computer in garage ideas

[Piper]

HI

In our new 3 car garage/working shop I plan on having a computer and printer set up. I'm thinking about how to best do this and am wondering how others have done so. I have a couple of monitors available so this will be a low $$ install (no flat screen, wide screen...stuff). I'm kind of thinking about maybe having the monitor under a piece of tempered glass that is recessed so the glass could be covered with some skin plywood. I'm sure you've seen something like this. Maybe 1 of those rubberized keyboards. The main reason would be for looking up car parts, alldatadiy.com web site....

Any ideas thoughts current installs welcomed.

Piper

 

[DaMaN]

try to get a computer / network telco rack. Thats what I did. It kept it mobile and contained. I close the doors and keep the dust out of it. Used wireless to get on the net and worked great. These racks can be had on craigslist cheaply or I even find them in the trash (yes I have been know to go dumpster diving) in corporate parks. Good luck!

 

[sr71]

hmmm.... .....nothing fancy here....I have a wireless setup. I bring laptop to garage - place on workbench ... wireless connection to internet and printer in house. The only thing I leave in garage (when I am not working) is power supply.

 

[Fastbird]

Like SR71 said: Laptop, wireless home network, done. If you get a networkable printer, get a wireless adapter for it and leave it out in the garage so you can print right out there too.

SR71, what model Dell is that? Looks like my 600M.

 

[lamagra]

though i am not a mechanic or anything of the sort. (newbie in training) If you get your hands dirty a ton and want to surf on the fly i would highly suggest getting a rubberized/plastic cover for your keyboard. (cheaper to replace a cheap keyboard verse a rubberized keyboard).

Wireless laptops are always great! You could even get a wireless printer on a deal sometimes as well though if you wanted to print you could always put your home printer on shared access to your wireless laptop or networked pc.

If you have wireless already setup in the house i would take a friends or your laptop out to the garage and test connectivity. If it is good to go you can get a cheap dlink usb wireless adapater and your gtg.

If you have some old monitors i wouldnt put them under glass. You could just stand them up on a bench.

 

[colmiller]

Piper you have to realise you cant be too precious with old computer equipment these days, it not worth anything.

I took a trailer load of working computers to the dump the other day.

Just sit the monitor on the desk, hook it up wireless by all means but dont sweat the keyboard getting dirty, just use it. If it stops working chuck it and get another. Even if you have to buy it you should find one for under $20.

Get an optical mouse so that the gunk doesnt gum up the works though.

 

[83diesel]

I work out in the field on semis and our shop and the other shop I worked at all use laptops. We do not have any fancy covers or shields. We have dropped several of them off the side of a truck and they still work fine. They have been exposed the high humidity of the south and have been rained on (if that happens, turn the computer off and let it dry out). The laptop is real handy if you are in the middle of troubleshooting and want it near the car/ truck to make things go more efficiently. We have had more trouble with the computers in the shop that have protected monitors and keyboards. I would also note that don't get any computer that is too old, it will not be compatable with most software requirements that ALLDATA and other programs you will be running. Not to mention that the computer will run so slow that it will be not worth having one.

 

[kbs2244]

Teach yourself how to load an OS and your sofware onto an empty computer and then watch craigslist or the local goverment auction sites for used stuff.
The state of Illinois just auctioed off a skid of 25 laptops for $65.00
But they completly erase them.

 

[ksp]

I'd like a computer in the shop but I don't keep it warm all the time. I wonder how an lcd would work in thw differing temperatures say from 45 degrees on up.

 

[wk96]

I have a computer in my garage. I live in NE Ohio, I don't heat the garage
all the time. I have not had any problems with the cold. I keep the Monitor on my work bench, The keyboard and mouse are on shelf under the bench top. I keep the CPU under the workbench.

 

[ovilla]

I keep my laptop in the trunk of my car overnight and even over the whole weekend in sub zero weather. Then I take it in to work and put my hand over the keyboard and just feel the coldness radiate off the keyboard (hey it's a work computer). Anyway, only a couple of times has it come back and told me that it can't find the OS. Most of the time it just goes really slow for about the first five minutes until it warms up. Anyway, got to agree on simply using whatever old computer you can get your hands on and don't be afraid to get it dirty. Heck, I've got 4 old desktops down in my basement with monitors, keyboards, and printers that I don't know what to do with.

 

[Piper]

I guess my thinking around the monitor under the glass was 2 fold. 1 it doesn't clutter up the table/bench top and gets it out of the way. I am planning on using an old monitor and cpu that I've loaded xp on. Having had a couple of "run in's" with wireless networks I'm planning on having a cabled network hook up.

I think I'll make a rolling cab of some sort that is completely enclosed with a pull out drawer or something. That way when I need to compute it's there but otherwise it'd tucked away.

Pipe

 

[slider]

Both the screen and the PC were cast offs from employers upgrading. A small bracket was bent to hang the monitor on the wall & broadband hooked up during the rewire.
Mini keyboard & optical mouse complete the setup. Cost ~£20 incl all network cabling!

Lived in the house 18months and still omly opened the garage door twice. Never had a car in there. One day soon!!!

 

[goodfellow]

I'm not a networking guru, but I have been through several different setups. My first attempt was a 100MB ethernet connection directly wired into a hub in the house and connected to an older desktop computer in the shop. It was OK until I realized that I needed portability because I was constantly running back and forth between the computer and the car when looking up service procedures on the net.

I soon switched over to a laptop which made the portability issue somewhat better, but I still had to disconnect the ethernet cable and thereby loose my network connection when taking the laptop over to the car.

I eventually put wireless in the house and was able to work from inside the car to look up parts, procedures, make notes, etc. I found the laptop invaluable when I took apart a car for a partial restoration. I had the laptop right there on the car for "bagging and tagging". As the bag was being tagged, I took a pic of the parts with the digital camera, and entered the pic numbers along with a description right into a spreadsheet. This procedure saved a lot of time. I'm sold on a laptop and wireless in the garage.

Next effort is putting in cable and a TV --