Over the past few years ive gotten desktops from various smaller thrift stores but not i feel like i have too many and im not sure what to so with them? Do i save them and turn them into a bugger project? Do i make a nas out of one of them? Im stumped theres so many things to do with a pc that i dont know where to start, or if this is even the right place to post in?

I pretty much saved theses from e-waste and scalpers but most of the machines are devices nobody wants or has a issue.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    4·
    7 days ago

    IMHO fix whatever you can, donate it all locally (HackerSpace, RepairCafe, Linux non-profit, etc) as there are quite a few people dedicated to refurbishing computers for schools, people who need a computer to find work, etc.

    Then for the tinkering aspect, keep one, that’s enough.

    Honestly even 1 isn’t really required. Pretty much everything listed here can be done more efficiently without an actual physical computer :

    • your current computer can be a server, just turn off the screen or even accept (which I’d argue is a fair assumption) that at night it will be off. If you want external access put WireGuard or another VPN on it.
    • Want to test distributions or anything else? QEMU or containers, no need for actual hardware
  • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
    1·
    6 days ago

    A suggestion: if you can’t find anything else for them, keep them around as parts machines.

    There should still be useful components in them. For instance, a lot of the Wi-Fi modems may still be perfectly good for other things as long as they’re mini-PCIE (I don’t know if they use those in desktops). They may not be the absolute newest standard, but should still do the trick; it certainly came in handy when my sister’s laptop’s Wi-Fi modem decided to be a brat - I just swapped in an Intel modem from a laptop from 2016.

    I might not fully trust the SSDs or the HDDs, but they can still have their uses. There’s one SSD from an old desktop that I currently have hooked up to my Wii U.

  • MNByChoice@midwest.social
    17·
    8 days ago

    theres so many things to do with a pc that i dont know where to start

    Pick the first project that you think of and chase it down. If it sucks, then reformat the drive and do something else. Video game systems and file servers are great. So is installing a different OS on each, just to experience the differences side by side.

    Do NOT continue “analysis paralysis”.

  • mmmm@sopuli.xyz
    14·
    8 days ago

    Pretty sure there should be some nonprofit that will gladly get and assemble them so i.e. children on remote places can have a computer.

  • grue@lemmy.world
    12·
    8 days ago

    For any machines that are too inefficient to be worth continuing to compute with, you could at least save the power supplies for electronics projects. I’ve got some 12V addressable RGB Christmas lights being powered by an old ATX power supply, for example.

  • Digit@lemmy.wtfEnglish
    10·
    8 days ago

    Some ideas:

    • webserver (e.g. for a little personal website, maybe even host some fediverse things)
    • irc
    • weather monitor
    • distro tester
    • local LLM ~(they’re getting more and more efficient)~

    If you’ve several of similar performance, you could:

    • host lan parties, for classic games. Maybe some Quake, OpenTTD, Luanti
  • aquacat@pawb.social
    9·
    8 days ago

    How old are we talking?

    • Anything before core iX series is not recommended to be used as a server (missing instruction sets, low efficiency etc.).It could still be used for fun projects like installing gentoo or old redhat with plasma 2.
    • If you have Core iX cpu (preferably 3rd gen or newer) you xan host some services, but look into c/selfhosted if you’re interested in that.
    • You could also experiment with Kubernetes and combine lots of bad PCs into one less bad PC.

    In the end PCs are useful only if you can run useful sodtware on them, but besides nostalgia there ain’t much use I see in them.

    • Grumpy404@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      I have a mix of eras of computer ranging from ddr to ddr3. most of what i have is from the windows 7 era, my “collection” mostly contains dell OptiPlex’s or whatever looks neat.

      Ive heard you can do alot with a dell OptiPlex but i want to make a nas but im unsure how well it would be to store personal files with?

      • aquacat@pawb.social
        3·
        8 days ago

        Since there are a lot of OptiPlexses with different specs I will give you a general advice for making home servers.

        Use newest desktop you have and/or the one that took the least beating since you will need all the perfotmance and uptime you can get.

        If you opt for used storage (like some hard drives you have), make them into RAID with redundancy (at lrast one possible drive failiure, preferably two if you can).

        Also look for power efficiency, so if you have a laptop (and can add at least 2 drives in it for RAID) or a recent i3 or i5 dekstop (or even i7 if undervolted) that would be your best bet.

        Also look for decent network interface card. Try to avoid 10/100mbit and look for 1gbit, though I doubt that old PCs can even push 1gbit. Also make sure that the LAN plays nice with linux.

        For the OS, use something stable like debian, or if you want to thinker Alpine is fun and also really stable. Also Ubuntu Server is a solid choice.

        When deploying services like a file server if you just want something that works (or at least should be easier than other options) YunoHost or CasaOS are your friends, but you can learn docker (or run without encapsulation) and nginx (or other reverse proxy I don’t care).

        For a file server everyone has their preference, but I use SeaFile since it is crossflatform and simple with good integration.

        As I said, for any questions about selfhosting just hit c/selfhosted and ask away.

  • solrize@lemmy.ml
    6·
    8 days ago

    If less than 10 years old they’re probably usable with some upgrades here and there. Finding a use for them is harder. Maybe just get them working and give them to friends who can use them.