# PDR 002: Reuse unsupported hardware for real jobs

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/pdrs/002-reuse-unsupported-hardware-for-real-jobs
- Project: Home Lab
- Status: Superseded
- Opened: 2026-08-02
- Decided: 2026-08-02
- Superseded by: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/pdrs/000-keep-active-home-lab-hardware-quiet-and-role-driven.md

## Context

The lab began with several working devices that their vendors no longer
supported well: a 2011 printer, a Pascal-generation GPU, and older phones.
Replacing them would spend money and discard useful hardware when software was
the immediate constraint.

Reuse still needed a purpose. Running an old device merely because it could
boot would add power, space, and maintenance without improving the lab.

## Decision

Give unsupported hardware a second life when it can perform a real current job
with maintained open software. Prefer adapting software over buying a
replacement when the existing device remains capable and safe.

The printer will remain available through a network print server. The desktop
GPU may run batch computer-vision work under a pinned operating-system and
driver configuration. Old phones remain candidates for work that needs real
mobile hardware.

Do not treat reuse as a reason to invent workloads. Each device must solve an
identified problem, and the lab may retire it when the job disappears or the
maintenance cost overtakes the benefit.

## Consequences

The policy can avoid purchases and electronic waste while retaining hardware
whose distinctive capability still matters. It also accepts support work that
a new device might avoid, including old drivers, network bridges, and battery
care.

The policy was later too permissive for the noisy, idle Asus desktop. PDR 000
replaced it with a stricter rule that also accounts for placement, noise,
power, cabling, and an observed capacity need.

## Evaluation

Reuse succeeds when the device performs a named job that would otherwise need
another purchase. Revisit the choice when a device lacks a workload, depends
on unsafe software, or costs more to house and maintain than to replace.

## Migration note

This record preserves the hardware-reuse policy in the original project
narrative and the product rationale mixed into the printer and GPU ADRs. It
keeps the original date and Accepted status. PDR 000 records the later policy
change rather than rewriting this history.

## Related records

- Project: [Home Lab](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 007: NixOS GPU worker](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/adrs/007-nixos-gpu-worker.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 009: CUPS for the unsupported printer](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/adrs/009-cups.md)

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