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Very Old Laptops.

 
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Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 2:15 pm    Post subject: Very Old Laptops. Reply with quote
    

I have here a couple of very old laptops PIII processors and maxed out with 512MB RAM and I don't know what to do with them. I'm reluctant to bin them because they work and I am daft like that.

It occurred to me today that they are probably out-performed by a Raspberry Pi, and I wondered about chucking the motherboard away and putting a Pi or somesuch in instead. Is that a really stupid idea?

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

no idea but they would probably run linux mint quite well

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dpack wrote:
no idea but they would probably run linux mint quite well

They are old Dell's and surprisingly resistant to Linux installations: I tried a few when they were first given to me, but I couldn't get any to work.
Maybe I'll try again.

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mint would still rely on many old components. Gutting it and using a pi would remove some of that risk. If I'm right that a pi needs a screen, input devices, a box and maybe output ports to work then it seems a pretty good idea.

I bet there's even a market for churning them out and old laptops can effectively be had as landfill.

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=100143

When you get problems. Ten seconds googling suggest it's a goer.

And he's already built a 3D printer.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 16 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nick wrote:
And he's already built a 3D printer.

Yeah, OK, it's on the list. I just cannot find the motivation to get on with it...

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 16 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Another possible thought (as I'm looking at a broken one) is to take the engine out of a tablet or a phone...

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 16 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hairyloon wrote:
Nick wrote:
And he's already built a 3D printer.

Yeah, OK, it's on the list. I just cannot find the motivation to get on with it...


In Belgium last week, at Carrefour they were selling 3D printers for a few hundred euro. 300 maybe.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 16 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nick wrote:
Hairyloon wrote:
Nick wrote:
And he's already built a 3D printer.

Yeah, OK, it's on the list. I just cannot find the motivation to get on with it...


In Belgium last week, at Carrefour they were selling 3D printers for a few hundred euro. 300 maybe.

I don't think I have enough proper use to justify buying one, but it would be interesting to build one...

Shane



Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.
PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 16 3:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Anything electronic I've ever bought from Carrefour has broken within two uses - although I guess they are probably just aligning with local customer expectations out this way.

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 16 8:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hairyloon wrote:
Another possible thought (as I'm looking at a broken one) is to take the engine out of a tablet or a phone...


I suspect a Pi will have handy and simple connectors. And that a tablet or phone set up will not. Reckon you might spend more hours than helpful doing the wiring.

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