Maybe teach them to bark and glue fur on the sides?

January 6, 2006 6:23 AM

Have any interesting ideas about what to do with some extra PCs?

I have a couple extra computers that don't do anything but stub my toes. A couple are older, but ok - around pIII, 256-512 memory, 60gb hard drives, etc. I've thought of just building a web server out of one, maybe attaching some web cams to another for a makeshift security outfit - but that seems boring. They're not powerful enough to be decent media servers. Any ideas?

posted by muddylemon to Technology (16 answers total)

I'd go with file server (add drives, make happy) or maybe a kitchen internet kiosk type thing (store under counter, use RF wireless keyboard/mouse & small footprint 15" LCD).
posted by kuperman at 6:29 AM on January 6, 2006

I've got a PIII hooked up to my stereo in the living room. It network boots linux (so no need for the HD) and just starts playing mp3s from a streaming server (slimserver) which I can then control from a web browser. Works like a charm.
posted by roue at 6:34 AM on January 6, 2006

I have a server about that age in my basement running utility crap: Print server, fax server, backup server. It's a workhorse, and I never have to really deal with how slow it is.
posted by thanotopsis at 6:39 AM on January 6, 2006

Emulation? I love playing old Super Nintendo and NES games on my TV. We've got one of those S-Video switching boxes with all of our game systems hooked up to it. One of the slots has s-video and RCA audio hooked up from the an older PC behind the entertainment center. It's nice having it there at the push of a button next to the other game systems. We only play legally owned ROMS of course.
posted by Otis at 6:48 AM on January 6, 2006

Whilst they're not powerful enough to be Windows Media Center-style media servers or to act as a PVR, they should be more than powerful enough to work as a playback media server: if all you're doing is playing back MP3s, videos and DVDs then they'll be perfect. You should be fine using something like MythTV or Freevo in Linux. Add in a $100 capture card and you could probably do PVR stuff with them.

Remember that the specs you've described are pretty much identical to the original XBox and people are using those as media centers without any problems.

I'd turn one into a file server (stuff it full of hard drives, stick it in a spare room somewhere) and use the other as a playback machine (maybe buy a nice case, add some noise insulation).
posted by blag at 6:57 AM on January 6, 2006

Have you considered donating them? I don't know where you live, but in my town there's an non-profit organization that accepts donations of people's old computers (typically in far worse condition than yours) and refurbishes them. They hold a school-year-long computer training course for disadvantaged kids and then give each kid one of the refurbished machines. It's a great way to give a kid who might otherwise never own a computer a chance to learn important skills.

I wouldn't be surprised if most moderate to large sized cities had something similar to this, so if it interests you, ask/google around.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 6:57 AM on January 6, 2006

I don't know if you participate in any open source projects but I know a lot of them would appreciate a dedicated build/regtester server. Essentially you just set it up to do continuous builds of the code -- either triggered by a commit or on some cron-like schedule -- and then email the results to the appropriate list (or otherwise post results somewhere.) This lets the developers know immediately how their changes affect the build. It works even better if you were to install something slightly more exotic (e.g. Darwin x86, NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Cygwin, etc) since most stuff gets tested primarily on Linux these days.

This is all automated and hands-off, you wouldn't necessarily even have to know anything about the projects to donate the service of an unused machine. But it would of course help if you were at least somewhat familiar with the project so that you can assure that it's doing something useful. But just building the code and running the testsuite can be helpful in of itself.

The kinds of projects I'm thinking of are gcc, gdb, binutils, openoffice.org, mozilla, etc.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:59 AM on January 6, 2006

Other ideas:

* X10 home automation. You could even plug in an old mobile phone and turn on your kettle via text message
* VOIP switchboard
* Bathroom PC - buy a touchscreen on a swing arm and browse the web from the toilet
* MAME cabinet
posted by blag at 6:59 AM on January 6, 2006

make a beowulf cluster!!!
posted by delmoi at 7:17 AM on January 6, 2006

Folding...?
posted by kashmir772 at 7:20 AM on January 6, 2006

I really have to second Rhomboid's suggestion. So many open source projects would kill for a build server.
posted by creeront at 7:32 AM on January 6, 2006

How about a souped-up, killer answering machine using Asterisk?
posted by jaimev at 7:41 AM on January 6, 2006

I second Espy Gillespie's suggestion.
Grade schools esp. could use a medium performer for basic computer skillz teaching
posted by Al_Truist at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2006

Whatever else you do with them, you could also run distributed computing applications and help fight disease, design climate prediction models, look for aliens and prime numbers, etc.
posted by Soliloquy at 8:46 AM on January 6, 2006

Just recycle them and avoid the higher energy bills. If I shut off my 3 computers, my energy bill would be at least $30/mo lower.
posted by drstein at 9:53 AM on January 6, 2006

Response by poster: i forgot about the mame thing - that might be the ticket!
posted by muddylemon at 2:17 PM on January 6, 2006