Proposal to downsize our collection of monitors

Hi guys, I took the time today to pull most of the monitors off the top shelf and test them for functionality (plug them in, put in a VGA cable). We have 27 monitors up there. Most worked, one did not and another had a missing power brick (didn’t use IEC 320 connector).

The entire shelf is taken up by these monitors (well… except a pair of bike tires for @TyIsI) and it looks pretty messy. A few of these monitors are still in plastic wrap from the bunker move, which is telling me that they aren’t being used. Would people be opposed to me trying to sell some of them? I figure we can get $5, $10 or $20 for most of them (depending on size, HDMI support, condition). We don’t have to sell them all since I do see some people pull one or two down on occasion to plug into their laptop, but 27 seems excessive to me.

We could also consider donating them to the hackery - I am sure they can find a better use for them than us! What about the Kamloops hackspace (looking at you @hdsheena)?

I am willing to bottom-line this effort.

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First off, thanks for putting so much effort lately into improving the space, @Logan_Buchy.

I really liked the way that [Butters?] had them set up in the Bunker at the workstations mounted on the rails and I would love to see at least a few get saved for that purpose. They were incredibly hand for raspberry pi nights, beaglebone black projects, etc.

Yeah, I think we should keep a few also @miststlkr - that is a good use for them.

There are quite a few that don’t have stands - these were probably the monitors you are talking about (they actually take up much less room in storage since they stack so nicely). IIRC, we have about 6 additional monitors on the workbenches right now that are in use legitimately - for some of them it would make sense to mount them back up on the rails. This would clear up a lot of workbench space.

I just figured that 27 monitors lying around was a lot. If we could pare it down to 5-10 then we would have an additional half-shelf. The money could be used to buying/building some better storage system for the lower shelf (see picture)

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Yep that was me, I had 2 monitors setup per desk, I originally donated around 15 monitors, but it looks like it pile has grown, so don’t blame me for 27 :wink: There should also be a black bin and in it contains the set of cables for those monitors. @miststlkr is correct, they were setup for RasPi’s and additional laptop screens and they worked well there were also a couple of floaters for placing on desks. I would personally like to see them in use and not catch dust. Nice work @Logan_Buchy

I’ll pick up the tires some time soon!

I might have missed some, but I think they’re nearly all VGA-only, which means you’d need an adapter to connect them to an RPi, and I don’t know if we have any of those adapters.

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Yeah I was actually thinking this today too. I only tested one that had HDMI.

we did have some adapter cables for them, but they may have gone walky if they are not in the bin.

I have ~30 PCBs for adapters. Do you want to help me build one and test it, and then I will run a build night? :smiley: :smiley:

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Yeah for sure! Bring them in! I’ll come down this evening if it’s still open later.

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Side note. I found only 1 adapter which I needed for the projector for my Thursday class. Didn’t think of it after class but that adapter should be labeled VHS and left in a specific spot for future use