Headless workstation?

(tags hardware, monitor, failure)

My 17 inch Attic/Koshida CRT monitor (it says MG1778A, but its not listed in the discontinued page) that I used for Project Asobi, Project Asobi "II" (w/o SCSI), and Project Sugar finally conked out after 6 years of use. The display doesn't light, and it smells of burnt capacitor, and me being a software guy, I don't dare try to repair it myself. Rumors of monitor electronics holding their charge for weeks on end and "a little knowledge is dangerous" keep me from opening the cover.

Wow, April 1998. 8 year old monitor, and around 1.5 year old when I bought it used. Thanks "Attic" MG1778A, it's been fun.

Suffice it to say I was pretty depressed but I'm using a combination of my backup "Dinner" 17 inch LCD monitor (MB157AT), Windows XP Remote Desktop, and Putty/OpenSSH to use the computers connected to its 2 inputs (BNC and DSUB).

I have two worries, though: How am I going to dispose of this monitor? Searching the web, I saw that disposing of the monitor properly will cost me 4200 yen:

• PC3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) initiative page
• sample info from Iiyama
• informal blog post
• The last word from Attic/Koshida 家庭系ディスプレイのリサイクルに関するご案内 (PDF)

That's not including sending the monitor through the mail. What to do?! I guess do exactly what it says on the PC3R web page, ouch.

The other worry is how am I going to play around with my PS2 Linux Kit? But I haven't touch that thing in over 4 years, so this is really low priority.