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A Different Way To Recycle Old PCs

Posted by timothy on from the better-than-most-modern-art dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "Glasgow based artist Sandy Smith has some slightly different suggestions for what to do with those outdated PCs and Apple Macs -- build your home out of them! Photographs of his work; rooms and structures made out of up to 100 (switched-on) computers and other equipment can be seen at computersforart.org/create/; these should be of interest to anyone who has a habit of collecting old (working) computers, or just hates the thought of throwing out their old 486 friend."

39 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm. by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Glasgow based artist Sandy Smith has some slightly different suggestions for what to do with those outdated PCs and Apple Macs -- build your home out of them!

    I'll have to ask my mom if I can build a house in her basement.

    Aw, she says I have to bathe first.


    BTW, Coral cache mirror, MirrorDot mirror

    1. Re:Hmm. by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hmmm... all that CRT radiation will so totally irradiate any geek that stays in these CRT/CPU houses.. not that geeks have any use for those pointy things anyway...

      --
      Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
  2. Junk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    It looks like my basement.

  3. You wouldn't need a heater... by Mikito · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...if you had a house built of running PCs.

    That would be quite an electric bill, though.

    --
    Anakin Simpson: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy--ooh, donuts!
    1. Re:You wouldn't need a heater... by dncsky1530 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Funny as it may be, the parent as a point, with the worlds store of oil depleading, and the ozone layer getting worse by the day, projects like this aren't helping the problem. This may only be one case, however many more people keep old, old computers running for no reason, using up alot of electricity that doesn't need to be used.

    2. Re:You wouldn't need a heater... by ginotech · · Score: 2, Insightful

      he's not blaming the computers, he's just noting that it's one way careless people pollute the environment. sheesh.

    3. Re:You wouldn't need a heater... by argent · · Score: 3, Informative

      This may only be one case, however many more people keep old, old computers running for no reason, using up alot of electricity that doesn't need to be used

      How much electricity does it take to make a new computer to replace them?

      Not to mention that when I switched from a new 1.7 GHz PC to a 400 MHz half-decade-old Mac my room became much cooler in the summer. Older computers may well use less electricity than newer ones.

    4. Re:You wouldn't need a heater... by wwwillem · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here in (also cold) Canada, I visited a customer recently to discuss a thin-client solution. One of their comments was that when all those PCs would disappear from the desktop they could be having a heating problem. They had a rather new building and when the heating system for that office was dimensioned, the amount of heat produced by the PCs was calculated in. Which resulted in a smaller furnice.

      --
      Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
  4. Looks like my garage .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. or the study when something's cooking.

    But seriously - what to people consider art ? This looks like someone who just piles computers up and plugs them in. Kind of like kindergarten but with stuff only adults can lift.

    1. Re:Looks like my garage .. by ksheff · · Score: 3, Insightful
      or my living room.

      I would look at some of those pictures and start thinking "I have one of those computers..and one of those..that one too.."

      --
      the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
    2. Re:Looks like my garage .. by Mr2cents · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just as something is humor when it makes you laugh, something is art when it makes you stop and wonder. So art is, just like humor, quite personal, and it's not because you don't get it that it's a bad joke per se.

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  5. When laid off, build your shelter out of your pc. by ABeowulfCluster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks at old 486... "And this is my living room"

  6. Re:When laid off, build your shelter out of your p by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

    My living room is a Packard-Bell. I'm not inclined to brag about it. How come something that never worked right in the first place refuses to die?

    KFG

  7. Lain by tricops · · Score: 4, Interesting

    After looking at the "Untitled (The Sky is Blue)" pictures, I have this strange urge to watch Lain again.... For artwork it's pretty neat, but I can't help thinking "mmmm, radiation".

    --
    (\(\
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  8. Queer eye for the... by merpal · · Score: 5, Funny

    basement-dwelling nerd who has saved every system he's owned since 1980. :)

    http://www.computersforart.org/create/blue/big/san dy_smith_07.jpg

    1. Re:Queer eye for the... by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 2, Informative

      You stole that from bash.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  9. What defines art? No, it's 'WHO' defines art by Jerry+Smith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Definitions of art:
    http://www.google.nl/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q= define%3Aart
    That's a lot of definitions. Art is art when 'articians' say it is so.
    Authoritarial justification.
    Even extreme things, like burning crosses or crossdressed foetusses can be considered art. And before modding me down for this: I do not agree with the examples I just gave.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
    1. Re:What defines art? No, it's 'WHO' defines art by datafr0g · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree...
      Art is "art" to an observer whenever they think something has the qualities of art.
      Errm, in other words:
      Anything at all is art (to the observer) when the observer thinks it is because of a (artistic) quality or meaning percieved...

      If I find a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk artful, then it is to me because I think it is.
      It is arrogant (and unfortunatly common) though to force a perception of art upon others.... that's what pisses people off about the "what defines art" question.

      --
      "Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
    2. Re:What defines art? No, it's 'WHO' defines art by h4rm0ny · · Score: 2, Interesting


      I think what constitutes Art is something that conveys emotions or a new perception to the observer / listener / participant.

      A lot of "modern" art may mean something profound to the creator (they claim) but it singularly fails to convey anything to the observer - at least not without reading a two page explanation of the work, at which point an intellectual understanding of the meaning may be grasped, but nothing that really stirs the emotions or the mind.

      Of course, my definition could conceivably rule out some very good traditional artists who are technically good, but emotionally boring. That's okay with me, although I recognize the skill.

      I feel this is particularly true with a lot of modern photography, but that just may be my particular axe.

      As far as this PC house - I don't consider it Art. What did the artist intend to make me feel or think? I can't tell. There might be people out there who are stirred by this, but it's more likely due to some deeply personal reasons than skill on the artist's part. Say, maybe their parents were crushed in a freak avalanche of badly stacked 486 base units or something...

      --

      Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
    3. Re:What defines art? No, it's 'WHO' defines art by justin12345 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Wow, its like I'm back in art school again! :-)

      I think you are very close to dead on here: art is essentially something that someone calls art. But there is one thing that is being left out. In order to be art there has to be human intervention at some point. Art must be (to at least some extent) man made. Even in the case of those damn painting cats (too lazy to find a link), someone at least had to dip the cat in paint and throw it on a canvas.

      Ultimately the difficulty is not qualifying something as "art" because the term "art" carries with it no inherent value judgment:

      "Look I pooped on the floor, its art!"; "Look I spent the last two years slaving away, painting a masterpiece" --both statements are equally true. The difficulty is organizing art into hierarchies of content and value (both monetary and cultural). The process is very subjective, but in practice it comes down to the fact that the worth of art is determined by persons well placed in the art industry. Essentially, if art makes it into the Met or Matthew Marks Gallery or Mary Boone Gallery, it is expensive and therefor valuable.

      --
      Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
  10. Pretty? Scary? Sad? by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know if it's supposed to be pretty or scary.

    Pictures like these remind me of how eery a society we live in. It's actually kind of depressing or even scary.

    (In an I'm-in-front-of-my-computer-at-4:45AM kind of way)

  11. Re:Remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm going to feng shui my garbage and pawn it off on ebay to some unsuspecting idiot who thinks it's art.

  12. His bathroom. . . . by cra · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder how he wired his bathroom to avoid execution when taking a shower.

    --
    This message has been ROT-13 encrypted twice for higher security.
  13. Oh hell no by EvilStein · · Score: 3, Funny

    My apartment already looks like this. My electric bill is about $700/mo. The neighbors complain about brownouts, and the insane fan noise scares away the women.

    So, if I call it "art" I can claim my pad is an art gallery, eh? :D

    1. Re:Oh hell no by MisterSquid · · Score: 3, Funny

      and the insane fan noise scares away the women

      It's probably your cats and not women who are scared by the "insane fan noise." You can't fool your neighbors into thinking you have women over just because you keep saying "Here, pussy, pussy."

      --
      blog
  14. Re:Pretty? Scary? Sad? by xstonedogx · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know if it's supposed to be pretty or scary.

    It's okay. Those things in the picture are called "girls". What you're feeling is natural.

    In any case, you're posting on Slashdot at (apparently) 4:45 your time, so they're nothing you'll ever have to worry about.

  15. 100 per structure... by SharpFang · · Score: 2, Funny

    say, 2000 per house x about 200 watt each.
    400 kilowatt power usage, and emission. The "emission" part would be good if you live in Alaska or Antarctic, or so. The "usage" part would be acceptable if you're a millionaire or own a power plant. I've also seen many CRT monitors. a LOT of them, and old ones, when emission wasn't taken into account so much...

    Run SETI@Home on it all, and expect the aliens will visit you really soon. Your house will be shining like a radio-beacon in the space.

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  16. Wooha, tumour time... by Havenwar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seriously... I get headaches some times when I spend too much time around too many turned on computers. I have three at my desk, or four if you count the desk... (Long story, dont ask.)

    Seriously... that much screen radiation, buzzing, hot air and electrical interferance just cant be good for... well, anything or anyone.

  17. The Arch by SharpFang · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The arch seems quite interesting, but I'd build it into spherical shape, like an igloo... then place an egg in the middle... switch them all on to display white screen... leave it on for 3 days... then switch everything off, and watch the egg shine in the darkness. Nice x-ray furnace, I'd say :)

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  18. Re:Pretty? Scary? Sad? by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's okay. Those things in the picture are called "girls". What you're feeling is natural.

    Pfft. Dude, I think I know what girls look like. I do see my mother every once in a while so she can cut my hair.

  19. Is this really recycling? by Bazman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unless these machines end up in permanent exhibitions, which I guess few will, all you're doing is moving the problem along. The organisation will have to dispose of them eventually.

    I note the lack of LCD flat screens in these projects - bet it wont be that way in five years time...

  20. Waste of Power & Idea by UnkyHerb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Recycling", sounds more like a bunch of clunkers wasting of power on processes which could be completed with a mere Transmeta.

    --
    Your Momma's so fat she makes emacs look like nano!
  21. Imagine... by erroneus · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...a beowulf housing development...

  22. call your own cell phone to find it by BinLadenMyHero · · Score: 2, Informative

    So just connect to it and:
    while true; do printf "\a"; sleep 1s; done

  23. Re:had to say it by lskutt · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine a beowolf cluster of these...

    Yeah, I can just feeeeel the awsome computing power equivalent to three gameboys and a HP48 pocket calculator.

  24. Junk... by kylegordon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Constructed from 16 monitors and 60 computers in a dimly lit round basement space, the circular structure of The Blackhouse faces outwards, yet allows the viewer to look over and into complicated interior.
    It's the whole 'dimly lit round basement space' that gets me... I walked past this when it was built a few weeks ago, as I live 2 blocks from the Art School, and not only was it in the floorspace of an empty shop, but it was looking out onto a busy main road. To be perfectly honest, it looked like someone was bored and had arranged a pile of junk computers in a circle. Completely uninspiring and boring. I even told my girlfriend about the 'pile of crap in the shop' and that she shouldn't worry as I won't be asking for any of it. I'm sorry, but I can't see how this passes for 'art'...

  25. X-Ray Test Rig for Harmful Radiation by 6800 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Say, one of those pix reminded me of a cubicle (or is it circumacle). If you aimed all the monitors toward the center and sat there at another, you should definitly be able to establish if those monitors have harmful radiation!

  26. Two words by elronxenu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Fire
    Hazard.

  27. Re:Any Custom Programming? by anubi · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I have been doing that for years!

    I have some old DOS "slideshow" programs.

    I load up an old hard drive with DOS, the slideshow program, and a diskful of .jpg's and let it fly.

    These go in minimal security places, like shopping malls. Ok, if someone gets malicious and vandalizes or steals the whole shebang, its not really any worse than if the trashman did it.

    I mean, what he got was an old '286 with a 40MB 5.25" MFM HD and an old VGA monitor. Good enough to show photos of what's in the food court.

    I just arrange things so that the still operational machines continue to work as designed until the bitter end.

    I still have a couple of crates of old 40MB 5.25" MFM HD's and a couple dozen controllers still laying around I am slowly getting rid of this way.

    I may get into designing a driver board for those large incandescent bulb-matrix displays one sees in front of many businesses, as I constantly see them not working proprely... it kinda pains me to see so much expensive hardware out there that does not function properly because the latest state-of-the-art computer systems don't run all that long before hanging up on something or other.

    Its not at all like those old days I went through when I would get an embedded system going and expect it to go for years without any deviation at all. Much as one would design a motor and expect the same. There's nothing magic about sequencing the bulbs on a sign so they spell text, just as there is nothing magic about designing rotating magnetic fields in a motor so the shaft turns. We don't have to constantly maintain our fans either, unless they made them with badly designed bearings.

    I still enjoy the breeze from 20 year old fans.

    Why is it that the output of older computers is so neglected? Its paid for, and will continue to work for you as long as you give it some power.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]