Frame your server!

I wanted a fileserver at home to keep backup of important files. So I decided to recycle my old white and blue G3 mac, and to try another idea at the same time... read on.

I have, probably like everyone out there, hundreds -no, thousands- of digital images, most of them I never take the time to look at. My hard disk has become the digital equivalent of a dusty shoe box filled up with paper pictures.

So I bought the cheapest 19" lcd screen I could find, hanged it on the wall of the living room, and framed it with a hand-made, victorian-looking, golden frame. The mac is hidden behind furniture.

Next I dropped a couple thousand picture in Mac OS X screen saver, set it to random et voilà, and since then I sit on my couch hypnotized by the show of all my old photos suddenly brought to life.

A bluetooth keyboard, mouse and a DLink bluetooth USB adapter are used to access directly the computer, for social surfing during aperitif, although administration access is usually made via Remote desktop.

So I now am the happy owner of a fileserver for security and exchange (also set up as ftp and http server), a live photo show, and a high-tech great device in my living room that apart from Bill Gates house, I had never seen before (and even more important, neither of my friends;-).