the solderings at the side proved to be to keep the slot in place) and used it to replace the Bpi R2 as support got problematic.

The main server got upgraded to a RPi 4 8GB, with the RPi3 replacing the RPi2 that was handeling my weatherstation. I got an rflink, so I added domoticz and that now powers my kaku (dutch power switching system) in a mixed old/new setup. The RPi3 that was my main router (internet router via fiber) got replaced hh an RPi4 witn 4 GB mem, as the 2 GB mem version wasn’t available. (Not a bad move, with the on-board non-usb 1GB interface and a tad over 2 GB mem use)

The freed RPi3 is now for the smartmeter, so all RPi are 64 bit. (All running aarm64 Debian) Both Bpi’s and RPi 1 and 2 are collecting dust, as I haven’t found a use for them… yet. Looking for projects to use them. As media server they’re to light. (Although, Bpi R2 could be useful for that)

Depends where you buy your hardware…

I bought a laptop I could spec the way I want it, which included a choice of OS. I could choose for 32GB of ram and Windows 11 or 64 GB of ram and Ubuntu for the same prize. Ubunto has no clue how to fill all that memory. (I have, kvm is my friend)

To be honest, it’s totally worth it to spend time in messing about with custom OS on a device you can spare. Linux runs nicely on '12 hardware when you have enough memory. Even the '11 Samsung Tab S2 gets Android 13 via Lineage. Those are nice projects to start with, pick an old device and mess about. Worst that can happen is thag you have to throw it away, which you have to do anyway with the original software.

As somebody else already posted, when you don’t control your OS, somebody else will.