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Playing with a free laptop
Topic Started: Aug 29 2014, 01:27 PM (2,170 Views)
ZXTjato
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bass heads

I agree with your father, I hate watching movies on a computer lap top screen it sucks. Especially if there is more than one person. Hooking that bad boy up to the tv or general use is a nice Idea. Can you hook multiple computers together to make a fast one??? Share the work load or something? :hmm
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Mythstae
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Well actually, when I say he doesn't like watching on a computer, I meant a desktop; not the laptop.
23" monitor, 1080p
Apparently 23" is not a big enough screen? :dunno

I don't know if there is a way to daisy-chain processors together. Sounds complicated.
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Cobb
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Mythstae, I wouldnt throw any money at the lap top unless its a reusable part that plugs into the usb or some recent interface. Thats why I suggested getting a small ssd used from ebay. If your laptop will boot from usb sticks you can get those dirt cheap online if not get a few guys here to send you some old ones to boot up and use different OS. You maybe able to trade the laptop for a droid tablet or deactivated smart phone depending on your market.

Sounds like you got one hell of a tower or desk top pc. I think Id sell it and use the money for other stuff before it becomes obsolete and worth scrap or donating to the goodwill. Im not rich, but I recycle stuff I dont want or need by reselling it on ebay and if it wont sell donate it and write it off my taxes. :cheers
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rmcelwee
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Mythstae
Aug 31 2014, 02:18 PM
rmcelwee
Aug 31 2014, 02:14 PM
You need a friend with access to movies and a large USB stick.
Oh there is no shortage of movies here.
There are just some things that come from the internet, that it would be nice to watch on a TV.
:dunno

You never answered my questions. Do you have WiFi? Do you have HDMI? There are several ways to get internet type stuff on your TV. Currently I use a Chromecast and a WDTV. You should check into those options.

FWIW, we watched The Counselor on TV today (was an AVI file sent to the TV through wired LAN from my server).
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Mythstae
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Yes it has both HDMI and WiFi. I also own a WD TV Live Plus. But sometimes I get stuff with the wrong audio codec and there is no sound. :(
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ZXTjato
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bass heads

Man mythstae this all sounds really complex. But that's what half the fun is right.

Easy way out would be do what I did and the hard way would be what you are doing. But your way is fun and chalangeing, I bet by the end of this you will have what you want for the low low price of FREE! great deal it sounds like!
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Mythstae
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I need to find some cables and hook the dock up to the TV, see how well it works as-is.
I know that I will have to leave the laptop plugged in to watch videos from it, but that's not that big of a deal.
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rmcelwee
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Mythstae
Aug 31 2014, 07:59 PM
Yes it has both HDMI and WiFi. I also own a WD TV Live Plus. But sometimes I get stuff with the wrong audio codec and there is no sound. :(
That is strange. I have yet to find a video that my WDTV Live Plus will not play. It has a horrible time with youtube but movies on my laptop are not a big deal.


Get a Chromecast and plug it into your HDMI TV. You will be happy....
Edited by rmcelwee, Aug 31 2014, 10:27 PM.
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Mythstae
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I just found an AVI that it won't play.

Maybe I need a firmware update?

Explain the Chromecast to me. What is it, what does it do, why should I want one?
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rmcelwee
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I run custom firmware on my WDTV. If you aren't scared of bricking the unit I can point you in the right direction. I'd probably do a regular firmware update before messing with the hacker stuff.


Chromecast (it will work with your laptop too - no need for an Android device):



I only use it for youtube now because Android does not support streaming movies from my network yet. My wife has it on her Win 8.1 laptop and we could use that for the movies but I am used to the WDTV for that.
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Stiffchezze
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Sir Metrologist

davegran
Aug 31 2014, 06:57 AM
You're starting with an under-equipped, worn out piece of junk and you will end up with an expensive, under-equipped worn out piece of junk. :shit Don't waste your time and money... they are BOTH finite whether you believe it or not.


Are we talking about computers or Metro's? :rofl

ZXTjato
Aug 31 2014, 03:13 PM
Can you hook multiple computers together to make a fast one??? Share the work load or something? :hmm

Absolutely. ^o) VERY complicated. :'(

Chromecast=BADASS! :rocker
I have one on every TV in my house. Best buy had a deal a week ago. Buy two, get $15 off, plus I had a $10 reward credit. :banana

The best thing I can say about it is that it just works! Crazy stupid simple installation. Plug in, tell your computer it's there, 2 questions and 5 min later your rolling. :popcorn
$35 and done. No monthly fees unless you use hulu or netflix.

YouTube is WAAAYYYYY bigger than you think. It's not just cat videos. LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of full movies, full tv shows, etc. and ALOT in full 1080p high definition.

The chromecast works a couple of different ways. The best way is as a separate device. Using your computer or phone, you tell it the video you want to watch and it does it. Basically your computer/phone is just a remote control for it. As soon as you tell it what you want to watch, you no longer need to use your computer/phone.

The other is as a streaming device. You can stream whats on your computer screen though Google chrome web browser to the chromecast. The downside is you have to leave your computer on and everything goes through your computer first THEN to the chromecast. Sometimes it can get a bit jerky.

The holy grail is coming. VLC is reporting that it will have chromecast support in a future release. :drool

There is also another program that works VERY well with it, like netflix, is free, but the jury is still out on the legality of it. I'll give you a clue. :popcorn

Mythstae, I have a BUNCH on old computers that use that old DDR2 2700 speed ram. Nearly ALL of them max out at 2gb. They're all usable at 2gb with windows, but just barely. BUT the damn RAM is so expensive compared to everything else.

I find that every time I decide to max one out, I enjoy the hell out of it for about a week. And then I want to move along because there just too slow. :'(

There are advantages to owning a slow old Geo Metro. They're simple to work on and we're all here because of the MPG's. :thumb

After the initial cost, there just isn't any real reason to hang on to an old, slow computer. Too many options that are WAY better for very little $$$. Unless you just like it! (I do!) :D

Just food for thought.

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Mythstae
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Uh, so the Chromecast looks like, cute and all, but... it's streaming.
As in, using up gigs.
Of which we only have 10.
Per month.
Streaming is out.

Also, IF I had real internet, having an app would be fine; I do have an android phone.

Soooo... :hmm After you decide your now-maxed laptop sucks... happen to have any spare RAM, Chezze? :lol
Also, my laptop isn't Windows any more. It's Linux.
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Stiffchezze
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Sir Metrologist

I knew that was coming! :lol
At the moment, the bigger stuff, sadly, no.
But I'm swimming in 256's and 512's! :rasp

As for the streaming part, give it a chance for a month. If it does eat it, return the chromecast, no harm no foul. ^o)
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Mythstae
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If we go over our gigs I believe there is a heinous overcharge.
So I'm not really willing to risk it.
Besides, until I get paid, the whole discussion is theoretical, anyway.
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Potter
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Col. Potter

Mythstae
Aug 29 2014, 01:27 PM
So, a little while ago, I was given a laptop.
A Dell Latitude D600.
I booted Windows to the curb and installed Peppermint 5.
Today, I picked up a new toy to go with it...
A docking station!
...what the heck is a docking station?
I was wondering that myself. :hmm
It's a little thingy that you hook up peripherals to (real keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc.) and then plug the laptop into it.
Then, when you are done using it, you undock, and away you go...

:) Neat, huh?
The guy I bought it from even threw in the power cord (I guess you normally use the one for the laptop?) even though he was trying to sell it separately.

So I got both items for the princely sum of... $5! :O
Well, $5 and a long drive into, practically, Hillsboro.
(Ok, I am being a little dramatic. Halfway between Beaverton and Hillsboro, really.)
The address was in "Portland".
I forget, sometimes (since I rarely go there) what a large area "Portland" is. :shake

Now, to decide if I want to upgrade some stuff on the laptop... :hmm
Or, if it's a waste of money.

There's two sides to the coin, here, of course.

If I just saved my money then eventually I could buy a better laptop.

vs.

I already own this one and I can upgrade a single component at a time, not having to set aside much for any given component upgrade.

:hmm
i wouldn't i had one from 07-09... sent 2 in for warranty then finally gave up and the Remmington 870 and i had a little fun.
hard drives would go to hell and the damn thing would overheat constantly (matter of fact that right side of the touch mouse pad is where it discolored the tan plastic to a grey from overheating) running win XP

i converted to desktops with a hodgepodge set up with a basic motherboard with an amd dual core, 2 gigs of ram, and a tripple stacked 500 gig (all together) hardrive set up running win Vista once the processor overheated, memory started to go bad, and graphics card took a :shit it was not worth saving cept the hard drives, dvd writer and monitor (24" 1080p HD wide screen) and the unit saw me and the Ruger Mini 14 .223 (boy that was fun from 250yds away)

now i have a Cooler master HAF case with 2 case fans, a seasonic 850 watt power supply, Asus Sabertooth x58 motherboard with an over clocked I7 processor with liquid cooling, 16 gigs of ram (looking at 32 gigs soon) an Evga Gtx 570 graphics card. a 1TB as the master drive and the triple stack that was in the old computer that holds my photos and music atm running win 7 oh and it has a DVD rw
no overheating issues yet but the motherboard and graphics card will shut the computer down IF you do overheat it ( so they say i haven't been able to overheat it yet. this set up cost me 1,200 CPU only. no idea how much for the monitor since i got it for free.


IF it where me. i would use it as is to get through the tough times then build my home computer then use the laptop for "activities" ya know like hooking it up in the car to keep music on, if you get a sound processor like a rockford 3sixty (original ones are going cheep now) you can use it to tune your sound system on the fly. or if your like T3 you can use it to plug into your mega squirt on the fly (or do the obd2 thing if dats what u got) and now with upgrades to wifi LAN's you can hook your car in via wifi and look at your results and transfer music or other shenanigans from your car computer to your desktop. but that's me.

just remember. its cheaper to build a tower than it is to build a laptop.

my $0.02
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