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Making use of spare computers

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So i'm building another computer. I'm going to use it ocasionally for gaming at work. The specs are

1.7G P4
512 Megs ddr400
FX 5200 Video card
40GB 7200RPM HD
generic sound card and case

My question is my current gaming rig blows this computer out of the water ten fold, so i'm wondering what all you guys use your spare computers for.

My internet connection at home is not fast enough to support it being a gaming server.
I was thinking maybe making it a file server, or file server / proxy server, or maybe something else

any suggestions ?

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Fold with it.

Or put it in the kids' playroom and load kidpix. I played that game till my eyes turned square as a youngster.

Reply to towely

Quote :

So i'm building another computer. I'm going to use it ocasionally for gaming at work. The specs are

1.7G P4
512 Megs ddr400
FX 5200 Video card
40GB 7200RPM HD
generic sound card and case

My question is my current gaming rig blows this computer out of the water ten fold, so i'm wondering what all you guys use your spare computers for.

My internet connection at home is not fast enough to support it being a gaming server.
I was thinking maybe making it a file server, or file server / proxy server, or maybe something else

any suggestions ?



Can't you just let the wife use it or something?

Reply to quantumsheep

File server is a good idea.
Keep your records on it.
Start a recipe book for your wife.
Use it as an entertainment PC and keep all your music files on it, and stream it to your entertainment center.
Give it to your local school/church.

Reply to NMDante

I use my PC (my 'spare' computer) for P2P, and also as a file server for my Xbox and laptop. You don't want to have to run a whole bunch of noisy disks in a cluster right next to you in order to watch a video - I try to use the PC for all the noisy jobs and stick it somewhere else in the house.

Reply to mesarectifier

not recomended as a file server of important files.

But its a great family PC for general useage. Just put it in the living room and let um have at it, or for anyone who needs to use it. Since its not your main PC , its not a big deal for someone to screw up.


Personaly, i use a secondary PC to hook up to my HDTV. I have it loaded with a million older consol games so its really for visiting people. They still love old mario, and the original smash bros. (I have a controler to usb converter so its like playing the real thing.
--> 2.5ghz amd 1gb 333 ram 100gb hdd.

Reply to CompTIA_Rep

Quote :

not recomended as a file server of important files.

But its a great family PC for general useage. Just put it in the living room and let um have at it, or for anyone who needs to use it. Since its not your main PC , its not a big deal for someone to screw up.


Personaly, i use a secondary PC to hook up to my HDTV. I have it loaded with a million older consol games so its really for visiting people. They still love old mario, and the original smash bros. (I have a controler to usb converter so its like playing the real thing.
--> 2.5ghz amd 1gb 333 ram 100gb hdd.



Don't trust this guy....his car has a WANKel engine!

Only joking, that's sound advice there. Unless you don't have a family of course!

Reply to quantumsheep

I would give it to my mother, as she uses a k6-2 500mhz. If you dont want to, or your mother/wife/kids already have a computer, just find someone who needs and give it away. Or sell it....

Reply to jap0nes

I have 1 about the same spec.

Converted it to a FreeNAS box.

or run WarFTP on it and turn it into a ftp server.

Reply to blue68f100

Quote :

So i'm building another computer. I'm going to use it ocasionally for gaming at work. The specs are

1.7G P4
512 Megs ddr400
FX 5200 Video card
40GB 7200RPM HD
generic sound card and case

My question is my current gaming rig blows this computer out of the water ten fold, so i'm wondering what all you guys use your spare computers for.

My internet connection at home is not fast enough to support it being a gaming server.
I was thinking maybe making it a file server, or file server / proxy server, or maybe something else

any suggestions ?



MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emunlator) cabinet.

http://ozducati.freeshell.org/images/mame/cabinet6.jpg

Take an old arcade game ($150-$200), gut it, put your PC in and wire it up.
MAME allows you to play any arcrade game you you can find ROMs for. There are over 4000 available now
Disclaimer: ROMS are protected by intellectual copyrights, so, like trading or pocessing MP3s you havent purchased or own "hard" copies of, can be illeagal

Just one more option

You can also donate the old PC to charity and take it as a tax write off

Peace

Reply to turpit

Nice MAME setup. I never got around to actually putting one in an old arcade cabinet.

Reply to NMDante

Quote :

Nice MAME setup. I never got around to actually putting one in an old arcade cabinet.



That ones not mine.
I didnt have any pics of my cabinet on my comp, so I just linked to some random pic.

They are fun though. If the wife can bear it, and you have the time, it can be a entertaining project, and a convenient receptacle for obsolesced PCs


Peace

Reply to turpit

I give my old machines to my sister who is a grade school teacher. They use them for internet and word processing. Most public schools will be happy to take them off your hands.

Reply to illinikevin

Quote :

Fold with it.

Or put it in the kids' playroom and load kidpix. I played that game till my eyes turned square as a youngster.



w00t! kidpix! I still have that CD somewhere in my desk; maybe I'll try installing it. It says on the disc "for MPC/Windows 3.1", but I recall running it on an XP machine a couple years ago.

Reply to angry_ducky

It's still good enough to run a browser and post on THW. Kids can do their homework, email, im, etc. Not much of a game machine but still good for mundane tasks. Move it to the family room or near the kitchen and have at it. Put linux on it so it gets some horsepower back and use it drive an entertainment center or a file/print server. Lots you can use an older PC for.

Reply to hucklongfin

I just installed KidPix. Here are some screenies that I took during the install:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g38/angry_ducky/InstallPic1.jpg
Maybe I should go for the 12MB install; I really value my HDD space :lol:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g38/angry_ducky/InstallPic3.jpg
There were soo many loading screens.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g38/angry_ducky/JaggedLines.jpg
Those are some jagged lines; how do I turn on AA?

Reply to angry_ducky

Quote :

It's still good enough to run a browser and post on THW. Kids can do their homework, email, im, etc. Not much of a game machine but still good for mundane tasks. Move it to the family room or near the kitchen and have at it. Put linux on it so it gets some horsepower back and use it drive an entertainment center or a file/print server. Lots you can use an older PC for.



:lol:

huck im thinkin of doin linspire for a older pc that i figure will store some of my music, any advice would be welcome,the pc will end up a p3 900mhz(256 cashe),OR a p3 1.1 celly(128) MB has 3 pci slots.can hold 512 /pc100/133/
2 40 gig HD's,maby a old ati rage (32 megs) 128 pci. all in a HP mb :?

Reply to mrreality13

Quote :

So i'm building another computer. I'm going to use it ocasionally for gaming at work. The specs are

1.7G P4
512 Megs ddr400
FX 5200 Video card
40GB 7200RPM HD
generic sound card and case

My question is my current gaming rig blows this computer out of the water ten fold, so i'm wondering what all you guys use your spare computers for.

My internet connection at home is not fast enough to support it being a gaming server.
I was thinking maybe making it a file server, or file server / proxy server, or maybe something else

any suggestions ?



Scientific Research with BOINC: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

I run a team, http://www.boincathull.co.uk

This week we (BOINC@Hull) passed 20,000 days computing time. Across the 20+ BOINC projects, according to boincstats.com, 151,680,196 days computing has been processed. 'A days computing' in this context is where 1 day average computing is equivalent to the work done on a ~800Mhz machine for 24hrs.

Reply to borandi
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