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Hi @ffs!
I believe you'll be able to run GS in something like a Raspberry Pi Zero, but we can review that later if needed.
About using PHP, I personally don't think it would have been wise to re-write it or to translate to another language just because there are alternative languages and frameworks. I personally like the work of the previous devs and believe they left a good codebase making it easier and faster to resume work rather than to restart.
About my university, I'm majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Maths - I am not taking any Software Engineering nor Information Systems modules nor did I learn PHP or web technologies at college (I could but, given that it isn't that hard to pick those topics in my free time, I've been doing mostly theoretical compsci modules) . I think my university is doing a fine work given my and their programs' goals.
As a sidenote: If I was to start GS now from scratch, I would have picked the same language for the project. Not because PHP is perfect or the absolute best, but because it performs well, is widely supported, fairly light and I'm confortable with it despite not having learned it at college (we mostly only use C, C++, Java and Shell Script - sometimes R, Python and Fortran for some really small things, might have more of that in the master).
For those who are not into PHP, the language is going through a process very similar to what's going on with C++. PHP is, IMHO, perfectly fine. Btw, there is this nice website: phpsadness.net which lists its current issues.
Like everything, all technologies have their ups and downs. If the language performs well, the devs involved are confortable with it, then I think that good code and algorithms can get the job done.
CC: @dansup, he is a great PHP dev that might want to add smth :)