Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Recycling Parts From Dead Motherboards

Posted by timothy on from the creative-semi-destruction dept.

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."

9 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. 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.
  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. umm by 222 · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  8. 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.