Old P.C For Practice Question

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Hi all, ive started cracking on with the 2 brilliant books (meyers & street smarts) which you all recommended. This week im going to be getting hold of an old pc (I work at a University and luckily the I.T dept have got a few lying around I can have for nothing!) however, I dont have much space as I live with my parents at the moment and will be studying from a small bedroom which I currently just use my laptop in. I basically dont want to have to have a big old monitor taking up room so If I was to just get the tower, is there a way I can hook it up to my laptop and use my laptop screen as the display?

Also 1 other quickie, can anyone recommend a site where I can buy one of those little cases full of proper tools that techies use? (if you dont know what i mean, im talking about the ones with the anti static straps and proper pc screwdrivers etc) many thanks

Nick

 

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If you want to use more than one PC but only have room for a single monitor/keyboard set up, you might want to consider getting a KVM switch. As far as using your laptop to act as a monitor for a separate computer, this source says, "no".

I live in the US, so I have no idea where you can go for good buys on hardware in the UK. If you were here, I'd suggest someplace like Newegg.

If you have limited room in your work area, I'm not sure how you'll get away with taking apart one or more PCs and working with the hardware. If you've taken a look at the Street Smarts book, you'll know that a significant number of the exercises it contains, requires that you open up the PC case and start taking stuff out and putting stuff in.

 

Have a look http://www.nextag.co.uk/computer-kit-tool/zzukzB1z0--search-html?nxtg=7bde0a280513-B8B0201304CF726E

 

I got an old pc for £60 to help with A+ studies.

As said you could get a KVM switch next tag will or a local computer shop may sell them.

You can get pc toolkits from anywhere like next tag or maplins or pc world etc.

 

Thanks for the quick replys and recommendations guys, ill take a look!

 

It's always worth asking your friends/relatives if they have any old computers lying around.

 

Local authorities also have lots of "dead" PC's languishing in their warehouses too. With the A+ it's not all that important to have a fully-functioning PC IMO. Just being able to take the machine apart and view all of the internal components is what's most important.

Good luck!

 

I also have a laptop and a desktop and want to connect my desktop though my laptops monitor. i bought a kvm switch and ive tried everything to get it to work but am not getting any display from my desktop onto my laptops screen
does anyone know what the problem is and can help me out, cheers

 

the desktop is a compaq workstation, just bought it from ebay for my studies.

i have limited room and wanted to connect the desktop to my laptop display

if this isnt possibe ill have to buy a cheap monitor.


is there anything you recommend that may allow this to work

 

yep ill have a look at getting a cheap one

though a kvm switch would be a cheap quick solution

 

does pressing the monitor key on the laptop keyboard not do anything?

 

ah yes I misread the post and thought the laptop display was to go through the sPCs monitor

 

ive also tried that an nothing happens, the screen flickers a bit and thats it

 

Im sure someone will correct me if im wrong here, but I believe you cannot hook a tower pc up to a laptop screen due to the different video signals which are sent, unless you use some type of video controller board.....which would probably be expensive.......


You could however, if your feeling adventurous, probably grab yourself a cheap Playstation screen, rip it open and connect the right connections with a VGA plug, and use that on your PC