Sometimes, I love that we're us.

Sep 30, 2009 03:45

Okay. Doc and I saw a 12" touchscreen LCD monitor on eBay last week, so he bid on it. It arrived today.

Today's project has entailed setting it up with an old laptop of mine to serve one purpose: the home theater software we use, XBMC, has a web interface with big, chunky buttons for play, pause, stop, etc. The laptop (for now) boots straight into Firefox, which lets us prod at the buttons on the touchscreen. The whole rig is currently set up in and on top of a small end table at one end of the couch, within easy reach of the television's audience.

Tonight's project is me writing a whole new interface for it, and Doc skinning the whole thing, because I am never satisfied with anything technological unless I've done it myself. (You'd think I'd've written a whole OS by now.)

This whole exercise has made me realize something, though.

Our home theater setup consists of the following:
  • 60" Philips rear projection TV
  • Pioneer reciever
  • Creative 5.1 speaker set, with stands for rear speakers
  • Homebrew adapter box to junction RCA plugs from speakers to banana plugs for the reciever
  • Parts-built HTPC, currently running Windows XP and XBMC nightly
  • Wired Xbox 360 controller attached to HTPC
  • 12" ELO touchscreen LCD
  • Toshiba laptop, driving touchscreen LCD
  • Furniture (leather couch, coffee table, end table housing touchscreen remote setup)

Out of all of that, the only things that have been purchased for what they're used for now are the parts for the speaker adapter box, ($15 from Radio Shack) the LCD, ($80 on eBay) and the speaker stands. ($5 at Goodwill) Everything else either came from the store, (TV, couch, table, PC, speakers, controller) came from a tiny bit of dumpster diving around the apartment, (reciever, end table) or was something we already had. (Toshiba laptop)

Which means our entire setup has cost us around $100.

Holy shit, now I understand (even more) why my father taught me to fix things when they break instead of buying replacements. We've had to put in a few hours work to get it all running, but it's so much more satisfying sitting down and watching something on our cobbled together with duct tape setup than anything you'd see at Best Buy.

(although i wouldn't mind a new 50" plasma. >_>)

Great part is, I start work at Radio Shack this coming week. Which means discount on parts to do moooooooooooooore. Love it.
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