Computer in the garage?| Grassroots Motorsports forum |

Junkyard_Dog Dork
10/6/10 5:43 p.m.

Surely I'm not the only one. Usually its an older outdated machine but it makes finding parts and information sooooo much easier. Just "upgraded" to a 5 year old Dell I added memory and an extra HD to (for tunes) running Ubuntu 10.04. Sure my main unit is only 20 feet away in the house, but who wants to run back and forth tracking dirt everywhere? Plus I can come here while waiting for penetrating oil to soak in or paint to dry

Matt B HalfDork
10/6/10 5:47 p.m.

I have a couple of spares I was thinking of reviving for this very purpose. I'm tired of getting road grime in my keyboards.

alex Dork
10/6/10 5:58 p.m.

I use mine, a berkeleying white Macbook. At least it makes me keep my hands clean.

m4ff3w GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/6/10 6:00 p.m.

I keep on in the garage.

I generally only have PDFs of manuals and use message board DIYs regularly.

Plus, it helps to have Pandora rocking. :)

DeadSkunk HalfDork
10/6/10 6:17 p.m.

We bought my son a new laptop for university and I took his 5 year old Compaq. Bought a new ,bigger battery pack and it's now garage ready. It was already wireless equipped, so I didn't have to pay for that upgrade.

JThw8 SuperDork
10/6/10 6:22 p.m.

Wifes puppy chewed half the keys off my laptop so after she replaced it the old one went out to the shop, still works fine, as long as you know your keyboard layout.

Comes in handy for doing an online check for which local FLAPS has a part you need in stock before heading out.

924guy Dork
10/6/10 6:36 p.m.

yep, ive got one too, i keep a ibm netvista workstation out there (1.8ghz ,40 gig , 1 gig ram.) i was rocking out all day to an assortment of classic rock and jazz , its got the best audio system in the house ...though the usb wifi antenna just took a dump, i keep my pdf car manuals on it for quick reference, though all the fancy equipment didnt help me get the friggin car running today...

pigeon Dork
10/6/10 6:39 p.m.

Usually I just grab my hackintoshed Dell Mini9 if I think I may need computer while working on the car - small, sleeps as soon as I close the lid and awake as soon as I open it, easy to throw up on the dash or roof while I work on something. I'd like to put a dedicated machine out there but I've already harvested enough bits off the spare machine (#6 in the house) that it doesn't run. Someday an ipad in a greaseproof case will make a great garage companion, but not until I can get a beat up used one cheap.

Grtechguy SuperDork
10/6/10 7:03 p.m.

Yup.. laptop wanders with me. May soon be putting a full tower in as well

ArthurDent Reader
10/6/10 7:10 p.m.

I have an iPad that works nicely for the garage.

Junkyard_Dog Dork
10/6/10 7:12 p.m.

Well posting from the "new" computer in the garage and its amazing how much better it is than the 15 year old dinosaur that used to be in here.

The talk of .pdf manuals has me wondering-can such things be easily "aquired" as torrents? If so I see a garage server in my future

BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/6/10 7:49 p.m.

I've got an older Thinkpad for garage duty which still has a serial port in case I finally get around to Megasquirting something.

TJ SuperDork
10/6/10 7:59 p.m.

I have an old laptop that is on garage duty. I also keep my netbook out there as well. It's the one with my megajolt software. Garage computer, check. Garage fridge, check. Garage stereo, check. Garage fan, check. Garage chairs, check. Enough space leftover to work on cars, not so much.

wbjones Dork
10/6/10 7:59 p.m.

alex wrote: I use mine, a white Macbook. At least it makes me keep my hands clean.

food wrap on the keyboard .... easily replaceable... + porn can be viewed without someone looking over your shoulder...

Racedreamer New Reader
10/6/10 8:27 p.m.

Ya I have one in the garage. The wall mount works great and keeps the expensive parts out of the way.

Platinum90 SuperDork
10/6/10 8:29 p.m.

I have my netbook in the garage with me almost all the time, plus I run podcasts or pandora from my smartphone...

Tommy Suddard GRM+ Memberand SonDork
10/6/10 8:45 p.m.

I usually use my netbook in the garage (it practically lives in my car), but sometimes I drag my white MacBook out for heavy duty stuff. All the kids at school wanna know how mine is a darker white than theirs.

Teh E36 M3 HalfDork
10/6/10 9:02 p.m.

I use the white macbook there too. Keep magic erasers handy and it cleans right up. Wish I had one of the aluminum- that would be garage-tastic legit.

I like having it handy to investigate those "great ideas" that pop in. Last night's was: How much does a 20b cost, and will it fit in the MG?

Derick Freese HalfDork
10/6/10 9:12 p.m.

I was building one for my workshop, but it died on me. Sucks. Anyway, I have plenty of desktops I can stick out there, but I NEED another flat panel for out there. Since I only store E36 M3 in there now, I don't really have a need.

When I go and work on something out in the driveway, my laptop comes along half the time. I've always considered all laptops to be disposable computers, so I buy cheap. I was over at Mr. Joshua's place building the Challenge Miata, and it was out there about half the time to help us with odds and ends.

Keyboards do clean up just fine.

porksboy Dork
10/6/10 9:16 p.m.

Mine is a pentium II tower unit running Windows 98. Slow as molasses but runs everything I need except Pandora.

Porn wont run on it so I am more productive down there!

irish44j HalfDork
10/6/10 9:33 p.m.

I have my old laptop setup on an old swing-away TV stand (the kind they used to have in school classrooms like 15 years ago). Mounted to the leg of my secondary workbench, so it swings away and is protected when not in use...