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My little sister is not what you would call the most computer literate person in the world.
Nevertheless, when she said she had a "really good" computer that a friend had given her, I let my hopes get a bit up that it was something I could use, since I'm trying to build a gaming machine at the mo'.
The only downside, even if it didn't work out, seemed to be that attached to the offer was a whole slew of other computer parts and fiddly bits she didn't want to have to mess with, that I would have to take off her hands.
Of course the computer in question ended up being almost useless, too old to even compete with my lil' lappy here. IT'S RUNNING WINDOWS ME FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD. Like I said, she isn't exactly a computer expert.
The real gem, however, came when I was sorting through the miscellaneous box of junk that was provided with said compy.
And, what should I find, but a Toshiba e310, complete with charging base.
That's right, I am now the proud owner of 200 Mhz and 32 Mb worth of old-school PDA.
Of course, first thing I did with it was start adding the necessary files. "Tuck," "Of Masks And Marvels," "Blue Moon..."
So, any recommendations for software I should get for it? Or where I can find a really stinkin' old SD card for cheap?
Melanie E.
Comments
You don't need to find an old
You don't need to find an old SD card. You simply need an _SD_ card. Whatever you do, do NOT go for a SDHC card.
What you need is something along the lines of this.
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Retail-Pack-SDSDB-512-A10-6196...
Don't buy flash memory from ebay. too much of it is counterfeit or factory seconds (at best)
Theoretically, it should be able to use up to a 2 gig SD card, but 512 may be the safest limiting point.
Most people who claim they bought a 2 gig sd card and it didn't work bought sdhc cards.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
MicroSD would work too :)
Personally, for the price, I'd go with this -- http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SDC-2GB-DT&cat=FLM
It's a 2GB MicroSD card with SD Card Adapter so it should work just fine, and it's only $7.00 :)
Plus the fact that it's MicroSD means that you have a 2GB Card for a modern phone/pda should you need it/upgrade in the future.
-Piper
The problem, however, is that
The problem, however, is that the unit may not recognize 2 gigs. It _should_, but I did enough quick research to be pretty certain that it will take 512.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Not sure about limiting factors...
Which is why I was thinking about finding an old card.
You're right about 512, or even 1 Gb, being a limitation on newer cards working in it, so those are the safest paths to take. But from what I've read in my own research, a few companies back in the day found ways to spoof the system to read larger sizes even with the low-level encryption they used at first.
Regardless, first thing I need to do is find a battery for it, since the one that's in it is pretty well gone. I used it for half an hour last night and it had no charge left :P
Also, I was wrong about it being an e310. It is, in fact, an e330, so a 300 Mhz processor and 64 Mb total RAM/ROM.
Melanie E.
if you crack it open, the
if you crack it open, the battery should have a part number on it.
This site claims to have one - http://www.sales-battery.com/pda-batteries/toshiba-e330.htm - it's about $30.
Here's BatteryPlus, which is a reasonably reputable bricks and mortar store. About the same price.
http://www.batteriesplus.com/products/561-0/5242-PDA-Battery...
Another site -
http://www.power-batteries.net/pda/toshiba/e330.html
Supposedly, the part number is either LAB503759C, or LAB503759C2
Hope that helps!
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
That reminds me
Sitting against the wall behind me I have an old computer that my son upgraded out of that he gave me back.
Unfortunately, it was one I built for him in 1997... when it was a decent machine. Boy does it boot up Windows 95 fast!
Problem is that everything in it, while it all actually works, is so old that it just plain isn't compatible with anything else I now have lying around. And there's absolutely nothing useful I can do with it, or any of the parts. Shame!
Penny
Why not start a server?
Write your own Mudd, and have it hosted off the thing :P
Or run it to manage your network, I have an uncle who keeps around an old 400 Mhz k6 just for that reason.
Melanie E.
*Another* server?
...to go with the, uh, four I already have? ...perhaps not.
I have a firewall box, a media server that just runs mythtv, a log/dhcp/software cache server and a main server that runs ltsp so that I can use thin clients to sit at. Two of the servers are mini-itx boxes while the firewall has an old Pentium 133 motherboard, to be replaced when I can find the cash.
Actually, I'm trying, very slowly and carefully, to upgrade my pile of oldish computers to newer, low-power models. When you have a cupboard full of fan heaters it makes the room quite warm :P
Unfortunately, there's very little money in the pot right now so I just have to put up with it. My son's old box is compatible with nothing so I'll probably junk it when I get round to it. (His new kit is all Apple: even less compatible!)
Penny
Check the .exe files
I had one of those back when.. don't recall just how it did it...I think from the sync with my desktop < don't hold me to that part. If it has a command line that look's something like himem.exe Ten yes it will or should support a larger (ie) 2 gig card. Man that was a long time ago. Working my memory entirely to hard.
Thanks BC....hope I got it right this time...lol
Old computers
I am currently using a AMK K6 200Mhz machine for my house server and BBS, it is also a printer server. I also have a huge collection of old hardware I am eventually going to have to through my garage and back bed room to get rid of some truely ancient hardware.
Want some? From my garage to yours. :D
Ahh, if I had the room I'd take it :P
As is, the ones I got from my sister are sitting in my bedroom floor, blocking my closet and making a mess of things.
I have a strange love of antique hardware. Even the stereo I'm using dates back to around '78 or so, but hey, it lets me listen to my record and 8 track collections, and I've got a portable CD player set up for those.
What I'd really like to track down is an old PC running Windows 3.1 or so that I can fill with reeeeeally old games. I've got access to the entire run of DOS-based Dungeons and Dragons games, but all of my current computers are too new to run them :D
Melanie E.
Run DosBox - it's designed to
Run DosBox - it's designed to run Dos games on newer OSes.
As for Win 3.1, I have a few licenses for that lying around, as well as the install software. (well, actually, it's Windows for Workgroups 3.11, but what's that between friends)
If they are truly dos games, you might want to just install Dos 6.2, or 6.22, and ignore windows. Any hardware that's no faster than 500 mhz should have no problems with it. Even newer stuff, as long as you have some older network and sound cards lying around (like I do).
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I've used DOSbox for a few things
The problem I have with it is that unless you go in and manually edit a lot of its files, it's REALLY hard to get some software working right in it. Either your system won't emulate enough RAM, or the timings will be off (and I've never been good at adjusting the clock timing in DOSbox on the fly,) or any other number of problems could occur.
On top of that, DOSbox only does well with software designed for DOS, and is useless when I come across games like, say, the Neverhood, that don't play nice with modern OSes but still require a bit more OS oomph than DOSbox can crank out.
Ideally, Microsoft would hire someone to design a legitimate set of emulators for Windows to simulate older OS'es, and even older hardware, so that games could run more easily. With the massive amounts of RAM and incredible amount of processing capacity of modern PC's, doing it shouldn't be as hard as it seems to be. At least to me, it seems like it should be rather easy to find software solutions to throttle processor and memory speeds to usable levels by older software, much like DOSbox already allows, but in a more user-friendly manner that is easier than having to install Windows 3.1/95/98 in DOSbox itself.
Then again, this is coming from someone whose primary experience with computers is of the "put shiny disk in and play" variety, so I could be talking about something way out of my realm.
Also, update on the battery: I let it run down/charge up/run down about three times last night, and now it's giving me about an hour and a half on a charge with basic use (running IE, running Word, and so on.) I'm thinking now that all it needs is a little TLC and I should be good.
Melanie E.
If you post it on craigslist
If you post it on craigslist or freecycle, you should be able to get someone to haul it off. Either pull out the hard drives, or run D-BAN on them.
PC cards (PCI/AGP/PCI-E/MGA/etc) have gold plating on the contacts. So does most RAM, CPUs, and other components. If there's a big enough pile, people will even pay for the stuff to harvest the gold. I'm building up a box of that sort of thing. I figure that once it hits about 50 lbs, I'll post it up for someone to haul it off. Better than 100% ending up in a landfill.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Old Hardware
Just because other people are talking about older hardware running their home network, I thought I'd post my picture of my older hardware network... I will admit that one of of the towers, is a Core2duo 1.83ghz the rest are PIII/PII or even One of the towers is a Dual Processor 200mhz Pentium Pro :) I don't have a picture of the Vax, but I do have a WORKING Vax Mini Mainframe that I use as a coffee table ;)
-Piper
I was offered a VAX that was
I was offered a VAX that was being decommissioned at the University of Houston a few years ago, but I didn't have the room for it. Two washing machines worth of space is quite a bit.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
CPUs? You guys have CPUs why back in my day ...
... we only got to choose the color of the balls on the abacus ;-)
OTOH, after all 64K or RAM is all everyone will ever need after all.
Then again for folks who do modern embedded developing with 8 bit processors with 16 or 32K of ROM and 4K of ram, 64K of RAM and a 1990s CPU is true luxury. But that kind of programming is a whole different thing :)
Kim