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View Full Version : Does someone knows something usless for my pc to do?



NESFreak
April 28th, 2007, 06:12 PM
Does someone knows something useless for my pc to do? Something like electric sheep and stuff. Not the serious things like FAH, but really something for people (and computers) that have way to much time.

Any suggestions?
NESFreak

tbroderick
April 28th, 2007, 06:15 PM
SETI is pretty useless. Not that I think we are alone in the world, just that the chance of actually find anyone is going to be remote.

reclusivemonkey
April 29th, 2007, 12:25 PM
Yeah. Turn it off and save some power.

Tomosaur
April 29th, 2007, 01:03 PM
I personally think that FAH is a very worthy cause, it needs all the help it can get, far from useless, but it's passive, so I'd reccommend that first and foremost.

lukew
April 29th, 2007, 02:08 PM
Yeah. Turn it off and save some power.

Yes, I agree. Would you leave your car running over night with the horn for something to do? Think green!

Luke

Rutabega
April 29th, 2007, 06:55 PM
Captain Planet, should be round shortly :)

m.musashi
April 29th, 2007, 07:13 PM
Does someone knows something useless for my pc to do? Something like electric sheep and stuff. Not the serious things like FAH, but really something for people (and computers) that have way to much time.

Any suggestions?
NESFreak

Thinking green is always good but sometimes it's fun to play.

I recently found out how to make a screen saver act as my wallpaper. After a few minutes I thought that was pretty useless.

What is the image you posted? It's pretty cool. Do you have a larger version? It would make a nice wallpaper.

diskotek
April 29th, 2007, 07:14 PM
SETI is pretty useless. Not that I think we are alone in the world, just that the chance of actually find anyone is going to be remote.

but that would make a bigger electricity usage. i read something about that in ubuntuforums i believe...

m.musashi
April 29th, 2007, 07:16 PM
but that would make a bigger electricity usage. i read something about that in ubuntuforums i believe...

I know from experience that FAH will up your electric bill. I suspect SETI is similar.

ssam
April 29th, 2007, 07:54 PM
get one of these
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343&doy=29m4

then you can measure your power usage.

my always on computer uses about 20 watts (via epia)

Bezmotivnik
April 29th, 2007, 08:27 PM
Yes, I agree. Would you leave your car running over night with the horn for something to do?
The problem is that some seriously-wedged geek personalities have an irrational psychological aversion to shutting down their computers.

It's like people who leave their televisions on all the time though they're not watching them.

They're afraid of the silence and loneliness.

Yes, it's just that pathetic.

lepz
April 29th, 2007, 09:34 PM
Does someone knows something useless for my pc to do? Something like electric sheep and stuff. Not the serious things like FAH, but really something for people (and computers) that have way to much time.

Any suggestions?
NESFreak

You could use it as a doorstop. :lolflag:

Tundro Walker
April 29th, 2007, 10:31 PM
1) Install WINE
2) Use WINE to install Progress Quest (http://www.progressquest.com/)
3) Start it up with WINE
4) Make a character, and let it go

NESFreak
May 4th, 2007, 06:23 PM
Thinking green is always good but sometimes it's fun to play.

I recently found out how to make a screen saver act as my wallpaper. After a few minutes I thought that was pretty useless.

What is the image you posted? It's pretty cool. Do you have a larger version? It would make a nice wallpaper.

It's an electric sheep (http://www.electricsheep.org/). And yes ,I used to use it as a wallpaper. It's in the repositories.

I do most of the time think green. We collect water in a big tank under the ground for later usage. (Though we still flush our toilet with drinking water.) Our electricity provider claims our power is green (esent) and we have energy saving light bulbs, but sometimes you just need something fun to do. It's what keeps you motivated.

Hope I didn't offend some über-eco-hippies with this thread.

NESFreak

Omnios
May 4th, 2007, 06:34 PM
Slap in a rusty old TV card. Set it to channel three. Hook up your digital tuner. Add the biggest hard drive you can afford and presto you have a DVR.

gashcr
May 4th, 2007, 06:35 PM
run Vista??

jkblacker
May 4th, 2007, 06:42 PM
run Vista??
+1 for sheer uselessness

Ptero-4
May 4th, 2007, 06:54 PM
run Vista??

+1 for pure uselessness (and for dumbish risking of a PC).

juxtaposed
May 4th, 2007, 09:58 PM
They're afraid of the silence and loneliness.

I don't know about anyone else, but I personally don't like turning my computer off (even when i'm not using it) because it could be doing something... Encoding stuff, downloading stuff, uploading stuff, etc.

m.musashi
May 5th, 2007, 02:38 AM
It's an electric sheep (http://www.electricsheep.org/). And yes ,I used to use it as a wallpaper. It's in the repositories.

I do most of the time think green. We collect water in a big tank under the ground for later usage. (Though we still flush our toilet with drinking water.) Our electricity provider claims our power is green (esent) and we have energy saving light bulbs, but sometimes you just need something fun to do. It's what keeps you motivated.

Hope I didn't offend some über-eco-hippies with this thread.

NESFreak
So wait, are you using the screen saver as your background or are you capturing some static image and making it a wallpaper? I recently learned how to make a screen saver the background but it was too annoying for anything long term.


I don't know about anyone else, but I personally don't like turning my computer off (even when i'm not using it) because it could be doing something... Encoding stuff, downloading stuff, uploading stuff, etc.
...thinking of ways to replace you...

kerry_s
May 5th, 2007, 02:54 AM
okay, that is one of the most interesting questions i've seen lately.

Some thoughts->

huge digital photo displayer
a linux game system, i just did 1 for my nephew, i put a minimal install and fluxbox, synaptic, then loaded up games, that all it has games, no browsers file manger nothing but games.
server
testbed sytem, for testing other linux
network storage
router
firewall
kioski, try something different, like a opera kioski.

hmm, that's all i can think of right now.

NESFreak
May 6th, 2007, 01:17 PM
So wait, are you using the screen saver as your background or are you capturing some static image and making it a wallpaper? I recently learned how to make a screen saver the background but it was too annoying for anything long term.
.

used the videos as my wallpaper. Like i said " used to use it as..." It really drives you mad after a while, but it looks cool.

pingpongboss
December 10th, 2007, 11:30 AM
I don't know about anyone else, but I personally don't like turning my computer off (even when i'm not using it) because it could be doing something... Encoding stuff, downloading stuff, uploading stuff, etc.

lol wow that's my mentality exactly. Every minute that my computer isnt bittorrent-ing is a minute lost for the betterment of the (p2p) world.

:')

Tundro Walker
December 11th, 2007, 04:14 AM
lol wow that's my mentality exactly. Every minute that my computer isnt bittorrent-ing is a minute lost for the betterment of the (p2p) world.

:')

I was about to say...seemed he was worried to turn his comp off in case it was encoding or doing something...but what the heck would your comp be doing that you don't know about?! Is it two-timing you? Like while you're sleeping, it's secretly meeting other computers online for torrid love-affairs?

And then pingpongboss chimes in to mention he's running a bittorrent node out of his room. Ah...well, I guess redistributing pirated ...uh... "acquired" p2p packets is a worthy cause for leaving your computer on.

:)

I think the latest statistic I heard was that 90% of night-time U.S. net traffic is torrents...wow.

forrestcupp
December 11th, 2007, 10:25 PM
SETI is pretty useless. Not that I think we are alone in the world, just that the chance of actually find anyone is going to be remote.

Unbelievable! When I saw this thread SETI is the first thing that came to mind. Then I saw the first reply was SETI.