Laptop angst

[KB2WIG]

The BIOS  batts been dead for 6 months. The laptop has been hidden under the bench.

Last night I went to RatShaft and purchased a bat.
 
I can't throw the laptop out - it still works; if it doesn't work, I fix it. Yossarian would understand.  It runs windoze98 and has a wopping 96 meg memory... No suport, no anti virus, no nuthing. But it still works. What can I do?


klc

[W3RSW]

Win 98 & further it probably has an "A" floppy drive.

Firstly, transfer all your old pix and data that you 'wanted to get around to someday' to a more recent machine.
- keep transferring files from old to new each generation or you'll run into the problem of really slow and quirky serial transfer cables/ programs.  The new ones don't have an "A" drive. You may have to copy through two generations to get to DVD's or USB 2.0 flash drives.

Your battery size and type will become unobtanium.  That's the real downfall of legacy laptops.  My Dell has a rubber corner foot, odd connector, LED readouts, etc. on its battery. Don't think that will be made forever.

Your old computer will still be a nice logging accessory for ham use.
You can still use it for spread sheet calcs, email, and stuff. 

I guess sooner or later, unless we're starting a museum or something we have t'o byte the bullet' and toss em out.

I still have my APPLE II, IIGS, heck, even the imagewriter.. clunk, clunk.  By 2100 they'll be worth a lot 

[KD6VXI]

The BIOS  batts been dead for 6 months. The laptop has been hidden under the bench.

Last night I went to RatShaft and purchased a bat.
 
I can't throw the laptop out - it still works; if it doesn't work, I fix it. Yossarian would understand.  It runs windoze98 and has a wopping 96 meg memory... No suport, no anti virus, no nuthing. But it still works. What can I do?


klc

I can do ya one better.

Toshiba Libretto, CT-70.  66 mhz pentium class handheld computer.  Overclocked to 100 mhz, and has a whole 32 meg of ram....

I STILL use it, though.  I just ensured that I use it to boot the OS from.  ANY data is either on a removable PCMCIA hard drive (a 5 gigger), or it's on a server machine in the house, that has 1.5 terabytes of data drives in it.

The Libretto, as well as the FT-857, make a DAMN fine portable solution.  It's honestly the size of an FT-817, probably a bit smaller.

Don't be trashin that old machine.  Win 98 is a decent OS still, if you don't NEED the 'upgrades' that NT gave us...  Especially for Ham Radio use.

--Shane

[W4EWH]

I can't throw the laptop out - it still works; if it doesn't work, I fix it. Yossarian would understand.  It runs windoze98 and has a wopping 96 meg memory... No suport, no anti virus, no nuthing. But it still works. What can I do?

Some ideas:

• Install Linux and find out how the other half lives at the same time you make it virus-proof. Since Linux has built-in AX.25 support, you can use it for packet as well.
• Rip out the TCP/IP stack and give it to your [grand]kids for homework. Without Internet, it's perfectly safe and immune to all but "sneakernet" infections. The kids will love having it to take around to class.
• Save it for the 3.5 inch floppy: sooner or later, someone will ask if you can read one.
• They are, as was pointed out, also good for field day logging if the screen is bright enough.
• There are a fair number of Cisco routers around which still require a serial interface for setup and control. You can trade it to a field tech for something more recent.
• I keep a W98 machine around for Verizon DSL installs: vz tries to demand that every user install their spyware to access the dsl modem, so I just "install" using w98, get the UID and passord needed for the router, and then roll the original image back over the install.

HTH.

73,

Bill "I am the Bombardier", W1AC

[WD5JKO]

Download Ubuntu 9.04 Linux and burn an iso image install CD. I did this recently, and with an old Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop, everything worked right from the CD! That includes wireless one I entered my router encryption key. Installation was a uneventful. For basic usage, this install gives you a lot of bang for the buck. Loading XP takes much longer, and then you have to get all the drivers one at a time to regain full functionality.

IF that old laptop has a CD drive, then try to boot from the Ubuntu CD. F12 usually gives you the option during boot to pick a one time boot from the CD, or in case you don't have that, then the boot order in CMOS must be re-arranged.

YMMV

Jim
WD5JKO

[N3DRB The Derb]

I have a circa 1998 server G3 mac with dual SCSI fast/wide 9.1 10,000 rpm drives. 333 Mhz.

I'm going to use it to play music in the shack as it does run the very first version of iTunes that ran on OS9. If I can ever find a 10.2 retail version of OSX I'll throw that on there.

I dont really know why I'm keeping it.   

It went for over 10K in 98.

[KB2WIG]

Thank ya all fer the information...

"Download Ubuntu 9.04 Linux and burn an iso image install CD"

The website says that it needs 256 meg to run.....   i'll try the cd anyway and see if it werks.


klc

[Opcom]

just put 98 or NT 3.5. Probably not enough to run 4 or 2000. Plain 98 needs/uses about 70MB of RAM memory, You could run it as a terminal or something. 95 is even more compact and will still network. I've crammed 95 onto 80386 25MHz machines with 4MB RAM. They are slow but they run.