10 Possible Uses For Your Old Computer

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Saturday, 14 March 2020 07:02

Written by Ben

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Introduction:

Computers. They have found their ways to almost every aspect of our lives it seems and have come a long way since the days when an entire room or sometimes an entire floor was needed to house them. Over time technological advancement in minaturizing electrical components have made it possible that these giants machines could fit into our pockets, powerful than ever before. Their minituration along with mass production have led them to become more and more affordable for the average consumer. Computers have become so affordable in fact that consumers don't mind replacing them every varied amount of time when showing a decrease in performance, lack of available memory or just because the fans inside have started to become noisy.

The amount of electronic waste consisted of thrown computers and their components that is trashed away each year is straggering to say the least and though indeed some of them are quite obsolete and can no longer perform in the modern world, some are overlooked at and could still deliver given a few tweaks and designated role changes. So before you're trashing that old computer of yours, read the following list of possible uses for it which are listed from the easiest to the hardest to apply.

1. Auxilary/Spare Computer:

by far the easiest use of an old computer. Take your old computer, clean it up, update or upgrade its operating system, take out whatever hardware is needed elsewhere in other computers and store that computer for a time of need. It might look initially like not a good use of a computer or even a plain stupid one, but you might be surprised how helpful it gets when an alternative easy fix is just a storage room or an attic away from where you are when your permanent computer has become out of order. A lot of people do the same with laptops for example, and keep a spare one in storage, just in case the their primary one is out of order. That way one could be in a peace of mind till the primary computer is back from the repair lab or till a new computer is purchased.

Another reason to save that old computer of yours as a spare one is for whatever reason it might be. If not as an auxiliary one, then perhaps one day in future it would be needed to be repurposed for one of the next 9 roles presented in this article.

2. Guest Computer:

Though guests and those and come to stay in for a few days, weeks or months would probably use their own mobile devices as their primary means of interfacing with the world and keep on working remotely, sometimes there would be a need for a good old computer interface with a big enough monitor, a mouse and a keyboard.

This way, a guest computer could serve as a sort of a DMZ between you and your guest's digital stuff, eliminating personal resource sharing of an existing primary personal computer. It is a perfect addition for a guest room.

3. HTPC – Home Theater PC:

An easy use for an old computer and the most recommended one. Not much is needed to be done here except re-positoning the old computer next to a TV and hooking it with the right cables, preferebly an HDMI one. Most chances are that an operating system is already present on that computer. If that is not the case or if the license of that operating system is needed on a different computer, then a friendly GUI Linux distribution could be an easily appliable alternative for it .

The processing power that is needed to run Netflix and other online video streaming services is not that high and even computers that are equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo processors could handle it and do handle this task quite well. Same could be said about Full HD video files. However, some player tweaks might be needed to be done in order to run 2K and 4K video files or better yet, an installation of a new, low end cheap video card that supports hardware decoding of these very high resolution videos could be a good solution that might compensate for the low processing power of the CPU.

Add to this build a wireless all-in-one keyboard+mouse peripheral device at the size of a console controller and you've got yourselves a flexible HTPC that has turned your TV into a media center. In many cases an external addition of an HTPC to your already “smart” TV is a leap forward from the Android operating system that comes with that TV due to its relatively lack of flexibility. An external computer with an array of hardware and software choices, though limited, would be a far better choice than the built-in smart TV computer that is impossible to upgrade hardware-wise and is limited to upgrade software-wise.

4. Display Computer:

This usage is very similar to the HTPC usage since both are connected to an external display device such as a TV and both output video, audio, text and images to these displays. The difference is that a display computer usually is used to display a static or a dynamic content that is either repetitive in nature or constantly updates itself, or a combination of both . A few examples are:

• A live updated list of various variables like a client que, a call center IVR monitoring software, etc
• Random images shown as a part of a slideshow
• Commercials display
• News display
• Stats display

5. DVR PC – Digital Video Recorder PC:

We are entering the more complicated usages of old computers. A DVR computer is the first on this sub-list. Besides a functioning computer with a functioning operating system, this re-purposing of a computer would need a bit more work and customization.

First, a DVR software would be needed to be installed and configured, cameras would need to be purchased and connected to that computer and perhaps a UPS should be added to the build as well for reliability when power is out. Remote access to the DVR PC would also have to be configured for remote watching and monitoring of the cameras in the system.

Unlike other uses, this usage would need a computer that would have enough processing power to cope with the DVR software which, when configured, constantly monitors the attached cameras, records footage to the hard drives and notifies authorized users of any updates in accordance with a previous configured policy.

A computer like this would probably need a DVR PCI card in order to connect old school analog cameras or newer higher definition digital ones. More advanced builds would use IP cameras in order to save the hassle of cabling the cameras and getting a DVR PCI card by using an already existing infrastructure or just using a wireless one if the intended to be used cameras have wireless connection capabilities.

6. Gateway/Firewall Machine:

An old computer would be a perfect platform for an open source Gateway-firewall solution. If you would like to take more control over your own network and secure it even further then perhaps instead of buying an expensive professional appliance, why not turn your old rig into an almost equally powerful internet gateway-firewall server? Though it sounds very bombastic, a powerful machine is not needed in this case. An additional LAN card might be needed to be added to that computer for that purpose since one LAN card would be connected to the ISP's WAN device and the other LAN card would be connected to the local network.

A few available Gateway-Firewall solutions for download:

• Pfsense
• OPNsense 

7. NAS PC – Network Attached Storage Computer:

NAS is a term given to devices that are dedicated and were built solely for storing data and are able to connect to a local network to be used locally and sometimes off of that local network. These devices are not PCs. Any computer could serve as a network attached storage, or as a file server, since any computer today, is essentially and potentially, a “network attached storage” mediated by an operating system. When sharing folder in your computer on local network for example, your computer turns, in a way to a NAS that other devices on that network access to in order to get the files shared on that folder.

NAS devices, due to their dedicated nature and minimal build are, to a certain extent, faster and more reliable than file servers but it doesn't mean that an old rig couldn't be used as one. NAS devices are most likely to be RAID capable and it is highly recommended that a computer that is to be repurposed to be used as one would have such a hardware support as well in order to prevent data loss and to increase redundancy.

If such a hardware support is not present within that computer motherboard, then a cheap RAID PCI card could be used in order to bypass that issue. It is recommended to use either RAID-1 or 5 for that matter and if possible perhaps RAID 10 for an extra redundancy and performance. Of course, that means that at least two hard drives at the same size would be needed for this build when using RAID-1.

A NAS computer could serve as a file server, a backup device and a syncing target for other computers. As for the software needed to perform this purpose, there are plenty of open source and free to use syncing and backing up software online.

If a local NAS computer is going to be your only backup solution besides cloud based solutions and portable media, then a few more steps are needed to be done in order to prevent future data loss due to accidents and theft. First, Encryption of the hard drives or at the very least, the backed up and synced data, should be performed. Second, the NAS computer itself should be positioned in a physically secured fireproof and a waterproof place inside the house/office, preferably farther as possible from any bustling area of activity, including your own desk where your personal computer is.

8. Media Streamer

Though very similar to HTPC, a media streamer is kind of a combination between a file server and an HTPC, purposed to transmit files and media to the local network. This purpose could be used if for watching personal pictures, videos and movies in other end points throughout the local network without the need to go online and either download or stream them down.

This usage could be perfect if one is not interested in using cloud storage services due to either high prices or due to low bandwidth in their area, making file streaming off of the cloud quite slow and not affordable. Also, When having internet connectivity issues, a streamer PC could present a fine alternative for online video streaming while waiting for the ISP to fix the issue. It's like using candles when the power is down, in a way.

A large hard drive would be needed for this kind if a PC and since some personal data is stored on it, it is recommended to use two hard drives in a RAID-1 array in one of the hard drives fails. In addition to the RAID-1 array, a fixed backup to a NAS, a file backup PC and/or a cloud storage service would be recommended as a completed protection against data loss.

As regarding the local network, since we are talking about streaming files over the network, especially video files, one needs to make sure the local network would be able to cope with these types of data transfers efficiently without latency and lags.

9. Cryptocurrency Minning Rig:

This usage is less recommended since the computing power that is needed to mine different crypto-currencies, specifically Bitcoin, has been increasing over time to the point that in most cases it is worth performing Crypto mining only when using a high-end computer with an array of high-end video cards. Some companies even sell ASIC machines for this purpose, which is the best option for Crypto mining since it is all hardware based, therefore, it is faster than any other build and is more power efficient.

So why go with Crypto-minning using an old computer? There are so many Crypto-currenecies out there that perhaps an old computer would be good enough to mine those instead of mining one of the big ones out there, that is, until mining of these unfamiliar Crypto currencies becomes as hard as doing the same with the big ones..

10. Sandbox PC:

This use is for the ones who wish to perfect their skills in the tech arena. Old computers are sometimes perfect for being experimental platforms for the tech savvies. Except for the raw knowledge itself, there is no alternative for experience. A lot of the knowledge and material that is learned in the IT and tech world very often needs to be applied by the ones who study it in order to know it better, just like solving math problems or studying a new language, practice in this field is crucial.

In many cases, students need to either build virtual machines on their own personal PCs or laptops or either work directly on their own bare metal operating systems. Though hardware supported CPU virtualization was introduced to the common consumer years ago, it still doesn't mean that any of these computers would be a stable and strong enough platforms to run these virtual machines students need.

Therefore, a truly dedicated machine that is there solely for the purpose of virtualization and learning could be a perfect alternative. Students could study, experiment and wreck operating systems as they please without compromising performance of their primary computers and without fearing of losing access to it due to accidental damage to their operating systems by “blowing up their own labs”.

Summary:

If you have gone through all of the uses presented in this article and still couldn't find one that would match your old computer, then perhaps it would be a good idea to donate it to someone who might need it. Though computers in general have become very much affordable relative to recent decades, some people and organizations just don't have the financial means to get one. Sometimes, other people's trash is other people's gold

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