welcome back to the adventure today we're talking about 15 practical things you can do with an old
computer let's jump right into it number one working with the hardware old computers are
great for learning the basics of disassembly and reassembly sure modern parts look a little bit
different but they're still recognizable it's a great way to learn how computers work and how the
parts interact with each other without running the risk of damaging something of high value
if you've only ever purchased pre-built computers it can be a lot of fun taking a computer apart
and putting it back together again you may even be inspired to build your next pc from parts
number two learning how to solder old computers require maintenance one such task is a
process called recapping which is basically replacing capacitors this is a great way to
practice soldering skills by working on computer components that are not of any particular value
i should preface numbers one and two by saying old computers refers to the pentium 4 era
and forward as some systems that are older can have a lot of value or be very rare
number three experiment if you're a lifelong windows user having an extra computer is the
perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with linux you may even be surprised at how
smoothly linux runs on an old machine the reason is that linux demands much less processing power
alternatively if you are feeling ambitious you could try your hand at making a hackintosh
for those not familiar with the term hackintosh refers to a computer that
runs an apple macintosh operating system on hardware not authorized by apple
you could even try multi-booting various versions and combinations of windows mac and linux
you might also want to try creating your own version of a chromebook
or chromebox which is essentially google chrome as the entire operating system
number four storage and file sharing turn your old computer into a home server or
network attached storage either way you go these options allow you to store files and share them
on your local network or over the internet sure google probably has all your personal data photos
your resume every letter you've ever written on your computer etc but not all of the data google
collects on you can be accessed for the data you can access it's not always guaranteed or free
google has recently made policy changes capping free storage at 15 gigabytes
so if you rely heavily on google services you will be forced to pay for them soon
number five various server roles repurpose your old computer as one of many different types of
servers some options include media server file server web server email server or dedicated
game server in the same vein as a home server you can use your old computer to host your own
website email accounts files media or a private game server there's no need to stop there as
there are so many server roles old computers can fill depending on the configuration the server
doesn't need to have a lot of processing power the heavy lifting is done by the client workstations
number six set up an external firewall or router traditionally old computers are either
not connected to the internet or separated from the rest of the computers on the network
because they pose a security risk however an old computer can be put between the internet
and your other systems by assuming the role of a firewall or router there are many
benefits to doing this some of which include additional security and parental controls
number seven use it for retro gaming this option seems obvious and self-explanatory older pcs
can generally handle older games and there are plenty of ports of old titles that work on pc
you can turn an older pc into a dedicated gaming system
steam and gog have an excellent selection of older titles you can even go the emulation
route connect your old computer to a tv and set it up for console gaming
number eight build your own tivo or slingbox
why should we have to pay a monthly fee to record a tv show we are already paying for
to watch put your old computer to work by adding a tv tuner and setting it up to record tv in place
of a dvr you rent from your cable company you can take that one step further by configuring
your old computer to also stream tv to other devices even when you're outside your home
traveling on a business trip and not wanting to flip through dozens of channels to find something
interesting to watch stream your favorite shows either live or pre-recorded from your dvr pc
number nine build your own arcade cabinet you can build your own arcade machine for use in your home
the cabinet is a diy project in and of itself after the effort of assembling your own cabinet
why have it only play a single game when you can use an old pc to power the arcade machine
and allow you to access entire libraries of arcade games
number 10 make it a guest room or kitchen pc
if you have a guest in your home and they need a computer for simple tasks
like looking something up on the internet you can have an old pc available for them to use
old pcs are also great to have in the kitchen for use as a digital cookbook of sorts
sure you may have a cookbook or recipes that have been handwritten or printed
but you may be looking for something that's not in your existing catalog of recipes
in comes an old pc allowing you to quickly look up new recipes without having to leave the kitchen
you could also keep an inventory of what's in the fridge and pantry along with using tools
like supercook that tell you what you can make with the ingredients you have on hand
number 11 surveillance system popular options for smart home security share a problem
a monthly subscription fee the fee is often charged per camera which can add up
an old computer offers an old school alternative
instead of connecting cameras to the cloud you can connect them to your locally hosted computer
this avoids a monthly fee no matter how many cameras you connect a locally hosted solution
also avoids the privacy concerns some users might have about cloud-based home security
number 12 a kid's first computer depending on the age some old computers can still perform
functions like word processing basic web browsing and email they are also great for old games
this makes them great for a kid's first computer while old computers may not be
powerful enough for fortnite they can do the essentials and provide some entertainment
number 13 set up a live weather station this option is very niche and fun for
weather enthusiasts you don't have to live in tornado alley to be a weather geek
if you love the weather try setting up your very own weather tracking center on an old pc
you can do this by installing weather software like storm lab and leave your computer running
if you capture anything awesome you can even share it with your local news station
number 14 sell it for parts or as a complete system
somewhere on the internet someone is looking for a computer
they may not be able to afford a new pc or are looking for a second pc for the family your old
pc at the right price may be just what they need assuming everything goes smoothly everyone wins
you unload your old hardware which finds a good home with a new user that can appreciate it
number 15 donate this is a very broad category an old computer is better than no computer
making an old computer the perfect thing to hand down to a sibling donate to a relative
or donate for use in places around the world where people don't have the resources to buy
or use modern computers especially in education old computers still have a use today
other options include offering old computers to your favorite tech youtuber donating it
to a thrift store or you can donate your old computer to science there are various distributed
computing projects where software ties together a huge number of internet-connected pcs to work
on computationally massive problems for example there is the folding at home crowdsourcing project
which can be set up to help researchers fight the novel coronavirus causing covid19 set it
up on an old pc and let the software run in the background there are many art related
projects that use old computers however i'm of the opinion that old technology should be
preserved not destroyed that is why those options have been omitted from this list
in conclusion there are so many fun and interesting things you can do with an old computer
don't take it to the recycler just yet thanks for stopping by see you next video