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

[WanderingAuthor]

Voltage will sting, but it is the amps that will kill you. You can get a nasty burn from high voltage, but what it takes to kill you is a quarter of an amp across your heart. A twelve volt car battery could give you a lethal jolt, if you got careless.

[90kar08]

You need the voltage to get the amps! The resistance of the human body is way to high to get a zap from 12 or even 24 volts.

[Gelfling6]

I think the magic number, is 42.. (no, no reference to Scott Adams). 42V, is where you begin to feel it.. Though, I got a healthy shock when I accidentally bridged a 12V truck battery to GND, but only from the plasma from the arc. (trying to un-bolt a circuitbreaker from an F930 firetruck chassis. Wrench finally loosened the bolt, but it slapped the frame.. BIG spark, and right across the back of my hand.).. the danger, is going in one hand, and through to the other. Hence, why the old Electricians idea, when working with high voltages, Always keep one hand in your pocket!

[Pixels303]

thats right folks, 90kar09 is spot on. I did the tests and found that around 70 volts is the highest potential a person could sustain with dry hands before the current was too much to hold. 12 Volts simply doesn't have the potential for passing enough current through you (Even if you have wet hands). Only way you have any concern is when you have a inductive load on 12 volts is turned off passing current through you when the magnetic poles collapse.

[dla888]

24 volts is very hazardous. 120 volts will zap you and jerk you around, while 24 volts will zap you and hold you.

[SpantaX]

24 volts is not hazardous.. you won't even feel it.. unless you touch the power source with your tounge.. the tounge is sensitive, and you can feel 9 volts..

[The Incredible IT Maker]

only if it has a high amperage.

[dla888]

AR eyou refering to AC or DC power.

[SpantaX]

up to 24 V - DC over 24 V - AC

[awang8]

That's right. You need volts to carry the amps across.

[vitruvian8807]

I wonder if there's such a thing as an electrical capacitance bracelet or something. Or something you could wear that would absorb some or most of the electricity from a zap, provided you don't touch electric poles and such.

[yellowtwo]

I'm at work, this made me LoL, people looked at me funny...

[schetleft]

maybe a layden jar that you could wear?

[blakdragon19]

ummm, a car battery can deliver about 500 amps on average... so yeah.

[prodlad]

to be presise its 60 milliamps

[Derin]

120Ah,about 200A cold crank.

[awang8]

But it doesn't usually reach your heart in time to kill you...

[Nando_Kommando]

right, I've been zapped by the car battery when I was really young. It through me a little ways, but I'm still here!

[Plasmana]

Yeah...

[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.

[Gelfling6]

I usually will strip the supply, of the following, if it has them..

Opto-Isolators (look like a 4-pin DIP IC.) These are good for anything you want to run low/high voltage, with no physical connection between circuits)

Low Voltage Capacitors (NOT the Big babies!).. Sometimes, you need a little more filtering.. don't pick the caps from the +12 or -12v side for a 5V project, though..

At least 1 Multi-plug molex power cord. (floppy or hard drive,) this way, you can run external drives.

the bridge rectifier from the Mains side.. this is a heavy-duty Bridge, you can use it in a regulated supply to convert AC, and even, If you are all thumbs, (like me), connect it in between a device you KNOW the polarity to the + & - pins, and it doesn't matter which you connect to the ~/~ pins. (Auto-polarity)

Another thing I'll look for, as you said, the fan.. I'll look for ones which have a thermal control with them. (on a separate PC board), the thermister will usually be mounted onto one of the heat-sinks. (well insulated/Isolated). and put them into supplies which don't have 'fan quieters'. (these reduce the voltage to the fan so it runs quieter, but if the heat inside gets higher, it allows more through, speeding up the fan.)

One note, when converting a supply, to obtain full wattage, You need to use ALL wires for the same voltage. I.E. if it has 5-6 wires coming from the +5V in a 250W supply, You need to run all 5-6 to obtain that full output. (of course, by then, if you use all 250W peak, the supply will shut-down.) Older supplies, which required a minimum load, you sacrifice 1 red (+5, not the +5Vsb) to a load resistor (I've always liked 33-Ohm,5W sandblock)

[Gelfling6]

One note I post to almost all of the ATX to bench supply conversions, For some reason, I've noticed the majority of supplies have the cooling fan, mounted to draw air OUT of the case. THIS IS GOOD! there are some, the fan is mounted to force air into the supply. (the old Dell Dimension/Optiplex towers, which had a cooling fan mounted to the supply inside, forced the air through the supply, as it drew it from the CPU.) There is still plenty of wire left, and it depends on how they mounted it (If by the rubber plugs, not so easy.) flipping the fan, so it would draw air out of the supply, keeps it cooler. (this supply, has 2 fans, and both appear to face outward.)

[Gelfling6]

There are plenty of ATX Supply to Bench Supply conversion projects here on Instructables, One additional, if you have an old TEAC 3.5" floppy drive, (or similar, with a 4-pin Mini-Molex power connector), unsolder it form the board, straighten the pins on the board side, and you have a 4-pin power connector for Breadboard projects, using the converted ATX supply (as long as you leave one of the drive power cables connected inside.) I run all of my Arduino & breadboard projects this way.

[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.

[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