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15" LCD monitor. What to do?
So, I got this old ThinkPad 600, I really want to take the monitor off and make some use of it, but Im not quite sure what to do. So far, what I've thought is Digital Picture Frame. Possible screen for my Xbox 360? (Good idea?) Another monitor for my PC but I kind want to just use it for widgets like time, RAM usage, calendar and organizer. and extra window space. (good idea?) Other than that, I'm not sure. It's not often I get to do something with a monitor, so I'm at a loss of what to do. Any suggestions would be great.
Discussions
11 years ago
you can't take the monitor off
Reply 11 years ago
Umm, you can, just unscrew it and snip the wires.
Reply 11 years ago
i meant the you can't make it work without the circuitry inside the laptop
Reply 11 years ago
Oh, I see... Sorry.
Reply 11 years ago
If the laptop still works you may be able to use it as a second monitor- there are guides around the internet if you look around.
Reply 11 years ago
That sucks, I was really hoping to do something with it. Thanks for telling me.
Reply 11 years ago
what did you want to "project" on it?
11 years ago
Give it to me.
Reply 11 years ago
No, me. :-)
11 years ago
I agree, a digital picture frame is a good way to go. Another good use for an old laptop, is to turn it into a 'jukebox' if you have enough hdd space for your music, load it up, load up your fav music app. Set the music app to start up automatically. Then, do a simple rewire, so that some keys are still usable, and map those as play, stop etc..
Reply 11 years ago
I might just go with the jukebox idea, I like that, thanks. I I'm thinking of looking over the laptop making it look like an old record player too. The biggest problem is that if I do that, I'm going to have to go through and fix some of the OS problems I'm having. Anyone know if I could get any UNIX based OS on here? Ubuntu would be nice. On a side note, I looked up the specs, if this thing has the same, my zune has more HD space. lol.
Reply 11 years ago
I've got an old laptop that struggles with flash animations on websites! I use it for 2 things, 1 is as a client for connecting to the terminal server at the office and my PC downstairs via the MS RDP client. This uses the resources on the target PC so as long as it can run a half decent display resolution that works reasonably well. The other thing I use it for is as a simplified jukebox, just using Winamp for the time being rather than any other frontend, but rather than using the internal hard drive I have all my music on an external hard drive which is connected to another machine and shared, along with that machines music folder. All the laptop has to do then is just turn on and run an OS.
Reply 11 years ago
I suggest one of the main linux distros, but then XMBC (media front end) for the window manager.
Reply 11 years ago
ubuntu is heavy. there are lots of lighter linux distros but if its below pentium 2 i'd stick with windows 95 / 98
11 years ago
The digital picture frame is probably the easiest to do, you basically just break the hinges and bend the display around backwards. If you want a 15" digital picture frame, then make one. The other idea that comes to mind is a portable DVD player, if it could handle hooking up an external drive.
11 years ago
Like a-s says, the driver circuitry for the display screen is so integrated into the laptop that you usually can't separate that out from the laptop. And it is proprietary stuff specific to the brand of laptop that is is hard to get any info to hack it. A stand-alone monitor has those electronics built into it to accept and convert the input signal. You'll have to think of something else, otherwise another obsolete laptop destined for the recycling heap.
11 years ago
you can install desktop sharing client on the laptop and use it for every task with computer plus you have something to play mp3s and video and play dos games on