Now it just has an computer attached and isn't used for anything other than a dumb screen.
Absolutely dumbfounded how anyone could have thought this was a good idea. One of the few times I seriously would have joined a class action suit.
I used to bemoan that more people don't maintain completely open wifi connections in the spirit of sharing (assuming you have unlimited Internet). But there's the upside to everyone putting a password: You can choke off all those household devices that demand Internet access!
Not for long. As those devices move to prepaid low-data rate cellular service, you won't be able to stop them from phoning home, short of RF shielding.
(Sometimes I wonder if a lot of the older electronic devices we consider junk now will become desirable in the future because they "just work" without the various user-hostile spyware, DRM, rootkits, anti-repair features and remote-exploitable security vulnerabilities that seem to be proliferating in modern devices.)
Nowadays I feel like a helpless puppet in the hands of vendors that want to make their tech transmit as much data as possible to their servers. I am not even sure the TV I have at home (and to which I didn't give any internet access) can't secretly negotiate a connection with my router.
I too feel that some of us have to start collecting some older tech just in case.
A better solution is to build our own devices using readily-available parts, such as Raspberry Pis, and make the designs and source code freely available. Then these things can be updated as technology improves, and their cost will be low because they won't have their availability constrained by being out of production.
http://www.myce.com/news/users-fix-samsung-smart-tv-time-two...
I love the way you say "easily". Sure, easy for some segment of Hacker News readers. But it would be impossible for almost every other TV user.
The last smart-type TV that I bought actually used Roku baked into it. At least Roku is a well-known and independent service and not a manufacturers proprietary shoddy system.
About the only thing I can ding it for is that some buttons on the remote aren't available for CEC, so I still have to use my RC6 remote and IR receiver on the Pi to control Kodi for all but the most basic functions.
Also, if you're looking for a 4K set, I'm not sure there are any out there that are dumb.
It's a good question, and the answer appears to be yes. Here's some discussion about the topic from about a month ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13347592