ooooold laptop

[artemis_f0wl]

Hello all..

I've recently acquired the above named laptop from a friend of my dad's. When I got it home, you could imagine my shock to find no USB, no CDR, not even Ethernet There was a standard desktop power cord in the case, which clearly didn't fit, and after tearing through my rat's nest of collected cables, I was pleased to find the power cord for an old Nikon camera would power the laptop.. she started without batting an eye- right into windows 95

Now I'm looking for input on good uses for such a machine. I'd like to have a decent OS that frees up some resources that perhaps my kids could use it, or maybe it would be useful in some other cool way.

I'm an Ubuntu user and fairly comfortable with linux in general. I spent some time researching options but I don't have any experience with any of the distros mentioned, so I came here hoping for some good feedback.

Any input would be appreciated.

TIA

[Rubberman]

Relevant info requested.

1. What is the make/model of computer?
2. What is the CPU and RAM?
3. How much disc space is there (total, not free)?
4. Does it have a PCMCIA card slot?
5. No enet? So, I suppose no wireless either?
6. What is the on-board video and how much RAM does it have?
7. Does it have an external monitor (vga) connector?
8. Does it have a floppy drive?
9. What about a CD-ROM drive?

With this (and maybe some more) information, we can help you find a distribution you can use.

[rokytnji]

One way is to pull the hardrive out and get a usb adapter and install Puppy on that sucker. If its at least a 133 mhz P1. Or Slackware vanilla. Or Damn Small Linux.

Yet Another Technology Site: installation

Yet Another Technology Site: Compaq Armada 1540DM running Windows 95 and Linux Puppy 2.15CE

[artemis_f0wl]

So sorry ,I'd meant to post the specs:

Its a Toshiba Satellite T2130CT (or so touts the sales stickers in the case). 75MHz processor, 8MB ram, 520MB HDD. There is a PCMCIA slot. I haven't opened it up yet but I'm sure there's nothing to the graphics processor. There is no CD drive, but there IS a floppy drive and VGA connection.

One way is to pull the hardrive out and get a usb adapter and install Puppy on that sucker.

I like that train of thought. I'm more than willing to open her up and pull the HDD. I just don't know how well this hardware will support it

I found a link from Google that gives more detailed specs, but they won't let me link until I have 15 posts

T2130CT Specifications

Processor:
l IntelDX4
l 3.3-volt technology
l 75 MHz internal, 25 MHz external clock speed
l 16 KB cache on chip
l Co-processor built-in

Memory:
l Standard 8 MB RAM
l Expandable to 32 MB
l Plug 'n' Play BIOS support

Disk drives:
l 520 million bytes (500 MB) hard disk, 12 ms av. access time
l 3.5" 1.44 MB/720 KB diskette drive with media-type checking

Display:
l 640 x 480 dot resolution
l Black-matrix TFT colour
l 10.5" diagonal

Graphics Adaptor:
l VGA/SVGA compatible
l Dual Display mode
l VESA local bus
l BitBlT graphics accelerator

Internal Video Mode:
l 640 x 480, up to 65,536 colours

External Video Modes:
l 640 x 480, up to 65,536 colours
l 800 x 600, up to 256 colours
l 1024 x 768, up to 256 colours

Keyboard:
l Standard layout
l 84 sculptured keys
l 12 function keys
l 8 cursor keys
l 8 "hot keys"
l Inlaid numeric keypad
l Integrated MousePoint

Interfaces:
l ECP parallel port
l RS-232 serial port
l PS/2 keyboard port
l Analogue SVGA port
l Port replicator connector

Expansion:
l 2 x PCMCIA 2.0 type II slot (5 mm) or 1 x PCMCIA 2.0 type III slot (10.5 mm)
l Memory expansion modules

Special Features:
l AutoResumeTM Mode with AutoSave
l MaxTimeTM Power Management with APM
l Flash BIOS
l Kensington cable lock provision

[rokytnji]

You might get Damn Small Linux to work on there, but I don't know about Puppy.

If You had acess to a PCMCIA CDROM you could use that Smart boot Manager tutorial I gave you to boot off of it. Then you could boot off of cd. Other than that, one of these
to install from another computer, butya gotta pull the hardrive outa the laptop. Think of it as a Pendrive install.
UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick | USB Pen Drive Linux
I wouldn't worry to much about Hardware detection installing DSL since it is based on a 2,4 kernel which is for older hardware. I have a suggestion for ehternet. Buy a Ethernet Cardbus, I am not suggesting this exact card, because I don't know if you PCMCIA slot is 16 bit or 32 bit. Maybe somebody with more knowledge will chime in. Good Luck.

[Rubberman]

I found a link from Google that gives more detailed specs, but they won't let me link until I have 15 posts.

Yeah. That's to keep spammers and malware from uploaded lots of cruft. If you have a URL, you can put that in your message, however.

[Rubberman]

Anyway, a system with only 8MB of RAM and 520MB of disc is probably not going to run anything but a really, really old version of Linux. If it were me, I might consider getting a copy of QNX v4 to put on it, but even that requires 12MB of ram to install and run. Honestly, I think you have a nice door stop. You might be able to find more memory to plug into the bugger, but is it worth it?

[artemis_f0wl]

I Was afraid of that. Doorstop/paperweight, or something for my wife to throw when she gets mad. Perhaps it's junk.. I was just hoping Linux could save the day.

It really seems more hassle than it's worth. I suppose this will join the junk yard!

Thanks for the input.. very helpful over all.

[Rubberman]

I Was afraid of that. Doorstop/paperweight, or something for my wife to throw when she gets mad. Perhaps it's junk.. I was just hoping Linux could save the day.

It really seems more hassle than it's worth. I suppose this will join the junk yard!

Thanks for the input.. very helpful over all.

You can always use if for discus/frisbee practice! Organize a neighborhood "laptop flinging" contest at the local park, proceeds going to charity. Encourage folks to bring their old, obsolete, broken laptops to the fling. Then, the pieces can go to the local recycling center.

[darkrose0510]

I wouldn't say it was a door stop, just a bit of a project. If you've got a floppy drive, then try DeLi Linux I've had that running on similar specs (although 16MB RAM) with a GUI and all. Can be installed from floppy, it's built for 486's and other older hardware.