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Options For a Laptop With a Broken Screen?
DefenseSupportParty writes "I recently traveled via an unnamed airline, and stupidly checked my laptop. Unfortunately, the screen broke in transit and they refuse to take responsibility for it, claiming that it could have been broken before the flight. I'm not really in the mood to replace the screen if I have to pay for it, as I have other laptops that I can use. At the same time, I don't want to waste computing power that could be put to good use. I've thought about the common stuff: file server, SETI@Home, but I'd like to do something a little more creative. Does anyone have good ideas for a relatively powerful laptop without a display?"
http://computershopper.com/laptops/howto/replace-your-laptop-screen
You may already be set up the way you like, but I'm not and others might also not be, so here goes:
Use it as a media center. That is, connect it to your TV and sound system, and have it play video and music from wherever you got it (sshfs/NAS, w/e).
For that, you want something which can start and stop (suspend/resume) quickly. You'll probably also want to connect a wiimote, so that bluetooth chip on your wifi NIC is going to come in handy. Saving yourself from running more cables (wifi) probably isn't going to hurt either.
Why fix the screen when you can replace it with a bigger and better one? :)
Yes, replacing the screen is not expensive at all. All you have to do is locate a LCD for your model laptop on a site like ebay. I have found LCD's for as little as $50. Then in a search for "lcd replacement on your model number laptop" and you should find exact instructions on how to remove and replace the LCD. I have done this many times and it is really easy.
If you have an IBM Laptop, replacing the screen is really easy. You find full hardware documents online telling you exactly what you need to do, and there are plenty of screens on ebay. I have done this about 50 times now, no problems at all.
OpenBSD CARP Cluster, with built-in UPS... Clustered Firewall, DHCPd, Samba, NFS, httpd, ftpd, sftpd/sshd, etc.
That's exactly what I was thinking. For some reason people think replacing a laptop screen is difficult or something.
All I have to say is modern laptops are usually pretty easy to work on. I would look up the specifics on your particular model before considering it but replacing the screen usually means popping off a cover, 4 screws, unplug the connector, then reverse for the new screen. It takes like 15 minutes at most.
I agree about not checking in laptops. That was a stupid thing to do. However, do not ever assume that the airline is not liable. So do read those fine prints, but also do not rely on your memory. Here are the links to the "conditions of carriage" or "contract of carriage" for a number of airlines.
http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=91&category=1&page=2
And also know your rights, in the US you can try to recover up to $1,250 for lost/delayed/damaged luggage (unless you're on an international flight, which has its own limits governed by international treaties).
http://www.kevincoffee.com/airlines/lost_baggage.htm
Also if you travelled with British Airways, see if that class action lawsuit against British Airways is still going on. And on that topic of class action lawsuits, I agree that small claims court (depending on your State) is probably the most efficient way to recover your money after you've exhausted the airlines claims and claims appeals process, but it pays to use the word "class action lawsuit" in your legal threats. Most corporate lawyers know that threats of a class action lawsuit from a lay people are almost always empty threats, but no corporate lawyer wants to have a class action lawsuit come to him on his watch especially if it was so easily avoidable in the first place.
Well he could also have purchased additional insurance for a premium, or insurance for excess valuation, at the ticket counter as well, but airlines are also notorious for trying not to pay out on those as well. And as to the other types of insurances, the ones with your credit card, travel insurance, etc, he should check out if he has any there as well, but hindsight being 20/20 -- I doubt he would be asking us this question if he did.
pchub.com is also a good source for notebook parts.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
With an external monitor, a keyboard and a USB mouse, you have the makings of a very small footprint desktop machine. Close the lid and put it under the monitor.
I do. I don't want it on the plane and it weighs enough to be a nuisance. I pack it in the middle of the suitcase, protected by clothes and, so far, haven't had any trouble. Any data that I'd worry about is encrypted and the laptop is an old, slow, one that I use just for travel. Someday, I suppose it will be stolen or broken. Until then, I'm more than happy not to be lugging it around and putting it in a separate tray for security.
In brief, yes, but you should check first to see of you have other options: does your laptop support anything besides VGA? I had an old Compaq (well, a few years old), and I kept forgetting the unobtrusive RCA jack in the back that represented "composite video". If you have that, it is basically the same as TV out. Connect it to the video in RCA jack on the back of your TV, and get a 2.5mm-to-RCA cable for your headphone out to TV in.
A great many laptops have S-video out. That is better quality than composite, if your TV (or other video component) has S-video in. Again, your headphone out is your audio.
My Mac has HDMI out, and if your laptop has anything like that, you also basically have TV out; you just need an adapter cable.
Or airline unclaimed baggage dept.
I hear the selection is good.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Discarded laptops are perfect for all in one home server. Most real servers are overpowered for home use including silly electricity bill, heck most recent spec desktops are overpowered. Laptop esp. no screen = low power, quiet, small.
I have a full LAMP stack running ampache (streaming mp3s from my home archive to any web browser), torrentflux-b4rt (headless torrents and usenet), DLNA media server (like itunes) and steam left4dead game server running 24/7 no issues on an IBM T41 (Pentium M 1.6, 512M RAM) so your recent spec laptop should blaze.
Heck stick an external USB drive onto it and you also have a NAS solution. I have NAS so thats redundant (and incidentally the linux solution works well with the NAS, point everything at the mounted share, esp. if the NAS supports NFS though samba works fine for the above applications).
I have colleagues who go down the windows home server route and they swear by it as well.
All recent MacBooks, from what I saw last time I browsed their features to buy one for my wife.
Apple dropped the IrDA port from their laptops when they were still called PowerBooks. The IR sensor on the MacBooks isn't IrDA.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
They have an IR receiver, for use with a remote control, but not a two-way port.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
To whoever modded me flamebait:
This sort of behavior is inexcusable for an airline and in my opinion it should not be tolerated.
There are many open source nas implementations available: FreeNAS OpenFiler and NASLite to name a few. I have personnaly set up 3 different NASLite boxes, and is the one I recommend for stability and simplicity (It is not free, but reasonable--around $35US). You will, however need to connect the laptop to a monitor for initial installation and setup.
"If your parents never had children, chances are you wonât either." -Dick Cavett
It should be impossible, in theory, and usually in practice, for insurance to be a good value for anybody who flies with any frequency. Insurance companies make profits, after all. They probably pay out half of what they take in, if that.
Insurance is only for risks where you can't handle the cost of the risk. For example, financially you could not handle replacing your house, so fire insurance makes sense. Life insurance can make sense to look after a family. Health insurance to cover a $300,000 operation can make sense, while dental or optical plans make little sense. Extended warranties (which are just insurance) make no sense and are very high margin because of that. Which is why they push them on you.
For anything small, it is far better to self-insure. That's a mathematical certainty.
Now there are two exceptions. One, if you know you are taking a risk that is far above average, and the insurance company hasn't figured out to charge you more or block you, insurance can be a value. Secondly, with medical insurance, you may find you don't want to have to consider cost when making medical decisions, you just want it covered. (Of course now an insurance company will be weighing cost as it decides if you are covered.)
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.tightvnc.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipcop/
IRDA and remote controllers work differently. I wanted to use my laptop's IRDA for the remote controller only to find out that it is not possible. IRDA's that support remote controllers are rare IIRC.
My sister dropped her laptop in the winter and cracked the LCD quite nicely. I found a "broken" laptop on eBay (similar model) for about $50. Once I received it, I simple disconnected the LCD assembly from the dead unit and connected it to hers. Problem solved!
What's your point? Super duper grand parent is suggesting to use the IR for a remote control for mythtv. Seems to me that a receiver "for use with a remote control" would do the trick nicely.
Some laptops aren't designed to run with the lid closed. I burned out two (used) Thinkpad 600s this way (you can disable the auto-suspend but I later learned you really aren't supposed to :-/). It's probably different nowadays; the firmware will shut the machine down before damage occurs.
Still, if you've given up hope on fixing the lcd anyway, think about just disconnecting/severing the display cabling and sawing off the lid. It'll make the machine even lighter and thinner, and more convenient to use as long as you don't stack anything on it (which is not a good idea anyway).
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Almost every airline specifically disclaims liability for damage AND LOSS for checked electronic equipment, valuable wearables like fur, jewelry, bearer instruments such as cash and stocks, and most things other than clothes.
You might have a case if the overhead bins were full and the airline required you to check it. But really the burden to remove valuable items is on you even in that situation. Case law in this respect is fairly well established.
Beyond that though, the time and environmental constraints of operating an airline require somewhat rough handling of bags, stacked one on top of others in the bin of the aircraft, and the potential to get rained on when loading/unloading/waiting. One should think very carefully before checking anything valuable.
The credit card suggestion is a good one though.
You cannot sue them. In the "Contract of Carriage" you agreed you will hold them harmless if you are unwise enough to check any electronics, camera equipment, musical instruments, art, legal documents, and many, many other things. The airlines are basically responsible for your clothes, shoes, sundries, and the actual bag, within limits; the stuff you HAVE to take with you.
Go onto any domestic airline's web site and search for "Contract of Carriage" or "Terms of Transportation."
If you go to the US Airways web site, look for "Terms of Transportation" and look for Section 11.2.
I have refused to let them take my camera equipment from me to check it. They tell me there won't be enough room in the overhead, I explain there is over $20k in cameral equipment in the backpack, and it goes where I go. I tell the gate attendant to force me and my carry ons, plus my checked luggage, onto a later flight on several occasions, but have yet been forced to do so.
Anonymous Coward, Esq.