Raspberry Pi 1b+
General info
The Raspberry Pi 1B+ is the revised version of the original Raspberry Pi. It has nearly the same form factor used to this day but with the extremely slow BCM2835 SOC shared with the pi zero and the other Pi 1 models.
Specs
SOC: BCM2835
CPU: 1C ARM1176JZF-S 700Mhz
GPU: Videocore IV 250Mhz
RAM: 512MB 400Mhz
Storage: MicroSD-Card-Slot
IO:4xUSB2 40pinGPIO i2c UART
Audio: 3.5mmAV
Display-Ports: full-size-HDMI Composite-Video-3.5mm DSI CSI
Network: 100M Ethernet
Power: 5.1v 2.5A USB-Micro-B
Performance
The rpi-1b+ is extremely slow, anything graphical except for the simplest of things (like dillo) will be unusable. Video playback on desktop linux also is unusable, but works on KODI at lower resolutions.
For terminal use the rpi1b+ is fine, most terminal applications like Lynx, htop, and even some games run quite well in the terminal. But once you run graphical applications it has a very hard time.
Uses
With the abysmal performance the 1b+ is best used for either its GPIO or as a very light server or terminal.
Could be useful as a dedicated terminal to SSH into servers, as it does have a full size HDMI port and 4 USB 2.0 ports for peripherals.
Tested Distros
- Alpine Linux: This is what i would recommend if you going to use it as a server or a terminal based "desktop".
- Void Linux: Works about as good as Alpine but graphical desktop stuff seems to work better.
- DietPi: Runs ok. But the apt package manager is very slow, so installing any packages takes a long time.
- Rasperry Pi OS: Not recommended, just to much for this board the Lite version works a lot better but still isn't great.
- KODI: Works but slow and won't handle video beyond 480p (DVD resolution).
Images & Diagrams
.----------------------------------. |O####################### O |‾‾‾‾‾‾| | Raspberry Pi 1 B+ | USB2>| | ____ __ |______| || |bcm | | | |‾‾‾‾‾‾| ||<DSI |2835| ‾‾ | USB2>| --Top || ‾‾‾‾ |______| | CSI>| |‾‾‾‾‾‾‾| | M-USB HDMI | |‾| |eth100M| |O __ |‾‾‾‾| | | | O |_______| '-| |----| |------| |----------' \__/ \____/ O --Side MicroB HDMI 3.5mmAV ___ | | |__| |__| '-_-' |__| |__| --Back ETH USB2.0
Tips
Use more lightweight distro like Alpine Linux or Void Linux.
If using as desktop computer use terminal applications.
Seting resolution lower then 1080p will help with performace even in framebuffer mode (pure terminal mode) You set a custom res in the config.txt file or usercfg.txt for Alpine by adding the following lines:
framebuffer_width=960 framebuffer_height=540
you can change the value to what ever you want here is 540p witch is exactly half of 1080p so it looks nice on 1080p monitors but not all play nice with this resolution.
Recommended Terminal Programs
file manger: nnn
music player: cmus
image viewers: fim fbi
editors: nano vim vi
Recommended OS's
Useful info
https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/config_txt.html
Article by X5DragonFire. Updated January 10, 2025.
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