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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?"
Braille Quake is available for Windows & Linux.
How about you take a few more flights and then set up a beowulf cluster?
Run 10,000 instances of progress quest.
1) plug it into a television
2) add IR
3) add connection to file server with videos 4) ???
5) entertainment
Buy a cheap external monitor.
How about setting it up a a monument to your carefree lifestyle? I mean, really, who on earth checks laptops?
If you don't need the laptop, and the screen is relatively easy and inexpensive to replace, and the laptop has decent specs, why not fix the screen and sell it to someone who needs a laptop for just the cost of the screen replacement? You don't need it, they do, it's a (presumably) decent laptop. Everybody wins, and they might bake you a pie or something someday in return.
Built in UPS, plenty of computing power as you say.
Best use I can think of is as a server - web, mail, mysql, whathaveyou. Wear and tear on the hard drive not an issue if you're using something set up correctly - the hard drive will be spun down most of the time.
"Actually, I enjoyed this in the same vague, horrible way I enjoyed the A-Team" P. Opus
See if you can find a cheap screen replacement on Ebay.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
Hook it up in your network as a MythTV. I don't think you need an attached display to use it; if you do, use an old external monitor.
http://computershopper.com/laptops/howto/replace-your-laptop-screen
Buy a usb keyboard and mouse and a 19" external monitor. Set the power saving to just turn off the screen when you shut the lid, not go into standby. Instant energy efficient desktop computer. What you do with that is the same questin of what you do with any surplus computer.
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? :)
I don't feel like waiting ten years for the results of my calculations, so your ten-year-old beige box won't really work for me.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
Who even needs a display? Run X over SSH.
Quite often, the parts you need are available on eBay especially if you use a Dell. (Availability of parts is the #1 reason I recommend Dell, not because they are "better." The #2 reason is because new Dell laptops almost always have accidental damage coverage available as a purchase option in the warranty... accidents happen, BUY IT! By the way, Apple computer does NOT sell accidental damage warranty coverage. If you buy an Apple, make sure you get it through a 3rd party vendor that does offer it or never buy Apple laptops...they are too expensive for accidents.)
The position of the airlines is 100% correct. There should be a certain level of abuse that passengers should absolutely expect. If you don't expect it, then you are an idiot and need to learn the hard way. CARRY ON anything you believe to be valuable and/or breakable.
I used one to teach myself AutoCAD on.
Was a bench carpenter for 27 years and decided I was getting to old for the sawdust.
A co-worker had given me a busted lap top and and so I got a monitor I'd leave at the shop with my toolbox but would take the half-lap-top home with me.
I'd study Autocad during lunch...
Now I work in the cad deparment programming CNC routers and doing construction drawings for some stuff some may thing is cool.
Infinite Dimensions
So there is certainly a place for half-lap-tops... especially with the low cost flat screen today.
Read the fine print. The airline is not responsible for the damage. Do. Not. Check. Laptops. Carry it with you at all times. Common luggage offers little if any protection for a laptop. Have you ever watched how the baggage handlers "handle" luggage?
What? He doesn't have any form of insurance of his own? The cost of a screen is substantially cheaper than the cost of a new laptop. (unless it's an old and/or crappy laptop.)
Yeah... on the list of "Stupid Ways to Get Your Laptop Stolen", we have:
#8: "Oh, it's okay, my friend's watching it"
#7: Leave it in the car
#6: Pass out at a frat house
#5: Two words: Finals Week
#4: Take a leak while "telecommuting" at Starbucks
#3: Work for a government agency
#2: Check your laptop with your airplane luggage
#1: Put child porn on it. (for a legal alternative, your social security number will also do.)
Seriously, to actually trust TSA to be doing their job 100% of the time and NOT screw with your valuables? You're nuts.
How about you setup this laptop in a trunk of your car and run some wires to the dash. Instead of radio deck, you could put touch screen and have a thing called "carputer". You can find more info here: mp3car.com.
o_O
I did the same thing with a laptop several years ago. I ended up putting Ubuntu on it and used it as a server for a few websites (Plone/Zope, MRTG, NTP, DNS/DHCP) and some other things at home. Works well, is quiet and tucks away nicely.
Alternately, I hear that vSphere will have better hardware compability/support, so you might be able to fit v4 on it and run several VMs of your choice.
"The cost of a screen is substantially cheaper than the cost of a new laptop"
Depends on the laptop model. I broke my laptop screen a couple years back. It's a 2003 dell model (D505) that's crucial for my work, but couldn't afford laptop replacement. New screen set me back around £50-60 (~US$80). I fit it myself (was rather simple to)... and now it's continuing to serve me well. But, that particular model did sell rather well, and many neighbouring models (such as D510 I believe) used the same screen, so it a very common, easy to find part. As for Unbranded Model(tm)... that might not be so cheap.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
The fine print is NOT the law. Them stating arbitrary things in some fine print does not make it somehow ok.
What if they started to shred everything you check-in, and then pump the pulver in the plane. On check-out you would get a bag of that stuff with the same weight.
Then the airline would state that it were a big accident.
Do you really think that would bail them out?
This is the same principle. They break it, they fix it. A fine print is only a rule, if all parties obey it.
I know that here in Germany, there are many things you can state in the terms and conditions fine-print, but that have absolutely no meaning. You can even get sued for stating some especially evil things in there.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
That's what you get for traveling on an unnamed airline.
Robotics. Requires no video output, just input.
Money is the root of all evil?
Will it blend?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Why not install a touchscreen 7" monitor in your dash, and have a carputer? Mount the reasonably powerful laptop w/broken screen in the trunk, wire it in to a power supply, attach a USB GPS antenna, and go from the audio out to the amp / speakers?
All the MP3s you can store, instant access to the OBD-II information, "free" GPS, and (with Backtrack III or the like), war-driving capability. Have it get email from your wireless access point and read it to you on the way to work. Keep a copy of the local yellow pages on the drive, and look up the nearest Cuban restaurant.
There are a lot of great "front ends" out there, and most all of them are skinnable to your heart's content.
Hope that this helps / is something in which you might have interest.
http://www.mp3car.com/
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.
*Whoosh*
For more information, read the last 10 years of Slashdot comments.
Oh what's that? This has already been suggested six hundred and seventy four times, basically at a frequency of every 5th post?
Oh.
Well I don't care I'm posting it anyways, what good is the internet if I can't chime in about something?
I don't know a single lawyer who has ever managed to pass a bar.
Why do I M2 everything negatively?
Rip the key board out mount the key board in some sort tin contraption. Now mount the keyboard and laptop in the tin contraption on the wall outside of the house/unit/apt/country lane.
Then put up a sign.
"Please enter the 64char apt code then hit enter. To gain entry or ring tenant".
Now load the laptop up with every annoying you got the answer wrong game show sound. Just randomly play one of the files, when ever someone hits a key other than say "+". Where "+" actually rings you and lets you know someone is at the door. :)
Had you read the last 10 years of Slashdot comments, you would realise that the correct expression is: "You must be new here".
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
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
Obviously you can convert it into a desktop by plugging in an external monitor...
...Let's get this straight. The airline contends that you bought a ticket on them in order to check a broken laptop through normal baggage handling (you wouldn't be taking it to use on your trip if you knew it was broken ahead of time) just so that you could get your laptop repaired for the cost of a plane ticket and your time. And you're letting them get away with this garbage? You must be new to life overall.
...but...
Here's the rub. TSA opens and checks most bags. They check for bombs that might look like...oh...say...laptop computers. So they make you show that your computer actually operates like a computer.
They open your bag and your laptop either operates perfectly, or they don't let it on the plane and probably question, if not arrest, you. Really good chance that your laptop operated just fine when they inspected it. So what happened?
Option 1: TSA broke it while "inspecting" it. Real good chance there since they had it out and were handling it. But because they broke it themselves they put it back in and shipped it along so as not to have it be their problem.
Option 2: It was broken after the TSA inspection and before you picked it up again.
Option 3: There is no option three. It was broken during the baggage handling, the airline didn't tell you not to put laptops in your luggage because they get broken all the time, and now they don't want to pay for it.
You've already shown yourself to be stupid twice now. Once when you checked your laptop, and the second time when you let the airline bluff you out of what you're due for their damage of your equipment. Do you really want to go for three?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Why run Methlab when you can run Octomom?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Nobody's given the correct answer:
- Small Claims Court.
"It was probably broke before you checked it," is not a valid excuse for an airline to refuse baggage insurance (or any other company for that matter). It is THEIR responsibility to check the luggage/item and verify it is not broken prior to accepting it under their liability insurance, and since they failed to do that, the legal presumption is that the laptop was 100% okay when received and damaged during transit. In fact in many cases the mere threat of court action is enough to make the airline cough up the cash.
This is somewhat similar to how the law presumes a mail-order package is 100% the seller's responsibility, even if said package was lost by the post office, or stolen by the neighborhood teenager. It's the seller's fault and requirement to issue a refund. The law is designed to protect the *customer* not the airline or seller.
One other option:
- Call your credit card company. Many of them provide protection, such that if an airline damages your luggage, you can get a refund of all your ticket money and/or replacement of the damaged good.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
"It was probably broke before you checked it," is not a valid excuse for an airline to refuse baggage insurance (or any other company for that matter).
A man sues his neighbor because, he says, he loaned the neighbor a pot, and the neighbor returned the pot with a hole in it.
The neighbor says:
First, I never borrowed the pot.
Second, it had a hole in it when I got it.
Third, I returned it in perfect condition.