Derek Smithies wrote:
Hi,
So what do you do with the old computers that one tends to acquire?
They are "old" so the hardware is borderline for reliability, so there is
not much point in putting lots of time in them to making them do big
important jobs.
An old computer as a fileserver - will work, but when it fails the
blood pressure goes up (the kids want their videos to watch) and it is
not good.
The WAF is poor - they don't seem to appreciate when their videos are
not available....
fileserver yes, maybe. Bit limited on ram, so is a bit slow.
firewall - yes, the throughtput is low cause ADSL is quite slow. But I
only need 1 firewall and I have "lots" of the old computers.
On the old computers, the harddrive is often thefirst thing to go, so
maybe a liveCD running some application is the way to go. Yes - but what?
As a book end - well, it is a bit big for this..
Hmm, - two computers + some planks of wood and we have a respectable
shelf.. Just a bit big.
What about a really exotic use?
Some custom software, custom hardware, use the computer power supply
and we could have a really high speed battery charger..
---Does anyone know of such a project ?---
Ahh.
A teaching tool. Yes, - show kids how they work - pull it apart.
Remove cover on the hard drive, and scratch the platter as it it
attempts to start up. Makes a horrible sound, but the kids see that
when the disk surface is scratched, the computer cannot even begin the
boot process..
Install win98 on it, and run all the old games which are still
available. Yes, but it is of questionable legality to install pirated
win98 isos.
Comment??
Derek.
P.S. In fact, the most common use for old computers is to take up
space in the garage.
-- Derek Smithies Ph.D.
IndraNet Technologies Ltd.
ph +64 3 365 6485
Web: http://www.indranet-technologies.com/
"The only thing IE should be used for is to download Fire Fox"
Increase your popularity amongst your peers, by overemphasising an
uncharacteristic surge of generosity, and donating said old computers to
those less disturbed by the legality of installing a clearly illegal Dos
6.22/Windows 3.11 and playing all the old classic games, which are
likely just as illegal as the OS itself
