Like converting your phone into a security cam or a radio controlled device, turning laptop into a streaming device etc.
Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
1–10 of 264 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#2Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#3Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#4tl;dr: It got rooted, and was reprogrammed to fetch an image from a local server running on Unraid. As I didn't know how to elegantly create an image from live data, I opted for a svg template. I placed placeholder texts in this svg, and then did a simple search & replace. With each update, I stored a copy of the template as the "live" version, and then used Imagemagick to convert the SVG to a format the Kindle would understand.
It was a nice project, but got replaced with a Grafana dashboard later last year. :)
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#5If you’re not silly you really don’t need much computing power, even then newer laptops aren’t big improvements so if your old one still works I don’t see why you would replace it.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#6They are attempting to build a os for smartphones based on Alpine linux with the stated goal of supporting a 10 year life cycle. They have a limited list of devices they support but I have heard good things about them.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#7I don’t know why everyone acts like old laptops aren’t usable, my 2011 MacBook Pro has no HD (the cable died again and I’m not replacing it this time) and it runs from ram just fine (with Linux of course, not OSX) If you’re not silly you really don’t need much computing power, even then newer laptops aren’t big improvements so if your old one still works I don’t see why you would replace it.
This year, I bought a new IPS display, a matching keyboard and a new screen bezel for it. I'll hopefully be able to use it for some more years - I really love the form factor.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#8I use an old laptop to backup data I save in Google Drive, in case my account becomes inaccessible someday.
Re: Ask HN: What are some interesting projects to reuse your old devices?
#9I use an old laptop to backup data I save in Google Drive, in case my account becomes inaccessible someday.
Do you have a script or any automated way to save a backup regularly?