computoman

 A little project I am working on. Web server with external display clients (Arduino) for presenting important messages. Could be everywhere from a retail establishment to an office where hearing is impaired. A Raspberry Pi would be a good low cost manageable web server, but any decent web server will do. The pages can be put as not to be part of the regular web server pages if you wish. So you are giving the web server double duty,  Displays will be text only unless you have graphics converted to text. Lowers the cost of the interfaces dramatically. Reusing old composite monitors or televisions with composite input puts old equipment back to work. Test monitor: Update: waiting on Arduino and  or the TV.out people to resolve issues between the software libaries. Possible solution of using a standalone arduino chip via the serial port to do the video out.

One of my primary concerns is how to maximize computer resources. For example if you upgrade the memory on a laptop, you usually end up removing the the old memory. If the memory is still good why chunk it?  Had an old thin client that I bought for a few bucks, but it really needed more memory. Forgotten all about the unit until I was checking out what thin clients could be used with the newer thin client server,. Low and behold, after looking inside the the client, it had a slot that looked just like the same form factor as the memory from the laptop. Awesome.  Now I can upgrade a thin client to work with my newer LTSP server!!  One more piece of equipment back to work. The memory turned from a lemon into lemonade. Or as I started with "Upgrade one and then upgrade two."  Reuses for computers III is out! See it at: http://www.instructables.com/id/Reuses-for-legacy-computers-III/

Your router/firewall died and all the stores are closed. What do you do? What do you do?  Time to go to the old parts bin and resurrect some parts. One unique idea about this set up is that instead of using an old fashioned hard drive, we well be using a compact flash card as the drive. For three reasons we do this. First is to cut down on the noise. A quiet pc is an ignored pc. Secondly, we want to cut down on the heat in the machine.  Cooler parts should last longer. And the lastly, to reduce the electricity consumption till you can get a replacement unit if you decide to get one. What is a firewall again. It is a set of hardware and software that insulates your home network from the internet. Just as a firewall is used to keep a fire from spreading, the network firewall is expected to keep your local area network secure to a degree. Nothing is perfect. You can get all kinds of units to protect your network. The network modem in most cases will not protect you. You...

Most every software now a days is mouse or gui (graphical user interface) driven, but the real power comes when you can use the command line or what some people would call a dos environment. They are nothing alike. Even Microsoft, one of the biggest gui advocates is going back to the command line with MSWindows server 8 if what I am told is right.  Well, the Linux, Bsd, Unix, and other like operating systems never lost that advantage. (Note: you will need to be connect to the internet). One of the more popular variants of Linux uses a command called tasksel which can be invoked with: $ sudo tasksel What does that do for you do you ask? it allows you to install various environments with just a few keystrokes. The above command brings up a menu allowing you to choose what environment or package you want to install. This can be everything from choosing a desktop to installing a variety of servers. Package configuration     ┌───────────────────────┤ Software se...

One thing that really makes me want to laugh is how people or organizations are willing to take your old computers off your hands. Probably a good thing, but are those old systems really worthless and unusable? Here a just only a few examples of why they may not be. I have an old Commodore monitor from way back when. We also have a tv with the same kind of connections know as composite input. Tv stations and entertainment vendors would have you believe they are worthless. Not necessarily so. For example I still use my monitor as a tv with a digital converter and also as a monitor for one of my pcs. Since the monitor supports what is know as svideo, it still works great. To go even farther, we harvest old parts from computers for new uses as not have to buy what we already have. Actually, what is now called obsolete systems can be very valuable if you or someone you know can harvest them for you. For example, If you say want to use an old 5 1/4 inch floppy drive, most people would sni...

Can not believe all the spelling errors in the last post. Bear with me on that. So we discussed taking what we already have and putting it to use. Do not get me wrong. If you have the spare funds and need a new system, then go for it. There are more than three basic parts of a network. But for now, we will discuss just three. There are routers that connect you to your isp (internet service provider) and all the system on the network. They are really a combination bridge/router. Routers are sort of the traffic cop to the network. You have your desktop machines that you use directly to do your computing. The last devices are servers. These are computers you use indirectly. This is where you can store files you have created, files you want to access for say video and audio (movies, music and etcetera ), and lastly applications or software that you can access remotely. A good example is a web server such as the one you are accessing now to read the article. Servers are probably the ...

Bobby aka Bob has written several articles already, Maybe it is time for me to do one also. He mentioned that I was into robots. Actually my favorite projects are to re-purpose old computers for new re-uses. Doing robots is certainly one of those ends. Do not think I have bought a completely new computer in over five years. Would love to have a completely new machine. Several issues have me more and more into older equipment. First is that you can get the items free or very cheap. Despite the argument that older equipment requires more electricity, You can with proper planning not really use that much more in power for a single installation. For the corporate world where you would be using maybe thousands of systems, then you want the new greener equipment (being all things are equal). Secondly you are not really purchasing equipment any more but actually renting it. Look at the fine print of the EULA (End User Licensing agreement) agreement of you newer systems. Compani...

Bobby aka Bob has written several articles already, Maybe it is time for me to do one also. He mentioned that I was into robots. Actually my favorite projects are to re-purpose old computers for new re-uses. Doing robots is certainly one of those ends. Do not think I have bought a completely new computer in over five years. Would love to have a completely new machine. Several issues have me more and more into older equipment. First is that you can get the items free or very cheap. Despite the argument that older equipment requires more electricity, You can with proper planning not really use that much more in power for a single installation. For the corporate world where you would be using maybe thousands of systems, then you want the new greener equipment (being all things are equal). Secondly you are not really purchasing equipment any more but actually renting it. Look at the fine print of the EULA (End User Licensing agreement) agreement of you newer systems. Comp...