Gaunty Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 Most of us have PC with Mainframe killing speed but what do we use them for? I'll kick it off, Except for email and browsing I use my computer for: (in order of importance) 1. Fun - I use computers for the sake of using computers, sad or what? 2. Recording TV Programmes (Well that's the reason I gave for building it - I'm sure I'll use it for that one day) 2. Storing and editing my digital photos 3. Music, got all my CDs ripped and pluged it into my lovely old Technics amp and speakers, they still sound great 9. UD Distributed Computing, I hate waste, I've got 8 USB sockets most of them used and it bugs me that I've not got any firewire devices. 10. Warming the dining room, it kicks out more heat than noise, and it makes a din! I'd like to use it as an advanced alarm system and to control the heating systems learning the pattern of hot water usage, turning lights on and off and pumping music and TV to wherever you are in the house. If there are any electricians here who'd fancy turning my idea into reality I bet we could make a business out of it. Just think, a server in every house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellfray Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 I have three PC's that are used on a permanent (always on) basis; Dining-Room: This is "the beast" with Dual Xeons/2gb Ram/3xScsi and is used 99% of the time for web browsing. It's occasionally used for gaming (vice city), and is used once a year for editing video footage from the family holiday using a Sony DV Cam through firewire. That's basically it Garage: I have CCTV set up outside the house (currently six cameras) and these run in to the CCTV PC using a DVR video capture card with motion detection. It has a 200Gb hard drive which means I can store about 5 months worth of footage (simultaneous from all 6 cameras, with recording triggered by motion). Two of the cameras are full colour with night time infrared, four are black and white. Three of the cameras monitor the driveway/front of the house! There are two spare camera connections left but haven't got round to buying, or working out where to put, the last two. Front-Room: Average spec PC (Pentium 4, 1Gb Ram) hooked up to the main TV (42" Plasma). It's got a wireless keyboard and is used for front-room web browsing when nothing is on the TV and i can't be bothered walking 5 metres to the main PC in the dining room. Other than browsing the web it does nothing, but is left on all the time so I don't have to wait for it to boot! All of the "always on" PC's are now running the www.grid.org application. I also have three other PC's (one laptop, one PC in bedroom, one PC in eldest kids bedroom) which are used as-and-when. Also lying around are probably 4 other PC's in bits, plus a couple of Sun machines, adding extra insulation up in the loft! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 mine is much the same, as well as being a secondary TV and watching My DVD's on through the TFT screen as for automating the house, i know of someone abroad thats running his house off one of these which makes a nice user interface. You dont even ned a PC, just a PLC. (programmagbe logic controller) basically you can do anything with them, and program them to your specific needs and graphics. Our kit at works supplied with them as operator interfaces, and the guy in question got one of the top programmers to write the software for his. Its something id like to do if i ever had to wire a house from scratch. (im a sparky) But i guess with different controllers and motorised valves etc it can get expensive. this thing could be programmed to do heating, burglar alarm, switch lights on and off, open the garage door when you come home, switch on the pond pump, more or less anything. aslong as you know what your doing with programming,(i dont) the choices are endless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaunty Posted August 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 Russ, you ever thought of getting one of those ports installed in the back of your neck like in The Matrix? Nice list of computers, why so much security, are you a master villan / drug dealer / super-grass or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaunty Posted August 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 That sound close Paul, but I have specific requirements, I'd like to just walk out of the house and have it lock up for me and open up when I come home, things like that. Central Locking for the house but without the remote control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellfray Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 [ QUOTE ] Russ, you ever thought of getting one of those ports installed in the back of your neck like in The Matrix? [/ QUOTE ] Hey if I could, I would [ QUOTE ] Nice list of computers, why so much security, are you a master villan / drug dealer / super-grass or something? [/ QUOTE ] Nope - gadget nerd pure and simple! It is kind of nice though when somebody says "no honest I did come round to your house but you weren't in", and I say "that's odd because only 11 cars went past my house whilst I was out, only two of them parked outside the front of my house, and only one of them actually got out and came to the front door and that was a delivery guy" I also used it to great effect on halloween last year - my youngest kid (2 at the time) was very ill so when it got to about 9pm he had JUST got to sleep so I put a note on the door saying "sick baby inside, no more trick or treaters please... sorry!". Of course, some idiots decided it would be funny to bang on the door as loudly as they could and leg it. So I strolled in to the garage, played the cctv back, and then went out and found them and shouted at them until they all cried and went home. I wonder if they'll be back this year (and if they are, they will be on film ! The cameras also come in useful when child X comes in and accuses child Y of doing something, or something "mysteriously" gets broken and nobody knows anything about it. Most of the time now when I ask the kids something, I say "and don't lie, because I am going to check the cameras", and they tell me the truth - even if it's happened inside the house or outside away from the cameras because they just think I have cameras EVERYWHERE! I haven't got audio connected up yet though so that's the next step. Getting CCTV is also peace of mind, knowing that if you come home and something has happened, you can atleast see who did it and when. It's probably the best "gadget" I've ever bought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollox Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 I can trump all of that! My PIII 600 (stuffed with 512mb of old-fashioned RAM and with its 2 hard drives) is used predominantly for: 1. Web Browsing (TSN+BBC News) 2. Email 3. Porn 4. Checking cinema times (5 times a year) 5. Oh yeah, I have a few gigs partitioned for photos. Can't really get organised about it though. Lots of wires out of the back that do very little. In terms of gadgets I have a printer and a scanner Its also lavishly kitted out with a USB Bluetooth dongle and a USB memory stick. It also has a 5 year old webcam which I'm looking to set up facing the ironing board so we can stop arguing about whether and when I leave the iron on all day State of the art About the only semi-techie thing I have is a router feeding the xbox a couple of metres away I suppose it'll be time to blow some cash on a PC soon but as long as this one is working and as long as I can't think of anything exciting for it to do (in a 1 bed flat) I'm in no hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellfray Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 [ QUOTE ] I suppose it'll be time to blow some cash on a PC soon but as long as this one is working and as long as I can't think of anything exciting for it to do (in a 1 bed flat) I'm in no hurry. [/ QUOTE ] The day that I cannot think of something exciting for a computer to do is the day I will die. And my funeral best be bloody computer driven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 [ QUOTE ] The cameras also come in useful when child X comes in and accuses child Y of doing something, or something "mysteriously" gets broken and nobody knows anything about it. Most of the time now when I ask the kids something, I say "and don't lie, because I am going to check the cameras", and they tell me the truth - even if it's happened inside the house or outside away from the cameras because they just think I have cameras EVERYWHERE! I haven't got audio connected up yet though so that's the next step. [/ QUOTE ] Big Brother is watching....!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellfray Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 Absolutely Even better is the fact that it's plugged in to my permanent ADSL connection, which means no matter where I am in the world I can connect remotely and view any of the cameras at about 5 frames per second which is quite amusing when I'm away on business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby_simon Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 Fun. TSN, Scoobynet, Catasilor.com, yachtandyachting.com. Some games. Work Pictures - about 1.5 gig Music I Have a nice 6 speaker setup - about 100 gig DVD's UD Distributed Computing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 [ QUOTE ] Absolutely Even better is the fact that it's plugged in to my permanent ADSL connection, which means no matter where I am in the world I can connect remotely and view any of the cameras at about 5 frames per second which is quite amusing when I'm away on business! [/ QUOTE ] blimey - are you sure you're not the new head of SPECTRE ? My trusty Compaq Evo is used supposedly for work, but mostly for music, digital photos and messing with TSN The gf got a spanking new Vaio (the little silver one with the ONYX black LCD) - it's used for MS Word and posing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted August 29, 2004 Report Share Posted August 29, 2004 Blimey, in order of importance: 1. Loads of VMWare sessions for work - mostly design type setups and some fault finding. 2. Organisation - personal and work. My life revolves around Outlook and A) My ipaq for personal and B) My Blackberry for work 3. Music 4. All my pictures 5. All my 'personal' admin. I scan and keep all my important mail. 6. Some video I would be lost without my PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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