Got an OOLLLDDD laptop

[BrianG]

OK, I got this really old laptop from someone at work. Apparently, WinXP wouldn't boot and their restore disk wouldn't work, so they just got a new one and gave this one to me to do whatever. It's in really nice shape, but the specs:
- 1.6GHz celeron
- 256MB RAM (and the video uses some of that)
- 30GB HDD.
I installed XP on it, but man is it slow! It needs another 256MB at the very least to even be usable for emergency internet purposes. So, here are a couple questions:

1) Does anyone have an SODIMM PC2100 memory they could part with VERY cheap? I can get a stick of 256MB for around $25 on ebay but really don't even want to spend that much. Free would be best.

2) Since WinXP is so slow (even another 1GB of mem won't compensate for such a slow CPU), what would be the best Linux distro to install on this? Ubuntu wants at least 512MB unless I go the "minimal install" route, but I just want something I can easily install along with Chrome or FF. Nothing fancy.

[whitrzac]

win xp should be fine on 1.6ghz... hell, my new interweb pc is a first gen P4 1.5ghz, with 512mb RDram, and 0rpm HDD(when I got it, it didn't spin)

more ram+new HDD+ CLEAN/striped down install of xp AKA don't use a OEM disk(dell, hp, etc)


your not looking hard enough on ebay... I'v found 256mb sticks for under $5...

http://cgi.ebay.com/512MB-256MBx2-DD...item563bedeb5d

what exact laptop is it??


they do make 512mb sticks, but IDK if the laptop will support it...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-86...item45f667423f



I'll pay the shipping if you send it to me...

[What's_nitro?]

Have a look here, too!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...10%20-%20%2425

[whitrzac]

Originally Posted by What's_nitro?

Have a look here, too!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...10%20-%20%2425

he needs DDR1 newegg is 2x as expensive as what it can be bought on fleebay for...

[What's_nitro?]

Ok I narrowed it down for ya...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...28PC%202100%29

$16 shipped. Kingston is a good brand, too.

[whitrzac]

Originally Posted by What's_nitro?

Ok I narrowed it down for ya...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...28PC%202100%29

$16 shipped. Kingston is a good brand, too.

but it can be had for $5 on fleebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/256MB-DDR-PC2700...item2c5754803a

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-LAPTOP-T40-P...item41536f0e1f

[JERRY2KONE]

Sometimes even free is not worth the problems you have to overcome or deal with. Laptops have advanced in so many ways over the last few years, and keeping an old piece of junk no matter how nice it looks just isn't worth the headaches you may have to put up with. You can find a nice notebook for a few hundred $$$ that is much more useable with more modern technology and avoid any unpleasantries. Restoring a laptop is nothing like restoring say an old automobile, which will give you a more valuable vehicle once the work is done. Even if you invest some money into it, and get it working faster it will still only become a more costly piece of junk. The laptop I am working on now is a new Toshiba with an Intel I-3 with all the bells and whistles and it ony cost me like $560. I wouldn't waste your time or money on that one BG. Just my 2cents. Our 15 year old son is going through the same sort of learning right now with some old computers that we received from a friend of mine. Once you start using one of the more recent CPUs and such and then try going back to something older it is just too frustrating and inconvenient to bother with. Anyway good luck with that BG.

[whitrzac]

Originally Posted by JERRY2KONE

Sometimes even free is not worth the problems you have to overcome or deal with. Laptops have advanced in so many ways over the last few years, and keeping an old piece of junk no matter how nice it looks just isn't worth the headaches you may have to put up with. You can find a nice notebook for a few hundred $$$ that is much more useable with more modern technology and avoid any unpleasantries. Restoring a laptop is nothing like restoring say an old automobile, which will give you a more valuable vehicle once the work is done. Even if you invest some money into it, and get it working faster it will still only become a more costly piece of junk. The laptop I am working on now is a new Toshiba with an Intel I-3 with all the bells and whistles and it ony cost me like $560. I wouldn't waste your time or money on that one BG. Just my 2cents. Our 15 year old son is going through the same sort of learning right now with some old computers that we received from a friend of mine. Once you start using one of the more recent CPUs and such and then try going back to something older it is just too frustrating and unconvenient to bother with. Anyway good luck with that BG.

true, but there's nothing like taking a chitbox $50 pc from CL and seeing how fast you can make it go

[BrianG]

I am typing this from said crappy laptop running Debian Linux with Gnome desktop. As I sit here, my RAM usage is at 94MB. When running XP, I was sitting at over 200MB with nothing running (except background stuff like AV).

I know this isn't worth anything, but I just hate throwing stuff away when it works perfectly fine.

This OS works pretty good all in all. Not having used linux in over 5 years (and even then it was brief), I was able to install Firefox and update the Flash plugin pretty easily. The installation was neat though; the install disk was a 170MB ISO which contained the minimal install, then downloaded the packages to install on the fly (before the OS was even installed). I'm currently using a little over 3GB of HDD space and that's with open office installed along with a bunch of other apps I haven't even looked at yet.

So see? An old piece of garbage has a little life in it yet!

I could still use more memory, but it's not critical. I could also use a new battery; old one was completely dead. So, I have to keep it plugged in all the time, and the clock resets on every reboot. Still, it was an interesting project. Aside from the age, this thing looks brand new.

[JERRY2KONE]

Acquiring a replacement laptop battery usually is not cheap. In order to get the clock to stay set just change out the little battery on the motherboard. They usually only cost a few bucks. If your just having fun playing with the laptop, then have a good time. Our son has PC gear laying all around his bedroom. Getting him to trash the stuff he cannot use is the hard part. He too looks at every part as if it may save the day on one of his projects. We are happy that he is learning his way through PC operations, software, and apps. We hope that it will lead him to a flurishing career some day. For 15 he is doing very well.

[whitrzac]

Originally Posted by BrianG

I am typing this from said crappy laptop running Debian Linux with Gnome desktop. As I sit here, my RAM usage is at 94MB. When running XP, I was sitting at over 200MB with nothing running (except background stuff like AV).

I know this isn't worth anything, but I just hate throwing stuff away when it works perfectly fine.

This OS works pretty good all in all. Not having used linux in over 5 years (and even then it was brief), I was able to install Firefox and update the Flash plugin pretty easily. The installation was neat though; the install disk was a 170MB ISO which contained the minimal install, then downloaded the packages to install on the fly (before the OS was even installed). I'm currently using a little over 3GB of HDD space and that's with open office installed along with a bunch of other apps I haven't even looked at yet.

So see? An old piece of garbage has a little life in it yet!

I could still use more memory, but it's not critical. I could also use a new battery; old one was completely dead. So, I have to keep it plugged in all the time, and the clock resets on every reboot. Still, it was an interesting project. Aside from the age, this thing looks brand new.

*waves hand*
this is not the laptop you want, you should send it to me....



you could try replacing the 4/5A cells in the batt

[rawfuls]

I picked up 1GB of SODIMM PC2100 RAM (2x512mb Sticks) for about $30 from fleabay..

The battery packs are actually pretty easy to replace, I've thought about it, but decided it's too much trouble than it's worth since I never use my laptop anyways.

Anyways, I'd recommend XUBuntu.. heard some pretty good things about it on older machines...

How big is this cardboard box again?
My friend has an equal computer, and it's roughly 4inches thick..

[bdebde]

I have a pair of 256M sodimms... yours if you want them.

[BrianG]

bdebde: If you still have those SODIMMs, PM me with what you want for them. I can technically only use one (have one slot left), but two is nice in case one craps out.

As far as the battery goes; I'll either see if I can find a super cheap replacement or just deal with keeping it plugged in. It doesn't have Wifi built-in, so I have to use an ethernet cable anyway. Although, I think I do have a PCMCIA wifi card around somewhere...

[Arct1k]

I need the other - Had a thread asking for same a while back if thats ok?