Use old speakers and cellphone to generate random noise to annoy your noisy neighbors
Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
41–50 of 264 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
One way is to burn a CD/DVD live image that has your configs added and configure it to mount a mergefs(iirc) on top of the read-only /home so all writes go to /tmp/merge.
But past that, I don't see how you can do anything since installing programs would require storage.
Just mount a drive over ssh?
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#43I'm in the process of turning my Toshiba Libretto 110CT (a subnotebook from 1998) into a simple remote terminal (over ssh) with custom server software to handle emails, rss feeds, chats and so on. It runs under FreeDOS and connects to WiFi by a combination of PCMCIA ethernet adapter + mobile router with built-in battery. I love the form factor and the "oldschool" keyboard, I have regenerated the battery and it's quit…
That looks sweet - I did a small search on EBay, and - dang - they are expensive. The only two I could find where around 150€ each.
The best place to get them is Japan, model 70 regularly sell at ~$50-60 there.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#44I use an old laptop (single core, 1g ram) as a remote desktop client. Since I work regularly in two different locations this allowed me to buy only one workstation which I keep at one location and that old laptop allows me to use it from the other one. TBH I initialy did it as a fun project/experiment but was amazed how well it worked[0] and stayed with it. [0]That being said both locations have a fibre and the dista…
Is there any specific thing you did apart from having a fiber and being close ?
I tried to set up my home PC as a server with tincVPN and X2go, i couldn't get a usable performance. Well, to be fair i tried using KiCAD remotely but even the XFCE desktop interface felt sluggish. I also had fiber on the three nodes (Vultr server, home server and my local machine).
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#45I use a spare TV like a kiosk panel for the family calendar, weather, and various RSS feeds.
This is a fun idea, and I am a terrible person as all I would think about doing is ways to subvert it and torment the family.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#46Q: are there any uses for old Core 2 desktops without onboard GPU that consume ~200W when idle?
I'm wondering if I should just trash my old desktop, especially if it'll be cheaper in the long term to get something more power-efficient.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#47Q: are there any uses for old Core 2 desktops without onboard GPU that consume ~200W when idle? I'm wondering if I should just trash my old desktop, especially if it'll be cheaper in the long term to get something more power-efficient.
200W when idle?! That's ridiculous! I'd personally just trash it, unless the upfront cost of something more power efficient is too high.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#48I run boinc ( https://boinc.berkeley.edu/ ) on my old computers, mostly https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ to help with climate and health research
Depending on how the electricity is produced in your area and whether you use the heat for home heating, it may be better for the climate to simply turn these computer off.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#49I'm in the process of turning my Toshiba Libretto 110CT (a subnotebook from 1998) into a simple remote terminal (over ssh) with custom server software to handle emails, rss feeds, chats and so on. It runs under FreeDOS and connects to WiFi by a combination of PCMCIA ethernet adapter + mobile router with built-in battery. I love the form factor and the "oldschool" keyboard, I have regenerated the battery and it's quit…
How are you using Freedos with Wifi? Wouldn't it be easier to use a modern linux/freebsd kernel with a lightweight userspace?
I use a Xircom RealPort Ethernet 10/100+Modem56 (REM56G-100) PCMCIA card that has a packet driver for DOS and a TP-LINK TL-MR3040 mobile router that has a ethernet socket, mTCP does the rest on software layer. Yes, a lot of people install Linux on their Librettos, but I wanted something oldschool and be able to play DOS games.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#50I have my old Galaxy S1 sitting in my cellar listening to the beeps from my washing machine. It sends me an email when the wash finishes. (I can't hear the beeps from upstairs.)
What software do you use?