Super 8 Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 ....and what do I find? A Compaq Armada laptop. Pentium III 500mhz. It was out on the curb with a bunch of stuff. It caught my attention during one of my late night walks. I saw this stereo cabinet, and I wondered if the stereo was still intact, and what kind it was. The stereo was gone, but there was the laptop. So I'm thinking, 'there's no way this thing works...but what the hell'. So I brought it home. The battery was dead, and I didn't have a power supply, but I found one on Ebay for twenty bucks incl. shipping. I figured either the harddrive is toast, or the LCD has gone bad. I was wrong. It powered up just fine, and has Win XP Professional installed! Not a damn thing wrong with this computer! And these people are just pitching it??? WTF??? Okay, it doesn't fully boot. Windows asks you to log in, and then it restarts. This sounds like a software problem to me, not hardware. It needs a CD-ROM. It would have to attach externally, I guess through a cardbus or something. It's a really small laptop. But, it's got a network jack, and USB, plus external monitor out, the usual serial/parallel ports, and some kind of interface -presumably for a docking station. Pretty cool, actually. I'll probably reformat and through 98 or ME onto it. But this is just weird. Why throw away something like this? Maybe I'll go back and see if he's pitching a pre-CBS Fender because one of the strings is a little flat... Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Think I'll go for a walk tonight. Congrats! Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 SUPER8, didn't you just get through posting that you had a problem throwing stuff away?? If your wife is like mine (bless her heart) she waits until I'm out of town, then goes into my studio and 'tidys up'. I hate that, don't you? The problem is that I never miss the stuff I'm missing! Congrats on your new laptop. Now stick a wi-fi card in it and get on over to Mickey D's to surf the 'net! Is There Gas In The Car? "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 8 Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by Is There Gas in the Car?: SUPER8, didn't you just get through posting that you had a problem throwing stuff away?? Shuddup! I don't have to answer to you! This line of questioning is completely out of hand! Excuse me, I must go use the bathroom! Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I've got a Dell 266 Latitude I'm thinking about throwing away... I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dementia13 Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I screwed up the hard drive on my laptop at work by running it below freezing; it did pretty much the same thing you're describing. A lot of laptops have modular CD-ROMs: they have one bay for both the CD and the floppy, and you hot-swap. Maybe you've got something like that, and you can find the proper CD drive on eBay (or from HP). Or get a FireWire DVD-R, and get a cardbus USB/FireWire adapter. Keep an eye on that hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Super, Welcome to the wonderful world of DUMPSTER DIVING! Well close enough. Way to go. Enjoy your new laptop. Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision ReGurgiTron - music made from stuff found \'dumpster diving\' Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 LOL Super 8 - well hey, congrats on the new laptop! And HEY, if anybody's thinking about throwing out an old one, SEND IT HERE! I don't have a laptop right now and I could really use one. Can't afford it right now though... gotta get a new roof put on the house first. My worst "throwaway" story was when I was about 15 and a co-worker of my mom's had a neighbor in his condo move out and threw away a bunch of stuff. So my mom's friend rummaged through it and found a freaking 1964 Fireglo Rickenbacker 450! He knew nothing about guitars so he asked my mom to take it to me and see if it worked. The thing was in practically perfect shape, only thing wrong with it was one bent machinehead which I sorted out with a pair of pliers. Like a moron, I was honest and told my mom it was a great guitar. And her friend took it back so he could sell it, rather than just letting me have it. That's kind of a fucked up thing to do to a kid, IMO. The guitar wasn't worth a whole lot of money back then, but it's not like at 15 I had a few hundred bucks lying around to give him for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Klopmeyer Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 For the last time, Super8, stay away from my dumpster! - Jeff Marketing Communications for MI/Pro Audio My solo music and stuff They Stole My Crayon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 LEE!! Empty yer godamned mailbox! I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Lander Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Bastid! Send it to me! I need one worse than Lee does. I need one worse than anyone does. My rheumatiz is actin' up too. Oh wait, that's Tedster's Arthuritus. Actually, I got my old Ventura 12 string guitar from a dumpster, or at least my non-guitar playing son did, and he gave it to me. Our Joint "When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alndln Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by Super 8: Okay, it doesn't fully boot. Windows asks you to log in, and then it restarts.Sounds like the owner set it up so he's the administrator and unless you have a pass you can't log in. I'll probably reformat and through 98 or ME onto it. "A Robot Playing Trumpet Blows" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Flier Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by offramp: LEE!! Empty yer godamned mailbox! LOL... what, my PM box was full? Geez, don't know how that happened. OK, cleared some stuff out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 8 Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by Alndlnbot: I'll probably reformat and through 98 or ME onto it. Look Dude!!!! What am I gonna do? I don't have copies of XP laying around that I can just throw in there. And like you said, I ain't gonna use the current OS without admin rights. (by the way, it never actually takes you to a login screen. You hit Ctrl/Alt/Del, and it tells you not to try to log on unless you are an autorized user....THEN you click 'OK' and it just either takes you back to the first screen again, or it reboots. So you never actually get to enter a User name/password.) I think XP on a 500mhz laptop is a little overkill anyway. It probably only has 64meg of RAM. I do have a copy of NT 4 laying around here that I could use, I guess. Geeesh! It's not enough that I score a free laptop....now I have to impress my computer geek friends by sticking Mandrake on there or something. I don't even know how to use Linux! Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Strat Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by daklander: Bastid! Send it to me! I need one worse than Lee does. I need one worse than anyone does. My rheumatiz is actin' up too. Oh wait, that's Tedster's Arthuritus. Actually, I got my old Ventura 12 string guitar from a dumpster, or at least my non-guitar playing son did, and he gave it to me. If he finds an old Harmony acoustic with a Fender strat style headstock anywhere I'll pay the shipping if you'll send it here! BlueStrat a.k.a. "El Guapo" ...Better fuzz through science... http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeton Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Look Dude!!!! What am I gonna do? I don't have copies of XP laying around that I can just throw in there. And like you said, I ain't gonna use the current OS without admin rights. That laptop is SOOOO asking to have FreeBSD put on it: www.freebsd.org Dr. Seuss: The Original White Rapper . WWND? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stranger Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 All I gotta say is I'm not digging through trash enough. This is obviously not just for the homeless. (For the record, I have dumpster dived. Did it a lot growing up in the slums. And I'm still prone to eyeing shit on the side of the road. But, I'm not spending near enough time going through garbage. I figured a lot of things, but getting electronics by keeping regular tabs on my neighbors trash never occurred to me.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Two winters ago I rode the chairlift at Park City with a local, he owned a car repair shop but had it up for sale, as he was making more money dumpster diving and then selling the stuff on eBay. Apparently lots of folks with more dollars than sense (hah!) buy that year's best skis, ski for a week, then toss 'em so they don't have to drag them to the airport. He's also collected nearly-new towels from the different hotels, a $12,000 inflatable raft, and all the ski clothes and equipment he was wearing he found in dumpsters. Just think, you wouldn't have to shave or shower before going to work, no emails to answer, set your own hours.... hmmm.... Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phait Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 "But this is just weird. Why throw away something like this?" Well it's been said there are many types of bacteria on keyboards and mice Sure you hosed that sucker down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshananigan Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Congrats! You might be able to boot the thing if you have a backup OS disk (even floppy) somewhere (that's what you'd need ot do anyway to reformat). Maybe ProTools is already on the HD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraub Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 On a related note, anyone have any ideas what to do with the ancient Mac laptop I recently got for free? (It's related because I got it from someone who was basically throwing it out.) I was thinking doorstop, but... Peace, wraub I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by Super 8: Maybe I'll go back and see if he's pitching a pre-CBS Fender because one of the strings is a little flat... LMAO!!! "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassix Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 A couple of years ago I was working for a big dutch telecom company. They were throwing away over 50 P3 laptops because they didn't want to spend any time trying to sell them. There were people actually taking out the cdrom players which also fitted in the new faster laptops, everything else was disposed of. When I asked if I could buy 1 or 2 they simply answered "no". It's a strange world. Stirring shit up since 1968 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by wraub: anyone have any ideas what to do with the ancient Mac laptop I recently got for free? An aquarium for a flounder? Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug osborne Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I would agree that his company probably got him a new one, and didn't want the old one back. The laptop bios password is difficult, but not impossible, to reset. I have an old IBM 560x laptop, P1, 266 mHz, 95M of RAM, etc. WXP wouldn't install, but W2K would, and I was not using my legitimate copy of W2K anywhere else (and I got a fresh battery on eBay for $4.00). My sons now have an extra portable computer/internet access terminal that actually runs far faster for these purposes than it had a right to. You can probably get a copy of W2K pretty cheap, especially an OEM version, and it will run tons faster and more stable than ME/98. Doug Osborne Music on Bandcamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alndln Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 Originally posted by wraub: anyone have any ideas what to do with the ancient Mac laptop I recently got for free? No,there's nothing you can do with it except throw it back out! Don't forget to film the fire ritual beforehand though. "A Robot Playing Trumpet Blows" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alndln Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 On second thought,why don't you sell it for a lot of money to a Mac user.It's not hard to do,just ask Steve, "A Robot Playing Trumpet Blows" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offramp Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 wraub, try eBay. Loads of ancient Mac geeks there. (How 'ancient ' is it, anyway?) I've upped my standards; now, up yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraub Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 Sorry for the delay, all. (and for highjacking this thread...) I am work at the moment so I don't have the mac in front of me... IIRC, it's a Power pc model, os 7.5.3. I might be wrong on that. I will post more tonite... Peace, wraub I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 8 Posted April 16, 2004 Author Share Posted April 16, 2004 Originally posted by Doug Osborne: The laptop bios password is difficult, but not impossible, to reset.Oh, it's not in the BIOS. It's the Win logon screen. I'm pretty sure I can access the BIOS with no problem. You can probably get a copy of W2K pretty cheap, especially an OEM version, and it will run tons faster and more stable than ME/98.Where? I've been wanting a copy, but everyone wants to sell me hardware with it. Super 8 Hear my stuff here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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