PCs For A Workshop Environment?

bryanporter writes "I'm a geek-turned-homeowner, and am in the processing of setting up my workshop for doing odds and ends around the house. I want to install a cheap, decent PC out there for looking up building plans, shopping for tools while I'm on a job, etc. The shop is going to be in a wooden outbuilding with a shingled roof but the building won't be heated or cooled (although I don't plan on using it much in the summer)." Read on for a bit more on what he's looking for -- what would you suggest for computing in a hostile environment on a non-industrial budget? "I plan on doing things like sawing wood for shelves in here so dust will also be prevalent. Can any of you Slashdotters recommend components for building a machine resilient to cold weather and lots of dust? I was a PC upgrade/repair technician in a former life, so building my own machines is not daunting in the slightest (I've built all my own home machines). The ruggedized machines I've found online are all too pricey, and all seem more designed for avoiding shock damage than environmental dust and cold."

Comments

Mutually exclusive?

[SunPin]

Once a geek, always a geek.

I am outside right now

[LennyDotCom]

I'm in connecticut on my back deck it's cover but has no sides it's 34 degrees Im using a Power Mac G4 400 Mhz and a dell 15 inch crt I have woke up in the3 morning with snow on my key board I never shut it off just let it sleep It's running like a charm get a mac

Re:I am outside right now

[wildchild07770]

Wow my opinion of mac users is continuously reinforced. Why would you be computing in the middle of winter on an exposed back porch?? Anyhow, just run cat 5 and buy a cheap surplus P1-2 if all your doing is web browsing. You can probably pick up a system like this for 50-75 and most computers will work in that environment and if it breaks you won't have to worry about replacement costs.

Re:I am outside right now

[TheAdventurer]

If you keep computers outside just in case you have to go out there, and wake up to check on them at 3 in the morning, you might be a geek. =)

Re:I am outside right now

[enrico_suave]

where in CT? I could use an old mac =P

j/k

e.

Re:I am outside right now

[bob65]

I'm in connecticut on my back deck it's cover but has no sides it's 34 degrees Im using a Power Mac G4 400 Mhz and a dell 15 inch crt I have woke up in the3 morning with snow on my key board I never shut it off just let it sleep It's running like a charm get a mac

Just a suggestion - lay off the caffeine.

Hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

a wooden outbuilding with a shingled roof but the building won't be heated or cooled

Are you sure you don't work for EA?

"The shop is going to be in...."

[Tavor]

"...a wooden outbuilding with a shingled roof but the building won't be heated or cooled..."
It will be if you use an overclocked Duron or Prescott...

Re:One Cold Weather Problem

[classicvw]

Besides, the CRT will help heat the shop in the winter.

On the job

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to install a cheap, decent PC out there for looking up building plans, shopping for tools while I'm on a job

Here's a nice reference setup for browsing the web while you're on the job.

Re:Cheap ass retarded redneck

[Anonymous Coward]

Only on slashdot do you get the retards criticizing retards.

You spelled Monkey Wonk-Wonk wrong!

Re:Cheap ass retarded redneck

[obeythefist]

At least your consistent.

It should be "you're" (you are) instead of "your" (your property, your cat, your house).

Re:Cheap ass retarded redneck

[Anonymous Coward]

It's "grammar" you fucking retard.

Re:Death from Smoke and Dust

[Alien54]

And another:

A couple of years ago I was working at a local regional railroad and was given the job of upgrading all the 486s to newer machines. One of my last upgrades required me to upgrade a machine the was infrequently used at the car shop. Now the car shop is where they repair all rail cars that are not locomotives. This naturally results in a lot of airborne particles (soot, metal shavings, dust, etc) and the contaminants not only covered the work area but also creeped into the office. They combatted this by cleaning the office frequently and mopping the floor nightly. Unfortunately the machine I was to upgrade sat on the floor. For five years. Specifically they had been mopping around the computer for 1825 days.

When I arrived to get the machine I discovered I couldn't budge it. A closer examination revealed five years of rust underneath it and five years of floor polish sealing it to the floor. A quick call to my boss confirmed that we could consider the machine "field destroyed" and take whatever steps needed to remove it.

Which was just as well, as it took two of us and half a dozen whacks of a sledgehammer to get it free. Out of morbid curiosity, we opened up the case (wasting another 30 minutes) to discover the entire bottom of the case had rusted away, but you couldn't tell because the inch deep accumulation of who knows what covered every square inch of the inside. No one had ever seen fit to blow out the dust bunnies...or dust lions, as they were in this case.

Re:Tip #2: PC Off the Floor

[amerinese]

None of which are good for YOU!

Re:Tip #3

[dolmen.fr]

It is better known as 'batteries'.

Re:Death from Smoke and Dust

[Peil]

I can beat that hands down. A couple of years ago I was doing some onsite support for a 'food casing manufacturer' (sausage skins, gelatin by products etc) Anyway, in one end of the plant you got cow skins, and out the other end went boxes and boxes of sausage skins and the like. Anyway we had to replace some PC's out on the shop floor, but the management were determined to recover any useable memory or HDD's from the machines, as spares for the line controllers. You cannot begin to imagine what it's like opening a case and having to use a knife to cut through the years of skin to get the lid off, never mind trying to find the motherboard. Needless to say after 3 we told the managers that they were all dead as the dodo