Comments on: HackIt: New life for old laptops?

By: Portable Wireless Speakers

Portable Wireless Speakers — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:26:34 +0000

Man, I wish I was remotely technical so I could think of something new. I have old laptops strewn around the house!

By: Randy

Randy — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:32:39 +0000

I’ve found that a touch screen computer (Fujitsu LT-500 500MHz) and a gps with DeLorme maps makes a great Mobile GPS and mp3 player for my car. With Foxit PDF reader and two gigs of PDF’s it becomes an ebook reader. And I have Artrage for making sketches. Cheapest and most useful thing thing I ever bought.

By: thewiz453

thewiz453 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:20:06 +0000

how about a car alarm ran from and secured from old laptops …with gps . cameras for all situtations …now with the wireless anywhere anytime tech …it would be an ideal test for the durability of hardware

By: Raul Botello

Raul Botello — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:49:49 +0000

I have an old Hitachi 8mm vhs camcorder still in good working order. Since I recently purchased a new DV camcorder, I’d like to find/get some ideas on how to convert/hack the Hitachi for other uses, perhaps even the possibility of converting it to a digital camcorder.

Thanks.

By: nibsyy

nibsyy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:17:48 +0000

world community grid uses computing power to help solve and find cures for diseases such as cancer and AIDS through distributive computing…hook up the laptop to the internet, lock it in a closet, leave only the WCG software running, and save the world for the cost of electricity

By: japkin

japkin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:10:43 +0000

I had the KVM idea, too. I used to work in a lab integration environment and always wanted to hack some old laptop to use on the servers in the lab without having to haul a monitor, keyboard and mouse over.

This also reminded me of a project I tried starting on a while ago. I’ve purchased old/classic video game systems (Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, etc) from thirft stores (dirt cheap). I wanted to hack the parts out of the laptop leaving only the frame and the monitor. Then I wanted to create an “insert” out of each of the gaming systems. This would change the former laptop into a portable, swappable console game system.

The hardest part about it is getting the LCD to work. I envision converting the video out to VGA or something like that. I would love to see this picked up by someone. I just don’t have the time or resources to get it done for a while.

By: gr33n

gr33n — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:39:44 +0000

It would be great if someone made an older laptop into a homebrew navigation system for the car. im not sure if there is an opensource alternative to microsoft streets, but that would just be great.

By: redleader36

redleader36 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:52:09 +0000

I think number 138 is BRILLIANT!! I am thinking about trying this, if you don't mind!

My best idea (kind of covered already) is to use a laptop with a shattered screen as a in car entertainment computer. Use auxiliary displays instead of the shattered screen. I would use it for DSMlink (or Crome or Uberdata with an ostrich) to tune my engine on the fly, with infrared foglights and some weatherproof webcams for night vision, with pvr software for back/up camera and race recorder. I would have a wireless access point in my garage and a script running to update my mp3 collection from my desktop every time I park within range. As a bonus, I would run a SNES emulator.

Alternatively, when I DJ i would like to have a terminal set up for the crowd to automatically browse my song collection and make requests. There would be a mysql database of all my songs on my DJ computer and a web server on that computer sharing a search page. When a user made a request on the search page, scripts and an xmms plugin would automatically add the requested song to my playlist.

By: Jacques

Jacques — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:16:17 +0000

I use an old IBM Thinkpad 600 for a car GPS. Bought a SIRF III usb GPS on ebay and Delorme Streets & Atlas 2007. Running Windows 2000 (no updates. S&A gives voice directions. Issue with Pentium II speed when making many turns in short space. Also Delorme S&A does not match residential areas well (S&A street maps are not geographically accurate).

By: DioXide

DioXide — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:08:01 +0000

This is actually original:

With some electronics and an old pc that can be on permanently, you can put a mic and a speaker on every room, connect the doorbell button to the computer, and read constantly the noise level in each room, and if anyone knocks, play some sound thru each speaker according to the noise level that you got from the mics… that way you will never miss someone calling at your door when you’re using your big azZ speakers, but if you are on a silent moment (or asleep) it will not scare you

By: brian laffoley

brian laffoley — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:55:21 +0000

run win 98 , netmeeting and wifi – you have a remote control computer, hack an interface to a couple of motor/wheels, add a camera – and there you go a remote presence rig!!

By: kureshii

kureshii — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:56:27 +0000

This is probably mentioned before, but I really like the idea of a general-purpose PC just for email, flash games and the like. I have a Dell C400 which is pretty much useless since it has 1 USB1.1 port and 1 PC card slot, no optical drives.

I'm thinking of doing the reverse-screen idea mentioned earlier, putting a touchscreen kit on it, and putting it somewhere so it can work as a picture frame, but for email, general browsing and other usual activities as well. It pains me everytime i hear my family powering up the noisy old P4 just to check a little email.

More useful things to do with laptops definitely exist, but I think I'd start with this first.

By: Peter3D

Peter3D — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:14:53 +0000

I’ve a couple of old laptops around but since I’ve no network in my home, around 90% of the abovementioned suggestions are useless for me. Alas !

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:57:40 +0000

Home automation, because laptops are of course flat in there design they could be fixed to a wall, then using an appropiate piece of s/w (homemade possibly) you could interface with the lights, fit electronic locks even attach actuators to the doors thus meaning you could open and close any door from anywhere. also considering this you could incorporate voice recognition, thus meaning you could open doors simply by voicing the word ‘open’ likewise you could close them. Another aspect you could incorporate would be motion tracking. in each room you could have motion sensors which relay information to the central computer (old laptop) which rooms are ocupied. this in turn could take the idea of home automation one step further in the sense that the computer could automatically turn lights on and off therfore saving on energy bills. another possibility would to automate blinds/ curtains, home entertainment heating infact almost anything in the qhole home that is electrical or could be made electrical.

Someone try this, it would be ace to see it happen!

By: Fwirt

Fwirt — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:03:45 +0000

I’ve actually been thinking about this for a while. This is really stupid, but my idea was to remove the screen, and mount some sony glasstron (or similar) glasses and a head mounted webcam for vision on a helmet; then install linux, and stick it in a backpack. Then just plug in a usb handheld keyboard, and word process while you walk. :)