People are throwing so much away they really do not have too. I see monitors, printers, and computers on the curb side all the time. Even radios, stereos, and tv’s are in the stacks of stiff. Why not donate them to a school or an aspiring science student. They can use the parts to make the next discovery. What is really interesting you can take an old computer and put it back to work. So what if it does not run the latest software or can not be upgraded. If it still works, the computer can be repurposed for other uses.
People pay so much for specialty devices such as a device to turn on and turn off lights. an old computer would do the job just fine. The computer could be left in the attick without a monitor and work just fine. I took an old XT computer wirh just a floppy and made a sort of burgler alarm system for my apartment. with a battery backup which I already had, it was perect for me and i did not have to pay several hundred dollars for a device to do the same thing.
Last time I talked about how a to do list could be compiled for a computer to use. This is what I did with a short basic language program. The compiled program was so small it would fit on a floppy disk that the computer could automatically load and run. No hard drive was needed! I was able to put another piece of equipment back to work and save a landfill or at least part of one. Learning how to use to do lists to control a computer can save you money. Even if you feel that creating computer code might be a challenge, you get always get someone to help you. just create a to do list and have a programmer turn in into a computer program.
You will need some other parts such as joystick adapter, wire, and a open door detector that you can get at any good electronic store. Please let me know if you want more details. One neat thing about this program was I was able to incorporate two things. First was using speech synthesis to warn of an intruder. And secondly employ a modem (computer telephone device) to call me at a specific phone number and issue special tones so that I would know there was an intrusion. Almost state of the art technology using junk. Repurposing old equipment for new uses is a good goal to strive for. Here is the code I used for my burglar alarm system:
REM *************************************************************** REM * program: doorchek.bas REM * purpose check value of joystick port connected to door REM * last update 02/04/1994 REM * 1994 - 2009 Hedonistic Systems REM * Creative commons. REM * REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM mainline REM GOSUB housekeeping WHILE TRUE% GOSUB dothedoor WEND GOSUB endofjob END REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM housekeeping housekeeping: REM ........................................ REM basic variables and flag settings OLDFLAG = 0 REM screentype% = 1 is 40 columns and 0 is 80 columns. screentype% = 0 startflag = 0 TRUE% = -1 q$ = CHR$(34) KEY OFF SCREEN screentype% CLS REM ......................................... REM Give time before alarm system is set to enabled REM so you can exit the premise without it going off. FOR click = 1 TO 5000 NEXT click REM ......................................... REM header PRINT title$ = " Door switch recording system" center = (W - LEN(title$)) / 2 PRINT TAB(center); title$ REM .......................................... REM set datafile name to date and time nowdate$ = LEFT$(DATE$, 2) + MID$(DATE$, 4, 2) + RIGHT$(DATE$, 2) nowtime$ = LEFT$(TIME$, 2) + "." + MID$(TIME$, 4, 2) nameoffile$ = nowdate$ + nowtime$ REM ........................................... REM record starting time in file and on screen fileaccess$ = "O" doordid$ = "S" GOSUB dofile PRINT PRINT " Started at: "; TIME$; " on "; DATE$; "." REM ............................................ REM set further file writing to append fileaccess$ = "A" REM ............................................ REM hold header and start time on screen VIEW PRINT 6 TO 24 RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM do the door REM dothedoor: GOSUB getdoordata GOSUB reportdoordata GOSUB checkdearm RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM check to system if de-armed checkdearm: IF STRIG(3) THEN TRUE% = 0 RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM end of job REM endofjob: doordid$ = "E" GOSUB dofile PRINT PRINT " System down at: "; TIME$; " on "; DATE$; "." VIEW PRINT RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM get data from door REM getdoordata: r = STRIG(1) SELECT CASE r CASE -1 flag = 1 CASE 0 flag = 2 CASE ELSE GOSUB errornotice END SELECT RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM report data from door REM reportdoordata: SELECT CASE flag CASE OLDFLAG RETURN CASE 1 GOSUB doorclosed CASE 2 GOSUB dooropened CASE ELSE GOSUB errornotice END SELECT OLDFLAG = flag RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM door closed REM doorclosed: IF startflag = 0 THEN startflag = 1 ELSE doordid$ = "C" GOSUB dofile PRINT " Door closed at: "; TIME$; " on "; DATE$; "." END IF RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM door opened REM dooropened: doordid$ = "O" GOSUB dofile PRINT " Door opened at: "; TIME$; " on "; DATE$; "." GOSUB doalarm RETURN REM -------------------------------------------------------------- REM sound alarm doalarm: GOSUB domusic REM gosub domodem REM gosub dotalk RETURN REM -------------------------------------------------------------- REM play music (make up your own tune if you wish.) REM domusic: PLAY "mbcdeccdecdeffdeffgagfecgagfecc<b>cc" RETURN REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM do the modem thing REM domodem: OPEN "com1:1200,n,8,1" FOR RANDOM AS #2 PRINT #2, "ATDT1234567;" FOR clickon = 1 TO 10000: NEXT clickon PRINT #2, "DT121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121" FOR clickoff = 1 TO 10000: NEXT clickoff CLOSE #2 RETURN REM ------------------------------------------------------------------ REM do the file thing REM dofile: OPEN fileaccess$, #1, nameoffile$ PRINT #1, q$; doordid$; q$; ","; q$; TIME$; q$; ","; q$; DATE$; q$ CLOSE #1 RETURN REM ------------------------------------------------------------------ REM error notice REM errornotice: VIEW PRINT CLS PRINT PRINT PRINT " Error occurred, Warn supervisor NOW!" RETURN REM ------------------------------------------------------------------ REM * program: doorchek.bas REM * purpose check value of joystick port connected to door REM * last update 02/04/1994 REM * 1994-2009 Hedonistic Systems REM * Creative Commons REM * REM ******************************************************************* REM ------------------------------------------------------------- REM TALK MESSAGE (requires external program!) REM dotalkthing: FOR Xit = 1 TO 3 talkmessage: SHELL "say W-AH-R-N-IH-N-G, tz-eh-r ih-s ah-n IH-N-T-R-UH-D-R" NEXT Xit RETURN
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