Re: Reviving a Dead Laptop
- From: "~misfit~" <misfit61nz@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:45:47 +1300
Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Richard Bonner" typed:
~misfit~ (misfit61nz@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
Somewhere on teh intarwebs "Richard Bonner" typed:
~misfit~ (misfit61nz@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
I get a perverse thrill from using and enjoying something that
others would throw away.
*** I like to show off my 10-year-old 500 MHz systems and the fact
that operations run faster than XP's do at GHz speed.
Hehee! Yeah, I'm the same. I'm currently on the lookout for more RAM
for this machine. It's the old low-density SDRAM and people seem to
want (and get) the earth for it. It's currently got 2 x 64MB
installed, it'd be nice to take ot up to 256.
*** It depends on what you need to do and how much runs at once.
128 MB in my HP laptop running DR-DOS 7.03 can run everything I need
to on it. (I do not do graphic work on the laptop.)
The main use my old laptop gets is for playing the older games I enjoyed so
much back in the day, that don't play nice under XP. They really benefit
from more RAM.
Unfortunately the HDD is too small to fit all my
games from that era on so I find myself backing up saved games and
installing and uninstalling often.
*** Can you not run them from a flash drive or CDs?
Most of the games require the CD in the drive to run (the HDD is too
small to run an emulator and ISOs like I do with machines with
bigger HDDs) but need to be installed to a directory on the machine.
*** Programs that require the CD to run are a nuisance. )-:
Agreed. Unfortunately most games are built that way as a primitive form of
DRM.
Windows 98 doesn't handle USB storage as elegantly as later versions
of Windows.
*** Software author Bret Johnson is working on new DOS USB drivers.
Hopefully they will be out of beta testing later this spring. Perhaps
they might be suitable for you.
Ok. I followed the link in your sig the other day and see that you're a DOS
fan. (Although I must say that seeing the term "DOS Operating System" in
writing set off one of my pet peeves in the same way as 'PIN Number' and
'ATM Machine' do.)
That fact,
coupled with the fact the machine only has one USB 1.1 port (very
slow compared with HDD access) has prevented me from trying to
install to a USB stick. However, I might have to give it a try, I
have nothing to lose.
*** I don't worry about the USB standard too much. If your drivers
can recognise the newer flashdrives, they transfer data much faster.
Flashdrives are not all equal.
I know. I've given away all my slowest ones (even though they claimed to be
"high speed USB 2").
Unfortunately, the `U' in `USB' is far
from universal and so the very latest flashdrives work only under XP
SP3, Vista, and newest Mac OS-X machines. I don't know about Linux. I
am hoping that Bret will address this.
In the meantime, look on the flashdrive packaging and get one that
will run at the minimum under Win ME. Be sure you can either test it
in the store or return it if it is not recognsed.
Yep.
(Re: Pack-ratting)
*** You and I would get along well! (-:
Hehee! It seems so Richard. You really wouldn't want to see the
"junk" I have around the place that, although old and worthless [in
monetary terms], still works and I hate to discard.
*** No, in fact, I actually would like to see it.
Hehee!
(Snip Description of Older System)
I put it together from my parts pile and I'd be lucky to get $20 for
it if I were to sell it. I just can't bring myself to do that. I'd
rather give it to someone who would get use from it (or be sure
that, if I were to sell it, it would be used).
*** I am the same way. I hate to think that working stuff would go
to the recyclers to be destroyed.
Here in NZ we recently had a nationwide 'eWaste' day where anyone could take
old IT equipment in to be 'recycled'. What wasn't obvious until later was
that the government had contracted it out in all the main towns and cities
and it seems that 'recycling' means selling on our own version of ebay,
proceeds to the contractors. The market for used computer equipment took a
dive as lots of pretty good hardware hit the listings. I didn't go to a
collection point as there wasn't one nearby but I'm told that some pretty
damn recent equipment was being 'dumped', certainly less than 5 years old.
The market for 'vintage' computers has nose-dived too.
It's from probably the last year or so when compters were
still a reasonably major investment and consequently made to last.
I'm confident it would run for at least another 10 years. These days
manufacturers build for a 3 year life span. Don't get me started on
that subject!
*** I agree. In my showroom, I have a 1991 486 DX4-100 running a
slideshow.(*) It still operates well after all these years. It used
to run the business, then went to my home, and is now back at the
business - still on the job.
Sadly I quit all my machines of that age as I simply don't have the room for
them.
After that era IME motherboards and graphics cards (and
laptops) were made as cheaply as possible and a lot of my gear made
since then has failed where the old stuff just keeps on going.
*** My local laptop repair place echos that.
I think that, in the not-too-distant future, laws will need to be enacted
where products should meet a minimum longevity. Otherwise we'll all be
living on reclaimed landfill in 100 years. (Those of us who haven't been
killed by all the pollution the manufacturing of 'new' goods requires.)
(*) The 486 was originally a 33 MHz, then a 66, and finally the chip
was replaced in the mid 1990s with a 100 MHz unit.
So you didn't take the final upgrade step and go to an AMD 486 DX4/120 huh?
<g> I used to have one somewhere in my 'collection', I'm not sure but I
think I may have given it to someone who wanted to make the fastest 486
possible. It could be overclocked to 133MHz by setting the mobo FSB to 33
but needed what was, for the day, heroic cooling.
Cheers,
--
Shaun.
.
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