TIME TO GET CREATIVE!!! and have a little fun

[slavelaborer]

The title says it all! Well not technically. . .

I have in my possession 2, yes 2 functional touch screen laptops that are several years old. (I also have an Asus G74sx for everything else)


I am on spring break and want to do something fun/creative with the computers. They can't run windows anymore, but they work quite well with Ubuntu (i am probably going to down grade to Xubuntu tonight).
I also am going to build a Ubuntu server over break out of a couple old towers sitting around to take back up to school.


THE POINT IS I want to have a good use, even if ridiculously basic, for the laptops, playing music/alarm clock in my room, google calendar taped to the fridge, something to brew my morning coffee with, maybe just a full time weather report at my finger tips, I DON'T really know yet.



Run some stuff by me, I've got a surround sound system and plenty of speakers. Typically have tons of homework. Maybe some touch screens next to the toilets to play games/read the news while i'm... well, you get the idea.

APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK!!!

[DuckHook]

How about using one to control a beer fermentation fridge?

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-ce...ation-2012108/

I read about this use with a raspberry pi, but it would work just as well controlled through the serial port of your old laptop.

Mods will likely move this thread to community cafe, but that's as is should be. You'll get more responses there.

[slavelaborer]

My bad, I definitely should have put it in the cafe. I like the idea though! Its a definite contender.

[coffeecat]

Thread moved to The Cafe.

[TeamRocket1233c]

Floppy disk art! Seriously, floppies may be useless as data storage nowadays, but they still got plenty of creative use. http://www.ehow.com/info-tip_8032423...te-crafts.html http://www.instructables.com/id/Flop...nstall-Disk-2/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Floppy-Disk-Lampshade/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Flip-That-Floppy/ http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-Flash-Diskette/

[tartalo]

Touch screens, playing music, geeky project... I guess I would test the new Plasma Media Center: http://dot.kde.org/2013/03/20/plasma...er-release-one

EDIT: Another idea: since you have a server you might want to set a MPD or XMMS2 server on it and control the music playing in the house from the toilet.

[TeamRocket1233c]

And also, on a more related note, try creating your own multimedia-oriented Linux distro as well.

[slavelaborer]

Controling the music on the surround sound from the toliet! The idea is gold!

On a side note, is there a way to sync a computer in my room upstairs to play music over speakers in my room with the music playing via surround sound downstairs? Hmmmmmmmm.....

[tartalo]

On a side note, is there a way to sync a computer in my room upstairs to play music over speakers in my room with the music playing via surround sound downstairs? Hmmmmmmmm.....

I read in the documentation that MPD can create an http stream that you can open with any music player, or even another mpd server:
http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration

Oh, there are Android clients too, interesting...
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/02/strea...id-device.html

Hmmm... I have an unused netbook here...