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Recycling Parts From Dead Motherboards

An anonymous reader writes "I had this dead motherboard on my hands and I wanted to see what would happen if I cut out the clock generator and used it stand-alone. So I removed the Winbond chip from the motherboard (I cut out the section of PCB with a hacksaw), powered it up and it was still working. Add a display, a microcontroller and two switches, and I got a cheap frequency generator. Here's my progress so far. Be kind to my Web skills, I'm really just a hardware monkey. It's not completed yet, but I just wanted to get the idea out there."

17 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. be kind? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Be kind to my Web skills

    For a moment there I thought that said "Be kind to my Web server", then I realised no one would be foolish enough to ask such a request in a slashdot article.

  2. Following the same logic, by EvilStein · · Score: 3, Funny

    you can also make a pretty cool go-kart out of an old lawnmower and an old washing machine. :)

    1. Re:Following the same logic, by Rick.C · · Score: 5, Funny
      you can also make a pretty cool go-kart out of an old lawnmower and an old washing machine. :)

      Tried that. Worked well at first, until it went into the "spin" cycle.

      --
      You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
      "Math in a song is good."-Linford
  3. That guy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...has an 1 Ghz scope. He must be god or something.

  4. Re:ool, but a Waste of Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Welcome to Slashdot. Where you get modded down for posting a Troll, then get modded up again for posting a karma whore 2 comments below.

  5. He's still not /.ed? by Ambush · · Score: 5, Funny
    Be kind to my Web skills, I'm really just a hardware monkey. It's not completed yet, but I just wanted to get the idea out there.
    You're kidding, right? I'd say it's an amazing feat still being up an running about now, what with the usual slashdotting. ;-)
    --
    There are 10 kinds of people; those who know ternary, those who don't, and those now hunting for a dictionary.
  6. Re:This guy sounds so cool, he must get lots of gi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    There's nothing more pathetic than a heckler on a technology board. I hereby crown you king of geeks with self-esteem problems.

  7. Re:ool, but a Waste of Time by Michael's+a+Jerk! · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, I give up! You win!

    --

    I'm not Seth.

  8. This is a DMCA violation. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This man never got permission to use the motherboard in this unlicenced fashion.

  9. Re:ool, but a Waste of Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    2) The chip might be damaged. Never, NEVER work with parts that may or not work. It's simply not worth the frustration.

    Well damn.. You are right... I am uninstalling windows as we speak...

  10. don't ruin slashdot with offtopic replies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    that's like asking someone not to ruin your festering pile of shit by spitting on it

  11. Re:ool, but a Waste of Time by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    They said the same thing to car hot rodders (the real kind, not ricers), and then the world was destroyed in an atomic apocalypse, and Mad Max came along, and well, suddenly it was useful to harvest parts from dead equipment and frankenstein it back together again into something that worked.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  12. Re:Hey, I resemble this article! by BobStikigreen · · Score: 4, Funny

    The burners of a electric stove work too. I needed some RAM for a VESA EIDE caching HD controler (this was a while back). I found this dusty EGA card in my closet with the exact chips I needed. I turned on the stove, waited until it was red hot, and mashed the board solder side down on the burner. It smelled horrid. When the solder melted I scooped off the chips with a butter knife as fast as I could. My roomate walked in while I was doing this and asked "what are you doing?", I smiled and said "making chips" =P. I installed the card and ran the RAM checking ROM routines on it in a 666 cycle loop, checked out fine. Used that card for a couple years with no problems.

  13. GRRRREEAAAT! by Rxke · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, if I understand this right, all i have to do is open the chassis (check,) get out me hacksaw (check,) and star Fè6('NO CARRIER

  14. umm by 222 · · Score: 4, Funny

    *lowers to one knee* and i thought *I* was a geek :)

  15. Memorial Day by Vollernurd · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think we missed an option off the Slashdot poll for this holiday... ;)

    Now where's my soldering iron...?

    --
    Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
  16. Speak-n-spell by acordes · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, let me tell you about hacking the speak-n-spell. This one time, after I lured an alien into my house with Reeses Pieces, he showed me how to turn one of those things into an intergalactic communicator! But not until after we got drunk on a few beers and made out with a Baywatch star.