[Cialug] [OT] Re-using monitors, end of an era

[Tim Wilson]

You could get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260022

I thought Viewsonic had a device like this a few years ago, but I can't seem
to find out anything about it.  Not sure how good "KWorld" is, but it might
be worth looking into.

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 2:45 PM, Daniel A. Ramaley <daniel.ramaley at drake.edu
> wrote:

> I have a pair of 17" LCD monitors with no specific use as they've been
> replaced by a single widescreen monitor. The monitors support VGA and
> DVI inputs (no HDCP though). I was thinking that they are a good size
> for a bedroom TV. The most obvious (to me anyway) way to use them as a
> TV would be to hook up a small computer with a TV tuner card. I could
> even put a DVD drive in the machine and have a DVD player too. But, i'd
> rather not have so much hardware hanging off of them. Any ideas for a
> better way to go about this?
>
>
>
> And speaking of old hardware, it is my sad duty to report that the
> computer-in-a-box that i once brought to a CIALUG meeting many moons
> ago has been taken out of service. The machine still works, is still
> silent[*], and is still in the cardboard box. The box originally held
> analog audio tapes from Drake's Educational Media Department, a
> department that hasn't even existed for several years. The computer was
> built with cast-off parts from the University of Minnesota Law School,
> from when i worked there in the summer of 1998. The computer is an AMD
> 486-133MHz (yes, a 133 MHz 486!) with 24 MB RAM, a pair of 3com 3c509b
> ethernet cards, no hard disk, and runs entirely from a floppy. Since
> the floppy drive sits directly atop the motherboard, it is loosely
> encased in an anti-static bag.
>
> If anyone is interested in the machine, let me know. It does just fine
> at routing a 10 Mbit connection, the only problem with it being that
> the CMOS battery has long since departed this Earth and so on power
> failure the machine needs to be retold what millennium it is and that
> it has a floppy drive. Also, i discarded the outer case for the power
> supply (to make sure heat could still rise out of it after the cooling
> fan was disabled to make it silent), so don't touch the high voltage
> circuits when it is plugged in.
>
> It runs Coyote Linux. Since it doesn't run any services, it has seemed
> reasonably secure despite running very old and outdated software. I
> don't remember what kernel it has, whether it is a 2.0 or a 2.2 series,
> but it is something old enough to be small enough to fit on a floppy
> and still have space for some admin utilities.
>
> The 486 has now been replaced with a machine that is smaller, faster,
> and cheaper (as in it uses less electricity) running OpenBSD from an
> industrial flash-based storage device.
>
> [*] Silent except for a *very* faint and very high-pitched whine that
>    i suspect comes from some component in the power supply. It is so
>    high-pitched that i could hear it when i got the machine, but now
>    enough years have passed that i cannot.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dan Ramaley                            Dial Center 118, Drake University
> Network Programmer/Analyst             2407 Carpenter Ave
> +1 515 271-4540                        Des Moines IA 50311 USA
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>



-- 
Tim
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