Creative Recycling: Dumpster Diving

gnewton writes "One angle of Open Source software that perhaps has not been emphasised enough is how the lower cost of software and operating systems as compared to proprietary/commercial solutions can allow for greater creativity and actually open up markets and solutions that were previously unavailable, in the area of Recycling. This article talks about a new startup which recycles old LCDs into cool and fun digital picture frames."

Comments

Any OS projects for this?

[Bob McCown]

Basically, the Wallflower displays are Web servers that appear on a Windows desktop as disk drives?you put one on your network and you can just drag pictures onto it, and call up its internal home page to manage its settings. Now you have a nice big electronic photo frame to show your digital pictures, and changing the display is as easy as typing a URL into your home computer.

Sounds like a cool project. Anyone in the OpenSource community done one?

Re:Any OS projects for this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Im working on one right now, PHP+webserver(apache)+Mysql (temp data storage, its 2 tables...) and a quick fullscreen javascript script.
Put pictures on the server, it generates thumbnails and you can show image gallerys to people or create simple slideshows with crossfading (yes, javascript) (say this computer is under a stereo cabinet hooked up to a large tlevision [EG: plasma flat screen] and you have a laptop in the room with a wireless network connection)
The laptop shows what the server is displaying, but with links and a remote control. Click on an image, and the server displays the full image withen a couple miliseconds.
If your interested, you can check bitcore.org to see when I finish it. I plan to get a working version out withen a few weeks. (This is a personal project but may be of use to other people so why not release it?)

turn notebook LCD into desktop monitor?

[kavau]

...recycles old LCDs into cool and fun digital picture frames...

I'd like to recycle my old notebook's LCD into a secondary monitor for my desktop. Does anyone have any ideas how one could do that?

Re:turn notebook LCD into desktop monitor?

[Zaffle]

I'd like to recycle my old notebook's LCD into a secondary monitor for my desktop. Does anyone have any ideas how one could do that?

The only way to do this would be some VNC type system using the laptop. Generally, you can't convert an LCD monitor into something that will take VGA inputs. The problem is due to the high level of intergration in the laptops, there is no seperate video card, its all bundled in.

I suppose if you found who made the actual laptop LCD, and found what chipset was needed, you could make a hardware driver, but you'd end up spending $1000s for a $300 LCD screen.

The DIY Version (not too OT)

[Embedded Geek]

There's an organization called Freecycle that does a (nonprofit) variation on this theme:

The Worldwide (!) Freecycle Network is open to all cities and to all individuals who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. Or maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself! One constraint: everything posted must be free.

The site is organized by cities and most of the chapters seem to be yahoo groups, so you can't do online browsing (now there's an idea for Ebay: a "free to a good home" service for nonprofits [subject to verification and limited so as not to dent their cash flow, of course]). Still, it's a neat alternative to the landfill.

More than just LCD recycled

[Dan East]

The summary is not quite accurate. According to the article practically the entire notebook was reused, not just some "old LCDs". They more or less converted the (old but unused) notebooks' form factor into a wooden frame layout and added a $30 WiFi PCMCIA card. I would assume they removed the keyboard, battery and CD-ROM / floppy drive, but kept all of the rest of an already whole sytem. So they would be saving far more than just the cost of a new LCD per unit.

Also, purchasing a couple hundred old but unused notebooks of one specific model in bulk is hardly dumpster diving.

Yes, they were able to undercut the competition by utilizing a rare low-cost resource, thus "suceeding" in an existing market. But how does that translate into future business success now that they have to compete on a level playing ground with their competitors?

Dan East

Woohoo! -

[sonamchauhan]

A google query for "mini-itx lvds" shows this as the first link.

From the thread...

I've found a few Mini-ITX motherboards with LVDS controllers. For those not familiar with Mini-ITX, it's a small form factor type of motherbaord. They are very quiet, and use very little power. CPU, Graphics, Audio, and LAN are all integrated.

The cheapest one with an LVDS controller is $200. It's a 600mhz board, wich is decent enough for playing DVDs and most Mpg-4, and since the board has a PCI slot a TV card could be installed. For $230 you can geta 1ghz board. Anyone know anything about the controller or what type of screen could be used? This could make for a great all-in-one media PC.

Re:Recycling into something useful

[MadChicken]

Debian, of course. The reason it makes a difference is the minimalist install - you don't by default have 4 or 5 daemons (paenguins?) monitoring hardware. You don't *need* automounters, either.

I (and presumably thousands of others) am using Debian "sarge" on my P-166 server. You don't have to use old software to get the performance you want.

Of course, once you install KDE3 or GNOME, all benchmarks are off ;)

But is it "Hazardous Waste"?

[dazedNconfuzed]

A whole bunch of old unusable computers were piled up in the warehouse floor at work, well-known the company would soon pay to have them recycled. Imagine my shock when, upon taking a few back to my desk to re-assemble into a working box, the two of us doing so were suddenly accused of transgressing HAZARDOUS WASTE LAWS! Caught on tape and chastized by four layers of management, we learned the hard way that creative and conciencious recycling of junked computers is now a FEDERAL OFFENSE.

Ya see, there's enough nasty stuff (lead, mercury, etc.) in a computer that, while not a concern when normally used, it suddenly acquires the HAZARDOUS WASTE label when the computing resources department deems the machine unuseable. Once declared unusable (broken hard drive, scratched display, whatever) and tracked for recycling, the federal government declares it HAZMAT and requires a chain-of-custody paperwork and handling so strict that one faces $100,000 fines and felony-level jail times for merely taking it from the trash pile.

In Medievial England, stealing garbage from royalty was a hanging offense. That sentiment has returned: just trying to revive a dead computer to improve your work resources can get you fired, even jailed.

Be careful of "creative recycling" and "dumpster diving". You're trying to save some old hardware, the feds think you're criminally evading the HAZMAT laws.

Making an old laptop into a picture frame

[Diluted]

I've done this now about 4 times, using old laptops and it really does get some great coments when people see it on your wall...

A friend of mine has been trying to get me to sell these things but I don't want to support them!

maybe if I get some time I will put together a howto, as I've discovered a lot of things in doing it...

You definitely don't want to take the entire laptop apart, it's easiest just to remove the screen from it's hinges and flip it over and remount it in it's own hinges, then mount the entire laptop on the back of the frame!

also, I've found using X is a waste of resources. SVGAlib works well! I will take some pictures sometime soon... you're welcome to visit my site to see if I've posted them!