[dnks]

What I set out to do initially, was turn my very old Dell laptop into a multi-purpose server, I had so so so many plans for it. Sadly, I went and killed the laptop because I got too cocky. But if anyone is interested in reading this rant, maybe some information might be useful to you in the future.

What I originally intended to do, was replace the Mini PCI-E WiFi card that come inside the laptop with another Mini PCI-E card. I particularly wanted to install a card that had SATA in it. It's a fair trade, the laptop wasn't going to be moved anywhere, so it could rest comfortably near the router and use the LAN cable. The problem here, is that I can't put 2 full size HDDs inside a laptop, much less connect the SATA cables to it, there's a keyboard and a lot plastic on the way, naturally, I just get rid of all the plastic and things on the way, and for a few moments, I had a laptop that could host 4 drives no problem



This is when I got really really cocky, I decided that since I needed a PSU to power these 2 new drives, since the laptop can't possibly power them, I would find a way to use the PSU to power the laptop as well. So I went and got a PSU breakboard.


Did I search and download an schematic of the motherboard so I knew where and how much power I should give it? Yes
Did I actually check said schematic so I knew what I was doing? No
I actually shorted the motherboard, it's completely useless now. There goes my dream of turning my old laptop into a NAS, gonna have to actually buy the hardware.

This all happened some 3 months ago, so it's been a while, and I hand't thrown anything out in the off-chance that I was just tired and didn't actually short the motherboard (you know, wishful thinking, ignoring the problems means there are no problems) and I tried again yesterday (Being at home for so long has got me picking up all sorts of weird ways to kill time). Yesterday I accepted the fate of the motherboard, but then it reminded me of some YouTube videos I had seen of people reusing LCD screens and webcams from old laptops.

I'm gonna try to get a LSDV LCD controller for my monitor, wire the very clunky but still usable TouchScreen pane to USB and I'm gonna connect it to an old Raspberry that's been collecting dust for years. If I manage to get it working, I'm going to either host one of those smart home automation servers to control the lights in my apartment, or I'm going to whip up a nice web interface and send all the HTTP requests through it after figuring out what packets to send (haven't used Wireshark in ages)... I'll also consider some other stuff, like a simple To-Do interface so every time I'm walking out I remember to buy coffee and milk.

And finally, I was considering using the Webcam with integrated microphone as either a makeshift home security thing (actually completely useless application), point it out of the window and track how many people it detects per day using some Haarcascade implementation, or a more fancy object detection algorithm if the raspberry can handle it, or just give it it's intended use as a very low quality but now movable webcam


~ Other than having 10TB worth of space collecting dust because, that leaves me with 16GB of DDR3 ram for laptops. Maybe I should check if people are selling (for very cheap, or giving away) their old or broken laptops.
I honestly can't wait until Q3 of the year, which is when I think I will finally stop being a student again and can jump back into the workforce so I can just spend half my income setting up a nicer home server without worrying about savings or paying rent.

Have any of you reused old computer parts or electronics for something else? Happy to read stories about people being more successful than me at this.

[imgr8ness]

Try to sell as much as you can before the parts become totally worthless

[mothered]

Maybe I should check if people are selling (for very cheap, or giving away) their old or broken laptops.

When my laptops die, I take out the Ram and HDD/SSD and throw the rest In the trash.