What you guys do with old laptops? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Zucca
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 05:01:10 pm
content: I have now 3 old (WinXP) Laptop which are risking to be tossed in the garbage, manly because the internal display is not working properly anymore but with an external monitor everything is good.Anyone have used old bashed laptops in a clever way? Some ideas to share?Thanks!

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 05:04:00 pm
content: Leave them mining cryptocurrencies, you'd probably make 10-20$ a month mining Electroneum or some other Cryptonight based currency.Use them as backup for your important files, as a sort of NAS...Would be a shame to destroy them.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 05:06:39 pm
content: As for cryptocurrency mining, I doubt you would have the processing power to make anything close to significant. In the XP era, mobile graphics power wasn't anything to write home about, and CPU power wasn't great either.Personally, my current programming workload is DOS, which allows me to use basically anything that can run Turbo C, and has a colour VGA display. In other words, and x86 compatible machine since the PS/2

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 05:08:55 pm
content: Media server (if the GPU is up to the job) or NAS. They tend to be a bit power hungry for the kind of embedded applications where e.g. a Raspberry Pi might be considered, such as internet enabling your dog kennel.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 06:25:32 pm
content: Quote from: TwoOfFive on January 08, 2018, 05:06:39 pmSome coins use algorithms that don't require video cards to mine and can be mined with processors as well. For example, Cryptonight or Crytonight-Light algorithms (monero, monacoin, electroneum and others, aeon for cryptonight-light ) can be mined on regular processors but slow yet still profitable... the only suggestion would be that the cpu has 2 MB level 2 cache per thread, but programs will mine with less. For example, my AMD FX-8320 processor averages around 160-220 hashes per second using 4 threads, so around 50 hashes per thread per second, while an older Intel e4500 averages 15 hashes per second per threads. The RX 570 card averages 560 hashes a second, so obviously it's better used to mine Ethereum or other coins more suited for video card mining.In the case of electroneum, leaving my FX-8320 mining over night at avg 160 hashes per second, in get around 0.5-1$ a day in profits. The RX 570 video card mines Ethereum, making around 3.5-4$ a day in profit (after setting aside electricity costs)The algorithm Ethereum uses is very heavy on the memory and requires 2.5+GB of memory, the bandwidth used on a card like RX570 is over 150 GB/s ... that's why it's an ASIC resistant coin, because it would be expensive to create a chip if each chip would need GDDR5 or some fast memory to work.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 06:28:19 pm
content: pfSense firewall ?Once installed, tuck it at the corner pile up with the wifi router.See it as firewall with UPS.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 06:50:19 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on January 08, 2018, 06:25:32 pmActually, this piqued my interest, I have several (30-40) fairly high spec (Core i5 or better) laptops that have been scrapped for various reasons and I was wondering if I could mine bitcoin but it seemed a waste of time, could you suggest a decent getting started guide?

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 06:55:30 pm
content: Quote from: zucca on January 08, 2018, 05:01:10 pmNothing clever, but you can always post your laptop for free in your local facebook/craigslist/kijiji/gumtree/???so someone less fortunate can use it.They can load lubuntu on it and have an update to date fully patched OS and use chrome/firefox for their main browser.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 07:08:09 pm
content: Yes some private educational companies and driving schools may have interest to run a their simple software at low expense ( i sold a few laptops to those). Also as other folks mentioned, can make a dedicated firewall or web filter, a media computer (i prefer using one for video streaming to TVs instead of usin crappy "smart" tv web features).If the laptop is thin enough, can make a picture frame to rotate images from an archive and hang on the wall.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 07:41:43 pm
content: Quote from: CJay on January 08, 2018, 06:50:19 pmBitcoin is too hard, because of the extremely high difficulty and due to lots of people using ASICs to mine.I'll teach you how to mine Monero , you can then apply this to other coins with the same algorithm (Cryptonight). For ex. go tohttp://whattomine.com/calculatorsand type in text box "crypto" and it will show cryptonight coins. Coinmarketcap will show you the value of coins and trends :https://coinmarketcap.com/It's not the most profitable to mine (other coins give you more value per work done) but you can convert these easily into some currency without going through exchanges or some other crap.Step 1. Create a Monero wallet. Either download theofficial Monerowallet from their website or use third party wallet software like Jaxx or Exodus (I used Jaxx and it's OK, Exodus I didn't use but it's praised by others)Step 2. Find a mining pool which has low fees and pays out at a low threshold but also has a decent hash rate overall. It would take too much time to mine by yourself, if you mine in a pool you submit partial results and you get a percentage of the money made when a coin is mined, less the pool fee.I personally use XMRPool.net , which pays out at 0.3 XMR and has a 0.6% fee. Here's a list of pools :http://moneropools.com/- you want a pool that has servers as close as possible to you.Step 3. Download a miner software and configure it for that pool.Most pools have a "Getting started" section or "How to configure" where they give links to CPU only miners and GPU only miners or miners that can do both.Those pages should also have a list of server addresses and ports - most pools have different ports for different difficulty ranges - the pool may suggest one port if your processor mines in the 100-200 hashes per second and another port if you're going to use GPU cards for mining (ex 500-2000 hashes per second)For example, for XMRPool.net the host is mine.xmrpool.net and the port is 5555 for mid-level hardware (up to 160 hashes per second) or 7777 for higher end (up to 300 hashes per second)For CPU mining, i like xmrig since it's super easy to use :https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig(and downloads page :https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases)You can either open a command window or create a batch file where you put the parameters in the command line, or you edit the config.json file (you can open it in Notepad) and just run the executableSo the command would look like this:xmrig.exe -o mine.xmrpool.net:5555 -u MONERO_WALLET_ADDRESS_THAT_LONG_STRING_OF_DIGITS_AND_LETTERS -p x -k -t 4where-o host:port is the host and port ,-u tells the wallet address,-p is the password ( 'x' if the pool doesn't use passwords, but on some pools you can enter something here and then on dashboard you see statistics for each machine separately using this as machine name)-k keep the connection alive (in case it takes a lot of time for your pc to find a result)-t the number of cpu threads, ideally one per 2 MB of L2 cacheIf you want to edit the json file, it looks like this:Code:{"algo": "cryptonight", // cryptonight (default) or cryptonight-lite"av": 0, // algorithm variation, 0 auto select"background": false, // true to run the miner in the background"colors": true, // false to disable colored output"cpu-affinity": null, // set process affinity to CPU core(s), mask "0x3" for cores 0 and 1"cpu-priority": null, // set process priority (0 idle, 2 normal to 5 highest)"donate-level": 1, // donate level, mininum 1%"log-file": null, // log all output to a file, example: "c:/some/path/xmrig.log""max-cpu-usage": 75, // maximum CPU usage for automatic mode, usually limiting factor is CPU cache not this option."print-time": 60, // print hashrate report every N seconds"retries": 5, // number of times to retry before switch to backup server"retry-pause": 5, // time to pause between retries"safe": false, // true to safe adjust threads and av settings for current CPU"threads": 4, // number of miner threads <- fx8320 has only 8 MB L2 cache, more threads just increases cpu usage, with 4 threads = ~60% usage"pools": [{"url": "mine.xmrpool.net:5555", // URL of mining server"user": "MONERO_WALLET_ADDRESS_THAT_LONG_STRING_OF_DIGITS_AND_LETTERS", // username for mining server"pass": "fx8320", // password for mining server <-- i was hoping to see this separated from other pc, but xmrpool.net doesn't have this feature, leave x if you want"keepalive": true, // send keepalived for prevent timeout (need pool support)"nicehash": false // enable nicehash/xmrig-proxy support}],"api": {"port": 0, // port for the miner API https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/wiki/API"access-token": null, // access token for API"worker-id": null // custom worker-id for API}}for xmr-stak (another popular monero and other cryptonight currencies) ... which you can get from here:https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stakyou just edit config.txt and you have there something like this:Code:"pool_list" :[{"pool_address" : "mine.xmrpool.net:3334", "wallet_address" : "MONERO_WALLET_ADDRESS_THAT_LONG_STRING_OF_DIGITS_AND_LETTERS", "pool_password" : "fx8320gpu_test", "use_nicehash" : false, "use_tls" : false, "tls_fingerprint" : "", "pool_weight" : 1 },],and you can add there more pools or more host:port combinations and the miner will switch between them if one times outStep 4. convert to some cash ...You can trade the monero on exchanges ... most major exchanges don't allow signups these days due to popularity increase. Some only accept US members. You can sort of figure which exchanges are popular from here:https://cryptocoincharts.info/markets/infoand here's another one :https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/volume/24-hour/Bittrex may accept new members soon (and it's good, lots of coins and traders), OKEx still allowed signups a couple days agoThere are some sites which buy or sell various coins directly. I personally have used AnyCoinDirect.euhttps://anycoindirect.eu/and it works well, they pay to bank account or Paypal, not the greatest exchange rate but they work nice and fast.

author: Zucca
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 07:45:16 pm
content: Quote from: mikerj on January 08, 2018, 05:08:55 pmWith TopLoser in town I have so many raspy.... laying around... moreover raspy has 0dB noise.Quote from: BravoV on January 08, 2018, 06:28:19 pmwith a single 100/10 ethernet port?Quote from: Bud on January 08, 2018, 07:08:09 pmthe fan noise drives me crazy sometime... I need to check.Probably a small NAS will be handy.Quote from: retiredcaps on January 08, 2018, 06:55:30 pmsure, if no brilliant hints will show up here I will do that.Quote from: mariush on January 08, 2018, 05:04:00 pmcould be an idea, I never mined anything. The only thing they must be not in the rooms where I normally stay. The fan noise bothers me.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 08:24:32 pm
content: I use an older core i5 laptop as a Plex media server, so far it's been working really well. I doubt an XP era laptop is going to be much good for that though. Personally I would either fix the screen and use it for something or just donate it. Old laptops can be handy for using legacy hardware, for years I had an EPROM programmer that required a parallel port so I have an old XP laptop around for that sort of thing.

author: Avacee
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 09:50:13 pm
content: Any of your friends software developers?Old end-of-life laptops are ideal test rigs as their relative crappiness compared to current laptops can help show up any crappiness in your code.I have them setup for testing on W7, W8,the various W10 versions, and different linux distro's .. and thanks to modern OS deployment software it's a piece of cake to reset them.Less space than a PC and can test several simultaneously.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 09:56:18 pm
content: If they originally came with WinXP, you can safely toss them in the garbage.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 09:56:57 pm
content: Retro arcade games. If you have an LCD working great, people gut the laptop and stuff it in a MAME rig.

author: Peabody
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 10:02:14 pm
content: You could dedicate it to hosting a USB oscilloscope.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 10:49:36 pm
content: If some of them do have working displays it's handy for when you have to console into something. A lot of newer laptops don't even come with a serial port now, and USB to serial dongles can be hit and miss.

author: phil from seattle
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 11:18:03 pm
content: if the LCDs still work (op said not but in general) then you can convert them into monitors for RasPi and other similar uses. You can buy adapters that turn them into HDMI monitors for about $30. I've got a 15" that I'm putting on my CNC machine that uses a RasPi.

author: Nusa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2018, 11:44:48 pm
content: I've got one I use as a dedicated host for a 3d printer. Works other than near-dead battery and erratic touchpad. I disabled the pad and use an external mouse.I also have a first-generation eeepc Linux netbook that I now use with a USB logic analyzer. Battery on that is still strong, so it's still portable when needed. I've also used it as a camera monitor (with video input dongle) when I was up on a ladder aligning security cameras.

author: Zucca
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 02:05:02 pm
content: https://www.nas4free.org/wiki/doku.php?id=documentation:setup_and_user_guide:hardware_requirementsI will give it a shot. Just for a sharing data not for backup of course.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 02:06:34 pm
content: Quote from: zucca on January 08, 2018, 07:45:16 pmOf course assuming you have those old pcmcia ethernet card, which is for home bandwidth is enough.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 02:14:03 pm
content: Quote from: zucca on January 08, 2018, 05:01:10 pmWhat are the specifications?Why doesn't the display work? Is it just the backlight?

author: Zucca
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 02:21:10 pm
content: Quote from: Hero999 on January 09, 2018, 02:14:03 pmif you close/open laptop monitor for many years you will end up with a broken monitor cable, or just when it falls from the table and the display starts to paint some line with funky colors.Ah a friend of mine has a Win7 Laptop with backlight issue, iis it a easy fix?

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 07:55:43 pm
content: I have two very old XP machines with regular jobs still.1. Dedicated machine to run my Hantek 6022USB scope - their XP/32 bit driver works nice but their 64 bit driver is not as stable. So an old XP sp3 32bit machine dedicated to the task.2. A dedicated "cat watcher" laptop connected to a USB camera and an Arduino NANO (for IR motion sensor). This was a "mission creep" implementation. Started some years back with just my USB Camera and laptop (make time-lapse photo) to see if my favorite abandoned homeless cat survived a winter storm . It since grown to have a NANO to manage the IR and communicate to the Laptop if IR is triggered. The laptop keeps the photo when IR is ON, and manages the logs/photos of cat visitors. The NANO manages the IR, tells the laptop "a cat is here", run the buzzer and the LED on/off duration. It also controls the LED brightness-level depending on ambient light level to minimize insect attraction. This was a learning project that grow over a few years and is still running every night.A third laptop dedicated to port watching to watch the WIFI side of my network. This one has not been on for a couple of years and I am not sure if this one still works. But when I have a need, I will revive it.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 08:00:09 pm
content: But warmer...

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2018, 08:20:08 pm
content: I would start by - with your external monitor, installing installing some different flavors of Linux on an external HD- Distrowatch.com is a good site that has links to a great many task specific distributions-find one that interests you that works well on the hardware. If you use an external USB disk you can keep the old install too.Or you could put it in an enclosure and use it in some part of your house where a computer would be useful, maybe as your workbench computer?