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Build an Under-the-Cabinet Kitchen PC from an Old Laptop [DIY]

Source: Lifehacker

Apr 02, 2009

Summary

Inspired by our guide to giving an old laptop new life with cheap or free projects, Lifehacker reader Brian turned his aging Dell laptop into an incredible under-the-cabinet kitchen PC.

Brian uses his saucy setup to pipe music to his kitchen via Pandora, view his Google Calendar, and get a look at the news. He needed a lightweight operating system that would support Flash, and ultimately settled on the much-beloved Puppy Linux. A little tinkering, two coat-hangers (which he used for mounting the laptop), and some elbow grease later, Brian's put together a very cool kitchen computer.

Despite having put together a great setup already, Brian has a few more ideas for spicing up his setup in the future:

Integrate software keyboard for occasional logins
Cron-like item scheduling for time based events, ( ie, show weather in morning, news at night )
Limited command support for auto-shutdown of the appliance
A RSS feed integrator showing semi-random news items stock ticker style.

If Brian's flavor of laptop repurposing isn't quite your cup o' tea, try turning your

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