Making Stuff Out Of Broken Computer Equipment?

Class Act Dynamo writes "Recently, my keyboard stopped working, so I bought a new one (nice cordless number, really excellent). I was about to throw the old keyboard out when I thought it would be interesting to take all the keys out of it and turn them into refrigerator magnets in order to have a simple 'megnetic poetry' type of thing going. As the fumes from the industrial strength glue went to my head during this project, I began to wonder what other types of craft-type projects people had undertaken with their unusable old perpherals and such. Then I began to wonder why there was a purple octopus on my couch. I decided to ask slashdot readers the first of these questions."

Hmmm

[xneubien]

What about the good ol' Celeron Paperweight?

Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Dachannien]

Because purple octopi like to watch TV too.

What I do with old computer parts

[Anonymous Coward]

I make computers out of them.

Eh I meant "octopus"

[Anonymous Coward]

Even God makes typos.

Hamster Cage

[obfuscated]

Computer cases with clear sides make great hamster cages! Just make sure to file down the really sharp stuff. Add some tubes from case to case and papow! You've got your first Hamster-powered cluster.

My favorite use for old hardware...

[john_smith_45678]

is the one they put the printer to in Office Space.

PC Load Letter?

IF you want some entertainment

[LeahofRivendell]

I suggest finding a microwave you don't particularly value and put your motherboard in it. If that doesn't entertain you enough, a light bulb can have an entertaining reaction.

MC HyperSPARC

[tokki]

A friend of mine a while ago would make neck chains out of old HyperSPARC and SuperSPARC processor modules, ala Flavah Flav from Public Enemy.

Re:Rip apart the hard drives and take out the magn

[ssbljk]

yeah, HDDs are the most useful eq.
they can be used as ashtray, weapon... and working one can be used to store some data on it too.

The ladies have some ideas..

[fadeaway]

The answer is three weeks.

Three weeks until your girlfriend gets sick of asking you to clean up the overflowing pile of old and unused components that's steadily taking over the office. Three weeks until you come home and find your monitor decorated, in a most Martha Stewart-like fashion, with superglued sticks of RAM and old CPU's.

Message recieved.. loud and clear. Over and out.

486DX Back Scratcher!

[Xocet_00]

Back when I worked in the computer room at K-W Surplus [kwsurplus.com] (please excuse the horrid website, it isn't mine) we took this box of old 486DX chips and glued them onto the ends of these long thin plastic pencils. They made excellent back scratchers. We sold them for $0.99CA I think.

Re:Rip apart the hard drives and take out the magn

[daemon_underscore]

I stuck them to either side of the flap of skin between my nostrils. Going to the doctor to get neodynium magnets removed from your sinuses isn't fun.

RAAANMAAA!

[numbski]

Curse those evil octopi! [fanfic.org]

Re:Memory sticks

[Judg3]

haha! I did the exact same thing, though it wasn't a mac, it was an old 386. The ram was only 256kb in size! I remember we tried to install linux on it back in 99 or so, but even though it had a dozen or so sticks in it, it didn't meet the 3mb of ram minimum - so on the keychain it went!

Re:My favorite use for old hardware...

[SCSI-Wan]

PC Load Letter?

What f**k does that mean?

Re:Hamster Cage

[chota]

Also, for added effect, be sure to name your hamster "Beowulf."

The chicks dig it.

Purple Octopus...

[selderrr]

that, my dear friend, is what the sun-walkers out there call a woman

don't touch it, don't feed it, don't talk to it. If you stop washing yourself & brushing your teeth, it's supposed to go away by itself.

dunno if this matters, but you have all slahsdotters sympathy. We're standing right behind you like one geek. Let us know how it turns out.

Re:Hamster Cage

[Dogtanian]

Computer cases with clear sides make great hamster cages [...] You've got your first Hamster-powered cluster.

I heard that they use a Beowulf cluster of those to run the Hampster-dance website.

Toys for the girls

[pilybaby]

I'm sure I've seen "toys for girls" that look just like my MS wheel mouse. I'm sure it can't be that hard to plug in a vibrating motor and some batteries. If you make it a wireless one you could even use a caddy to charge it. And the best thing is that you don't have to worry about someone finding it in your desk draw. You just say it's an old broken mouse. Kill two bird with one stone. Hell you could do it and have it stay as a fully functioning mouse too.

Re:My favorite use for old hardware...

[UserGoogol]

After painstakingly removing the words "what the fuck does that mean" and "office space" from my Google search, I found good explanation [linuxprinting.org]

It (more or less) means the printer thinks you don't have the right kind of paper.

Mouse Necklace

[bokmann]

I once made a necklace our of a dead mac mouse... just fed the end that normally attached to the computer back into the mouse case, and voila!

On a dare, I wore it out one night (while still in college). I took it off when a hot girl asked me why I was wearing a medic-alert necklace.

Re:Toys for the girls

[maskedbishounen]

Sounds great.

...except this is Slashdot. Who are we going to get to test it?

*sound of crickets here*

Dare I say, the more productive thing is to actually fill it with some sand to weigh it down and throw it at some birds. You might get lucky!

True Story

[djsmiley]

In school i was always the geek, the odd one out etc...
Just check http://djsmiley.blogdns.com to see.

Sometimes i would play on this fact and i 1st made a keyring out of some old ram i found in the computer room. (now i find its been done before =[ )

Then, i found a LARGE ISA card and stuck that on a keyring, to take the piss. The 1st years were loving it, til i hit one of them over the head with it and split it in half =/

Over time this story of this keyring got around, with people asking to see it... Eventually i got bored and dumped it.

Then i saw hackers (the film people, the film!) and decided i wanted a new keyboard, for some cheap pc i brought of a friends uncle, i had 2 cans of spray paint... I just forgot to mask the letters off. So then i ended up with a keyboard, only i could use... It became the most "bling" necklace ever, as i walked into 6th form waring it around my neck!. (using the cable as a string).

This was the high light, but i also decided after we tried to fix the school computers (taking them apart and putting the working parts in the same one), and finding it still didn't work, that if i took lots of NON-working parts, and placed them in a broken machine, it might just work...

how ever it just got attacked by the mobs and left on a bus somewhere.

So, paint your keyboards and go hang out on the west side...

One more thing

[Pan T. Hose]

Making stuff out of broken computer equipment in nothing. Back in my day, we were making computer equipment out of broken stuff.

Oh, and before you start asking stupid questions--no, it wasn't in Soviet Russia. But those NANDs and NORs--it surely was an impressive cluster of those!

My cousin Walter

[ubugly2]

One time my cousin Walter got this mac stuck in his ass. True story. He bought it at our local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrassing for my relatives and all, but the next week, he did it again. Different mac, same results, complete with another trip to the emergency room. So, I run into him a week later in the mall and he's buying another mac. And I says to him, "Jesus, Walt! You know you're just gonna get this mac stuck in your ass too. Why don't you knock it off ?" And he said to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the one button mouse out ?" My cousin was a weird guy.

Re:Hard drive magnets a sore subject. Literally...

[Billy the Mountain]

You've got a point there. Many don't realize that once magnets get to be a certain strength they get dangerous--even something comfortable enough to otherwise carry around for curiousity value. Imagine this embarrasing scenario: You carry around a neodymium magnet around in your jeans pocket and wander into the subway and brush up against the steel turnstile and CLANK! There you are!

BTM

Got two dead keyboards?

[fishnuts]

cut the cables off, put them both behind the rear tires of a front-wheel-drive car. roll car back onto keyboards, engage emergency brake tightly so rear wheels stay locked over the keyboards. put car into gear, slide around and do donuts on your new plastic "car skates".

Re:Toys for the girls

[myowntrueself]

And the girls who use them could sell them secondhand to geeks at a *huge* markup!

P-P-P Powerbook

[Caseyscrib]

I built a P-P-P Powerbook. [sbcglobal.net]

Wasn't really me, but I laughed my ass off reading the story. :)

Re:Hmmm

[bobhagopian]

As a matter of public safety, TAKE ALL PINS OFF THE PROCESSOR. I'm speaking from experience. Though they're not strong enough to really draw blood, you can definitely feel 478 points of discomfort.

Re:My cousin

[jpmkm]

Who the fuck just puts food on a table and eats off it? Have you not heard of plates?

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Feyr]

try french, and quit bitching about english. enlish is actually pretty damn easy :)

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Colonel Cholling]

Any plural that isn't the singular form with -s or -es on the end is non-intuitive crap and should be stricken.

Er, should be "striked."

Things to do with wireless antennas

[cryptor3]

I like to make containers to hold my chips [cantenna.com] out of my old wireless antennas. I also like to cook my noodles [orcon.net.nz] with some of the other old computer parts.

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep in mind this is a purple octopus. If it leaned any more towards maroon the debate would be over because we'd know he's an octopussie.

Pioneers of the GUI

[Halcyon-X]

Looks like Apple had been planning the Aqua interface long before any of us realized...

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[illuminatedwax]

Actually English seems to have inherited all of the problems of French in ADDITION to its own. Kind of like how Windows has all the same problems as UNIX PLUS some of its own.

--Stephen

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Anonymous Coward]

try french, and quit bitching about english. enlish is actually pretty damn easy :)
Try French, and quit bitching about English. English is actually pretty damn easy :)

You may need a little more practice before moving completely to French. Just a suggestion.

Re:Hamster Cage

[Tandoori Haggis]

Its only a matter of time before someone tries to overclock the hamsters...

Slashdot isn't just for the young

[lgbarker]

If anything, you could hide a little pipe in there and smoke pot out of it. Mom and Dad will probably never guess that that old Logitech mouse hides your stash and is really a pipe

Dear AC,
Thanks for the tip.
Dad

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Secret Agent X23]

The plural is actually octupuses, and not in fact octopi, which is a often made mistake... ask any English teacher...

My approach to this type of thing is simply to avoid it: "An octopus with several of his friends..."

Spell it "Calamari". It tastes better that way.

[NotQuiteReal]

I know, Calamari is often just squid, but the fancier places often put in little, whole octopi, like a little garnish, I guess.

Calamari at a nice Italian restaurant - about $16.99 or more.

The look on your 10 year old's face when you have an octopus on your fork and then eat it; priceless...

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[john_smith_45678]

Yeah, people who take the time to properly learn and use their country's native language are real dorks. Much like those who learn how to drive, balance a checkbook, how Democrats lie, how taxes work, etc. etc. etc.

Re:Question - shortest sentence

[Alsee]

Blowzy night-frumps vex'd Jack Q.

Not bad, 26 letters, 1 hyphen, 1 apostophy, and 1 period. Unfortunately you failed, there aren't 4 space keys on the keyboard.

Better luck next time!

-

Boom

[evilnissan]

Usualy when I come along a old case to a useless computer I take them to the shooting range and pump a box or 2 of 9mm ammo in to it.

Last time I did this it was a early 90's Gateway pc. Just so happen a group of WV state police officers were there and got the biggest kick shooting this poor case for a about a hour.

Re:Got two dead keyboards?

[bonkedproducer]

I've got a keyboard made from several DOAs that reads
"HELP-CAPTIVE-
IN-KEYBOARD-
FACTORY"

hanging on the wall - most folks have to look at it 5 or 6 times before they get the joke.

The look on _your_ face...

[leonbrooks]

...when it turns out that the octopus isn't quite dead yet? That one'll stick with your 10 year old until his dying day. (-:

BTW, you could get squid rings about the size of a truck tyre, but won't because squid use ammonia to adjust their bouyancy, and the larger squids use more than the littlies. Windex on a stick, yummo! (-:

Re:Spell it "Calamari". It tastes better that way.

[fciron]

Actual record of my twelve year old at a tapas place

"Can I have some of your fried chicken?"
"That's good. Gimme some more."
"Can I have another piece, please?"
"This looks like some kind of alien octopus?"
"THIS IS CALAMARI!"

The look on his face as he slowly realized he'd eaten squid all on his own. That's priceless.

Re:Hmmm

[Battle_Ratt]

Yes, and putting them in the hallway at night is a great way to see who is raiding the fridge.

Re:Hmmm

[Captain Tripps]

I use old intell PII's as goatee combs
I read that as "goatse combs", and immediately regretted it.

Re:My cousin

[jpmkm]

So then you eat with your hands, fingers, arms, and elbows? Ever heard of a fork?

Re:My gf does

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow! You've got a keeper!

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[Anonymous Coward]

try german

Re:Toys for the girls

[BashDot]

Wow, this mouse has force-feedback! But why is the cursor buzzing around like that? I can't click anything!

Re:Why is there a purple octopus on your couch?

[4ntifa]

Bah, French... Try Finnish [wikipedia.org].

Looks like I picked the wrong week ...

[unsigned integer]

to stop sniffing glue.

Re:Rip apart the hard drives and take out the magn

[Anonymous Coward]

I like to keep my important driver disks held together with hard drive magnets.. it works great! Picture [img17.exs.cx]

Re:Hmmm

[identity0]

The symbol of technological progress and man's yearning for faster framerates, being used to comb some hacker's goatee...

Somewhere, Alan Moore is crying.

Re:Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

I got a broken C=64 and an Atari 2600 off ebay for $10, and turned it into a Beowulf Cluster of Cray Supercomputers. Right now it's rendering a 16384 x 12288 GIF of Natalie Portman and a donkey using a copy of Povray I made out of an old broken CP/M disk and a copy of QBASIC. I'll tell you when it's finished.