Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Slashdot: What Is Your Most Unusual Hardware Hack?

Posted by Soulskill on from the installed-linux-on-pants dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Another Slashdotter recently asked what kind of things someone can power with an external USB battery. I have a followup along those lines: what kind of modifications have you made to your gadgets to do things that they were never meant to do? Consider old routers, cell phones, monitors, etc. that have absolutely no use or value anymore in their intended form. What can you do with them? Have you ever done something stupid and damaged your electronics?

3 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Converted old cell phone to uplink transmitter by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Many moons ago, I got tired of what was on the radio, and I built a pirate FM station. It had a studio supplied with over 50 volunteer DJs, but most of all it had the transmitter up in the mountains, with a UHF uplink system, to allow for very broad coverage of our city. I made the uplink transmitter form a 1985 Motorola cell phone, the old brick type. It was suitably modified to put out wideband FM audio. You might be able to read about it by Googling "Radio Limbo Tucson".

    You're my hero.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Re:Something I won't put on my resume by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think I'd have been tempted to tell him that he knows how to fix it if he knows how to whistle. Of course, a lot depends on his personality; if he's an arrogant stuffed shirt, you'll be looking for your next job before you know what's happened.

    If he's at all human, you'll end up being indispensable. A bos who fires you for pulling his ass out of a hot frying pan is no person to work for.

    I was known for some wild seat of the pants fixes. My suits appreciated it - a lot. It's startling when a room of 7 figure folks applaud you after you bring a computer system back to life. And the weirder the fix the better the stories later. Versatility is a plus.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  3. Re: Something I won't put on my resume by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every time I did a management fix it went the same way.

    1. Red alert! Serious problem!
    2. You! Fix it.
    3. Me: we're screwed, for reason x
    4. Management: fix it!!!!!
    5. I come up with a hare brained rules busting policy dismembering moral event horizon surpassing fix
    6. Fix goes in. Problem solved. This time.
    7. People cheer. Or start pointing fingers.
    8. Time passes.
    9. Management or similar want to talk to me. I get ripped a new one.
    10. Actual root causes never corrected. We jump on the merry go round again