This morning, Mother and I worked out that we have fifteen working computers in the house - plus three nonworking ones.

Most are obsolete PCs of around 1GHz, assigned to single tasks - one records DAB radio, one scans documents, one records TV shows, one's an ebook reader, and one makes periodic backups of all the others. There's one used for trying out new ideas for the others, and one that's for storing and sifting data backed up before there was one dedicated to backing up.

Now we've got sixteen. My friend, comrade and fellow nerd Peekok (who does have a non-nick-name, but no one uses it and I can't pronounce it) has given me his old PC, on the grounds that (a) it hasn't been used for a year and (b) there's no room for it.

And yes, I can think of a use for it.

4 comments:

  1. How's the "ebook reader" one working for you (experience/ergonomics)? In theory (i.e. I don't have the hardware to check) a netbook with a screen rotated 90 deg. (like http://www.teleread.org/2008/11/11/eeerotate-portrait-mode-reading-on-the-eee-pcs-and-other-notebooks/ ) is the best we can get at that level without going to e-ink displays.

    Nerd out!

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  2. Careful! The computers might link up and try to take over! Bill Gates is using them to spy on! Why do you think it's called Windows? So they can look in on you while you sleep!

    I have an old word processor--green screen, floppy disk and everything! Still works; can't bring myself to toss out a perfectly working word processor.

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  3. Peekok:
    We have a EeePc with 6' rotatable screen, that we can use as an ebook reader.

    But the one I meant was my old laptop - the one with the nonfunctioning keyboard. The screen is very high-res and clear, but with no keyboard and 800MHz, there's not much else to use it for.


    Eroswings:
    When my brothters the machines take over, they shall recognise me as one of their own, and make me their leader. Bwa ha ha.

    Erm, anyway. Yes, I remember the old greenscreen WPs. In fact...

    ...I have one of the earliest portable machines - "portable" as in "it'll just about fit into a rucksack" - with green unbacklit LCD screen.

    I used to stay up all night writing short stories on it around 1992. Now I sit up all night with a laptop.

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  4. My dad still has a working Apple IIe. He also hates to throw out anything.

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