Options For a Laptop With a Broken Screen? 544
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?"
Hook up a display? (Score:3, Interesting)
Simply hook up a monitor and you have a energy-efficient and quiet desktop. For fun, strap the laptop to the back of the monitor.
With older laptops you could fool around with those mini-LCD screens, use them for displaying the weather for instance. But as you mention it's a powerful laptop, so it would probably make a decent desktop.
Power reliable server... (Score:3, Interesting)
Use self-powered USB drives, and have this be your server. Yes, its boring, but that way its a server with a built-in UPS!
Its called a half-lap-top (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [id3group.com]
So there is certainly a place for half-lap-tops... especially with the low cost flat screen today.
Carputer (Score:5, Interesting)
Play area... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Sue them? (Score:4, Interesting)
"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.
get creative (Score:3, Interesting)
The result: a computer that sits next to a recliner.
If you don't want it when you're done, take it to the nearest senior center or retirement home and plug it in there...
Re:Sue them? (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:How powerful exactly? (Score:5, Interesting)
Carputer... (Score:5, Interesting)
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/ [mp3car.com]
Re:Checked it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Travel insurance has become a much greater value as airlines cut back. For 5%-10% of the cost of your trip you'll get protection for valuables, medical expenses, and cancellation/delay coverage. Shop around for a reputable company [travelinsu...review.net], but most travel experts strongly recommend insurance for any trip.
Broken Screen? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure I spelled "Voila" right...Grammar Nazis?
Re:You can (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a beast of a Thinkpad. I lug it around occasionally but it's more or less my "desktop".
Re:Braille Quake (Score:5, Interesting)
My dad had an old laptop have the screen go out. It's now hooked to my TV to watch streaming Netflix / Hulu / etc.
You could take the guts out and make some sort of robot brain out of it.
Put it in an arcade cabinet and host MAME ROMs.
Re:Server (Score:2, Interesting)
This is great advice! A laptop as a server is also great because it uses up very little power!!! Stick one or two 1TB external drives (now $89 each) on top of it, and use it as a NAS. (see http://rsnapshot.org/ [rsnapshot.org] for some ideas.)
Re:You can (Score:3, Interesting)
Can't agree more about built-in ups!
I lived in rural area and the one really feasible option is just having a laptop, because power is so shitty. Well, you can buy real ups, but this is really bulky, not cheap and not well-integrated solution.
Let's Get This Straight (Score:5, Interesting)
...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?
Re:Somebody Had to Ask It... (Score:3, Interesting)
True. I had an unopened bottle of Crown Royal in my bags for a trip to vegas, brought in anticipation of celebrating wins that did not happen. When I got home I opened my bag and the bottle was on top with about 1/5 gone.
I can only hope it got the guy drunk enough to protect the possessions of someone else.
Re:Braille Quake (Score:3, Interesting)
The MAME cabinet idea rocks.
Got something like that in the works for my daughter. We have a bunch of Windows-98-era driving games, a spare 900 mhz eMachine with Win98 CD and a V3 racing wheel. Marry that to 2 sheets of plywood cut in the shape of a car and a few sticks of 2x4 and you have the makings of an arcade-style racing cabinet.
With no Internet connectivity, the fact that it is Win98 does not pose much of a security risk.
As an added bonus, we can then convert her main desktop machine to Linux. Right now it is running XP because her Care Bears game won't run under WINE.
Once the car cabinet is built we can move all Windows games to it and then every Internet-connected machine will be running Linux.
Re:Braille Quake (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, this is what I did. I had a 2002-vintage PowerBook, the model with those flimsy little hinges. I put that computer thru a lot of abuse, and eventually the hinges gave up the ghost.
After surrounding my broke-ass Mac with a bunch of new and nice components, the weak part of my media setup is the broke-ass Mac! I'm happy to have found a use for a computer which is otherwise useless, but if I were to do it again I'd get a free oldish x86 tower and use Mythbuntu or something.