7. Summary
Nearly everyone has an old laptop, desktop or router collecting dust in the basement or garage. Here are 17 ways to put that old tech to new use.
We discovered 17 different projects that make use of your retired computer equipment:
Projects Using Old Computers:
- Install Ubuntu or other distribution to experiment with Linux
- Donate your CPU power to contribute to humanitarian research
- Convert the hard drive to an external drive (or recover your data)
- Run your own Web server
Networking Projects Using Old Computers:
- Convert it into a firewall or router
- Make it a network file or home server
- Switch to Enterprise Wi-Fi Security by running your own authentication server
Media Projects Using Old Computers:
- Stream media throughout your home
- Build your own surveillance system
- Build your own DVR
Projects Using Old Routers
- Extend coverage by using it as another wireless access point (AP)
- Relieve wireless N routers from supporting G
- Convert it into a Wi-Fi hotspot
Firmware Projects Using Old Routers:
- Experiment with aftermarket firmware
- Make it a repeater to take the signal further
- Use it as a wireless bridge or gaming adapter
- Offer VPN connections or connect networks together
Always remember to check for files before wiping your old hard drive.
Once you’re done with your retired equipment, consider donating it if it’s usable. Maybe offer them to your local school, church, or the public via FreeCycle.org.
When donating or trashing your computer, first wipe everything from your hard drive. Even if you’ve deleted your personal files, there are probably stored passwords and other sensitive info that others could recover. If you’ve slaved it in another Windows machine, you could use a utility like Disk Wipe. If it’s still in the old case, you can use a bootable solution like Active@ Kill Disk.
When getting rid of old routers you should clear all your settings out by holding in the reset button on the back to restore the factory defaults.
Have more project ideas? Leave a comment to let us know your favorites.
nice.
much better than the old way of recycling old tech as "art".
Since we are on Toms, and toms has a FAH (folding at home team) should that not be listed as a good use for old PC, or just any spare CPU cycles? 40051 FTW!
I have a number of old PCs from the last 13 years still alive, being used as midi sound 'servers'. Some have Gigastudio 3 or 4 on them, others just have an SB Live or Audigy card, one even has an old AWE64 Gold in it (still running Win 98 SE, but not internet connected!). It's an old school approach, but it has allowed the extension of the available midi channels without the problems of overtaxing a single DAW all-in-one solution. I've yet to make real use of the whole set up, but it will get used one day...
I've read that projects that utilize your spare CPU power like folding@home haven't brought any real benefit and the scientific community thinks they have enough CPU power already. Is this true or is it just adding to your electricity bill, wasting your internet connection bandwidth, and worsening global warming?
I've read that projects that utilize your spare CPU power like folding@home haven't brought any real benefit and the scientific community thinks they have enough CPU power already. Is this true or is it just adding to your electricity bill, wasting your internet connection bandwidth, and worsening global warming?
i like to see where you read that at as last i checked as the performance is still well under what they would like to see.
As for benefits, this project has already done a lot to better understand certain diseases.
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers
The best use of an old PC is to make it into a Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME)
#1 use: give it to the wife so she can infect her own machine with malware and crap. then let her see how annoying it is !
I concur with BigPeanut: Converting an old pc into an Arcade station is a quite fun project.
Similar project is turning it into a music jukebox, with a touchscreen and easy to use playlist builder / genre selector. Saves you quite some DJ time and comments about music during parties.
I have plenty of old machines, but I don't like the idea of having an age old P4 beast on all day just so I can share files/run torrents/etc. low power devices can for a small cost do the same thing, otherwise if you have a beefy machine you could always virtualise and save on the load. It's become a dilemma for me repuposing these machines as servers for that reason.
A mame box is perfect though...
Hi all,
mayankleoboy1: Thanks. Yes, thought I'd go with more productive ideas though the art can be cool.
jaksun5: yes I hear you. Plug Computers are a good option too.
plasmastorm: Best idea here :-) and give them to the kids!
BigPeanut: Yes, MAME was on my radar but didn't make it in the piece. Great idea too!
Thanks for reading!
Eric Geier (the author)
It would be better to replace the CPU and mainboard in the old PC if you plan to give it a new duty where it will run 24/7/365. An Atom CPU and mainboard can be had for cheap and the power savings will pay for it in a years time or less. The rest of the computer can be recycled but I would ditch the old mainboard and CPU for something more power efficient.
I liked this article and gives me many ideas, especially about File/Storage/Media Servers. But as a user of Windows 7 Media Center, I really like the way WHS connect to your main recording machine. Yes you can build a MythTV Front End, Media Server Back End in one machine, but I find Linux or AMD support of Linux problematic, I can't give up my Windows solution just to get a tiny bit more functionality.
All the other ideas are great and I'm really taking a serious look at Amahi... Thanks
i need more information on new and old internet connections and voip with fax connections.
zensupport.uk has become insufficient.thank u for the router ideas and info as i am a field technician who works with satelite dishes instead.
I don't know if this has been suggested already, but converting an old PC into an Arcade Machine is a project a few of my friends have done.
IRC server? TOR server?