PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment
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PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment
by Authors:
Barry Press , Marcia Press
Released: 31 October, 2003
ISBN: 076454229X
Paperback
Sales Rank: 73808
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List price:
$29.99
Our price:
$19.79
(You save: $10.2)
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| Book > PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment >
Customer Review #1:
 Very disappointing
I was immediately disappointed after I received this book and first browsed through it. The authors idea of a "project" is buying some off the shelf gadget and plugging it into your PC. I dont need a book to explain THAT.
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lt;br />Oh, and if you dont know what an MP3 file is, HERE ARE ALL THE DETAILS. What rubbish. Of the 14 "projects" maybe 3 or 4 are easier with this book, but the chances of youre being interested in one of those seems poor.
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lt;br />If you get the chance to look this thing over before buying youll quickly know if its for you. If you have any experience interfacing PCs at all, just skip this book.
PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment >
Customer Review #2:
Pass this book up
It does give you step by step on how to complete these projects; but it will cost you. Example telescope tracker parts list runs about $900, then you can connect it to a PC. Build a PVR uses a P3933 with 512MB ram. I dont have one of those sitting on a shelf. This cook book shows you what software to buy, cables and plug and play modules, but does not teach anything. I guess I wanted to solder something. Please try to find a copy and flip through it before you buy it.
PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment >
Customer Review #3:
Very "old school" retro flavour
Ever wonder what fun things you could do with your PC, aside from playing games? Barry and Marcia Press offer some suggestions. These involve integrating your PC in some ingenious fashion to your surroundings. Quite distinct from running games or surfing the web.
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lt;br />Actually, while they deal with the latest PCs, there is a definite retro flavour to this book. You see, before the web arose, most PCs were standalone, or perhaps connected to a LAN if the PCs were in a workplace. But home PCs were usually on their own lonesome selves. Plus, the games of that era lacked the intensive graphics and complexity of logic of todays offerings. So quite often, PCs were used by hobbyists who were hardware buffs. This goes all the way back to the Homebrew Computer Club of San Francisco in the 1970s.
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lt;br />So if you try some of the books projects, like monitoring your fish tank or your fridge or freezer, or making a control centre for model trains, you are actually indulging in an "old school" ethos.
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PC Toys: 14 Cool Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment >
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