Things to do with a old computer

Step 1: Before you crack it open...

Updated 31/01/2012
Thanks to MrJentis for some more ideas.

Before you go ripping it open remember that you can reuse the whole computer and not just some of the components.

1.-Install Linux
Linux is an open source OS that you can install on your old computer and use it as a everyday computer, for those of you out there that are not geeks that just basically means its a OS like windows XP that people give away free that you can use. You could do endless things with linux and there is a distribution to suit every computer.

Ubuntu-
This is for some of the better spec computers out there. Its is the most like proper a OS and it is the most user friendly. It can easily do everyday tasks like Surfing and sending email's. I needs:
1 GHz x86 processor
1 Gb of system memory (RAM)
15 GB of hard-drive space
Graphics card and monitor capable of 1024 by 768
Either a Cd/Dvd-drive or a Usb socket (or both)
Internet access is helpful

Ubuntu's system requirements have escalated over the last few released but there is a alternative version based on Ubuntu called Xbuntu

500Mhz x86 Processor (At the very least!)
 256 MiB of system memory (RAM)
 2 GB of disk space
Graphics card and monitor capable of 800x600 resolution


Puppy Linux-
This is a slightly less user friendly version of linux. Is is for those less functional PC's with not as good a spec. It needs:

CPU : Pentium 166MMX
RAM : 64MB
CDROM : 20x and up

Damn Small Linux
OK if none of the above options have worked for you, you must really have a scrappy computer. It is very basic and is not user friendly. It requires
486dx or 100% compatible processor
16mb ram (24mb recommended)
dual-speed CDROM (quad-speed or better recommended) (thats 2x or 4x)
1.44mb floppy drive (for boot floppy, if needed)

There are loads more distrabutions try http://www.linux.org/

Now I have never done the following options before so I can't go into detail on how to do them but you can google them:

Turn it into a server (web, printer, file etc.)
Put a big hard driver in it and make it a jukebox
Put a TV tuner into it and a big hard drive and make it a PVR
Use it as a firewall
Use it as a stress reliever
Automate Your Home
Use it as a answering machine
Make the monitor into a aquarium
Make it into a rendering farm
Trade It in
Put it in your car
Give it away/Donate
There are some more in the comments!

Comments

[tealk]

or just unsolder every capacitor,transistor,battery holder,... and make fun projects with leds,.....

[CrimsonXLR]

Cool clock, I got a dead MOBO lying around I might give the clock a try.

As for the plants. some people are getting an idea for the ya know :)

[CrimsonXLR]

What I did with an old fan was wired to an old cell phone charger. It works great to keep something like a router cool or what ever it is you need a fan on.

[CrimsonXLR]

The only thing I'd do with a Power supply is take the fan out if it is still good, any thing else makes me cringe with the thought of something serious happening.

[CrimsonXLR]

I mean if the power supply is dead, I'll take out the fan, but other then that nothing other than that.

[bfedorowytsch]

If you just power a few specific pins on certain processors you can get them to be extremely hot.

[faacuunndoo]

I will post a very good idea for doing with the case

[faacuunndoo]

look at this: http://www.instructables.com/id/HandGrinder-for-less-than-1/

[or_ford98]

''....but if you want to risk blowing your head off be my guest.....'' 
- great warning bro, it made me roflol

[techboy411]

Yeah.. But Go Toshiba, ive got the Satellite C650-005, GREAT PC

[memyselfand1]

That poor computer! What did it do to it's owners to deserve that?? Let them RIP, after you have RIPPED out all the componants, naturally.

[prodlad]

freeze, crash, blue sceen

[memyselfand1]

Ah, the good old BSOD. Nothing like a good error message.

[cdousley]

i gt an hp laptop brand new windows 7
Two days later....
BSOD i restarted it it was back to normal

10 minutes later.........

BSOD i restarted it it was back to normal

lol true story

[tlynch1]

HP= horrible product
maybe they forgot to put thermal compound inside

[droyce4596]

That happened to my HP laptop when I got it too!
But, I had Windows Vista.
It scared the the crap out of me because I thought it was a goner and that would have sucked because my cousin told me HP motherboards in laptops overheated easily and I would hate it if he was right :)

But, I think It just got too hot because I was gaming and had my laptop sitting on a blanket.

[TheDutchOwner]

HP overheating, that's nothing special to me. HP is scrap and you shouldn't buy it. Only if you buy a HP Vista/7 laptop and use 98 on it, then it still has a use.

[cdousley]

ive had mine get too hot that way but no blue screen luckily

[uberdum05]

I've had my acer aspire reach 75oC on the ventilation system (I don't exactly know where the temperature sensor is) and it still run fine

[account3r2]

i thought microsoft fixed the bsod to not appear on windows vista + but i guess not

[REA]

i got 5 BSoDs in 10 minutes the first week i got my computer. good ol' Vista!

[alien200049655]

Vista was an abortion from the start. Xp was alright for what it was but, Windows 7 isn't all that bad, even though its a re-tooled Vista.

[Airwolf1]

Got a BSOD during Vista setup on my new HP laptop, BEAT THAT!

[REA]

touché. that takes some skills at failing!

[pichu1994]

Ha! I'm so good, i actually messed up the BSOD. When it came up, all the words were scrambled and cut off and all that good stuff. I now run Linux.

[cdousley]

if i could afford it i would go mac....

[REA]

trust me, you dont want a mac. they do a crap job at making durable hardware, and its tedious working with it. buy a decent PC thats at the most 5 years old and install Linux on it if you dont want Windows.

[alien200049655]

The newer Mac OS(s) Can run in any desktop, including The dell demension 9800. Drivers are tuff to come by though, but if you get them all, this desktop will run Mac. Dell will tell you its incompatable, because they want you to run their software. truth is any computer "can" run run Mac OS(s) with the right know how. And no I don't mean drastic hardware changes. Its all in the software.

[REA]

That's only thanks to iBoot and the OSx86 community. It's all unofficial (and possibly illegal). There's also the thing with some (after-market) mobos don't work too.

[dogboy12457]

i know what you mean by crap hardware. my imac g5 crapped out on me and i took it to get repaired. cost 570$, 500 for new motherboard and 70 for labor. about a year goes by and the same thing happens. what happened is when apple made the motherboard the capacitors on it cant stand the heat of the computer. And instead of the guys fixing the capacitors they just put a new motherboard in it. the problem with that is that it has the same capacitors in it as the ones that broke. however i found an instructable (http://www.instructables.com/id/Imac-G5-DIY-capacitors-repair/) that tells how to replace them. i did that and it has been working fine ever since.

[GENERALCHAOS]

lol i tryd to  get the bsod i cant get it to go on my test pc

[j_wo]

If you really want to crash your computer, just open Notepad and type this

@echo off
:START
start CRASH.bat
GOTO START

save it as "CRASH.bat" and then double click it.
It won't harm your computer, it'll just overwork your RAM and should cause a BSOD.

[account3r2]

try putting in a really low amount of ram in and try opening a bunch of stuff

[zack247]

well it depends how good your pc is.i was trying to biuld one once, and while it was setting up, i got the BSOD because the ram failed halfway through

[GENERALCHAOS]

MoBo intel D865GRH (2004) 1.5GB ddr400 single ch of ram  WD Green 320GB hdd   FX5200  creative labs 24bit

cpu 3.2
ram 4.2
desktop graphics 2.0
gaming 3.0
primHDD 5.9

BTW i got a nice scor on my hardisk
lol this old MoBo is bit strong
if i had the money il get some nice upgrad for see how bad @$$ i can get it
i wanna get the 3.2GHz cpu SSD sapphire HD 4600 agp and ddr400 dual channel kit 2x1gb and 2x512mb

[zack247]

you should get a 750W psu to put on top of that!

[GENERALCHAOS]

yea now is just the money i need lol

[memyselfand1]

welcome to the wonderful world of windows, my friend.
i reinstalled xp on my laptop last week, and discovered the hard way that i had no drivers for most of the internal devices.

my sound still doesn't work.

[alien200049655]

Go to the website of the brand of your laptop, and download all the drivvers for your model, Dell has free driver downloads availible.

[zack247]

this wouldn't be a dell, would it? even if it is, try googling "(insert laptop name here) sound drivers", i got the drivers for mine that way. you might just get lucky