Toshiba laptop aggravation
in [Design]
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From: D Yuniskis on 11 Mar 2010 13:38 mpm wrote: > On Mar 11, 12:10 pm, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...(a)seen.com> wrote: >> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy >> so I can't create the "SETUP floppy" to reinitialize the CMOS >> now that the battery died. (<frown> I was smart enough to save >> images of all the floppies -- but forgot to save a drive that >> could write them... other than the one in the Compaq!) > > What are your images on? Just files on your hard drive? > Why not just email them to a machine that has a 5-1/4, or am I missing > something here? Yes: >> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy :> I can grab a scrap machine *with* a 5" floppy, etc. and solve this (immediate) problem. But, that's not a long term solution. (I also have 5" drives available) A better solution is a 5" USB floppy (or, build a NAS with a variety of "removable media") > I converted all the 5" I wanted to keep to 3", and now to CD. I just imaged all of the 5" media and tossed it away. Unfortunately, that also included the SETUP/INSPECT/TEST disks for the lunchbox. > I actually had one 8" floppy (remember those?) I wanted to keep - an > old 8048 Avocet cross-compiler. I still have an 8" soft-sectored as well as a hard-sectored drive (and a few boxes of virgin media of each). > Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't take those files and convert them yet > again - to SD Memory Cards! Ha!!! > > As time marches on, the list of stuff I want to keep (in general, not > just specific to computers!) drops significantly!! That's the *mistake* I made :-/ Stuff takes up far less space than the aggravation of *not* having it causes! :<
From: John Larkin on 11 Mar 2010 13:37 On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:48:43 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >John Larkin wrote: >> On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:09:23 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >>> D Yuniskis wrote: >>>> Hi John, >>>> >>>> John Larkin wrote: >>>>> On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:38:49 -0700, D Yuniskis >>>>> <not.going.to.be(a)seen.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> John Larkin wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> [win98 laptops] >>>>>> >>>>>>> I use them with real PS/2 mice. Those mousepads are awful. >>>>>> Most mousepads are sited in the wrong place. But, then >>>>>> again, with a laptop you haven't much choice... >>>>>> >>>>>>> It's weird to buy a computer for less than a scope probe. >>>>>> <frown> We discard laptops with anything less than a Piii. >>>>> Right. Big companies unload, sometimes, thousands of working laptops. >>>>> Brokers buy them by the pallet, refurb, and resell them with a >>>>> warranty. They can be handy to have around sometimes. It doesn't take >>>>> a Core Duo to wiggle bits on a parallel port. >>>> I had a decent older laptop with *built-in* AC power supply >>>> (eliminates the problem of having to buy replacement batteries >>>> for something that is rarely used :< ). But, I opted to discard >>>> it in one of my periodic "purges". >>>> >>>> I've held onto a Compaq "Portable 386" (lunchbox, not the >>>> luggable). Big, yes. And had to hack the BIOS to get >>>> support for even a 300 *MB* disk. But, keeps two ISA slots >>>> available for me (something I don't have in any of the >>>> other machines, here). >>>> >>> You can still buy PCs with ISA slots. And you will be able to for a >>> loooong time. ISA is here to stay because of many industrial uses. >> >> Got any links? We've had a hard time getting mobos with ISA slots, as >> spares for older systems. We just refurbed a 10-year-old magnetic >> field mapper system and had a hard time getting parts. Our customer >> was breathing down our neck, as the mapper is in the critical path of >> a billion-dollar annual revenue stream. >> > >The first few search links: > >http://www.adek.com/ATX-motherboards.html >http://www.pcplanetsystems.com/abc/product_details.php?category_id=242&item_id=2734 >http://www.aaeon.com/PD_Products_Detail_E062ABE0294D40E1B2_5D5996FE2BD1472997_5D0D48AA39F6434B83_TW_UTF-8.html >http://www.ibus.com/Enclosures_index_EN.html > >I found a European source for someone a while ago where they offered new >ISA-motherboards with rather extreme numbers of ISA slots, similar to >this one: > >http://www.interloper.com/products/product-details.php?productid=55290005&cat=55 > >The good thing is that most of the "ready-to-go" ISA computers come as a >heavy duty industrial version, with some serious fans and all that. Thanks. I'll pass the links on to my computer guy. John
From: Jamie on 11 Mar 2010 18:47 D Yuniskis wrote: > mpm wrote: > >> On Mar 11, 12:10 pm, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...(a)seen.com> wrote: >> >>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy >>> so I can't create the "SETUP floppy" to reinitialize the CMOS >>> now that the battery died. (<frown> I was smart enough to save >>> images of all the floppies -- but forgot to save a drive that >>> could write them... other than the one in the Compaq!) >> >> >> What are your images on? Just files on your hard drive? >> Why not just email them to a machine that has a 5-1/4, or am I missing >> something here? > > > Yes: > >>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy > > > :> I can grab a scrap machine *with* a 5" floppy, etc. > and solve this (immediate) problem. But, that's not a > long term solution. (I also have 5" drives available) > A better solution is a 5" USB floppy (or, build a NAS > with a variety of "removable media") > >> I converted all the 5" I wanted to keep to 3", and now to CD. > > > I just imaged all of the 5" media and tossed it away. > Unfortunately, that also included the SETUP/INSPECT/TEST > disks for the lunchbox. > >> I actually had one 8" floppy (remember those?) I wanted to keep - an >> old 8048 Avocet cross-compiler. > > > I still have an 8" soft-sectored as well as a hard-sectored drive > (and a few boxes of virgin media of each). > >> Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't take those files and convert them yet >> again - to SD Memory Cards! Ha!!! >> >> As time marches on, the list of stuff I want to keep (in general, not >> just specific to computers!) drops significantly!! > > > That's the *mistake* I made :-/ Stuff takes up far less space than > the aggravation of *not* having it causes! :< Something interesting http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html
From: D Yuniskis on 11 Mar 2010 18:45 Hi Jamie, Jamie wrote: > D Yuniskis wrote: > >> mpm wrote: >> >>> On Mar 11, 12:10 pm, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...(a)seen.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy >>>> so I can't create the "SETUP floppy" to reinitialize the CMOS >>>> now that the battery died. (<frown> I was smart enough to save >>>> images of all the floppies -- but forgot to save a drive that >>>> could write them... other than the one in the Compaq!) >>> >>> >>> What are your images on? Just files on your hard drive? >>> Why not just email them to a machine that has a 5-1/4, or am I missing >>> something here? >> >> >> Yes: >> >>>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy >> >> >> :> I can grab a scrap machine *with* a 5" floppy, etc. >> and solve this (immediate) problem. But, that's not a >> long term solution. (I also have 5" drives available) >> A better solution is a 5" USB floppy (or, build a NAS >> with a variety of "removable media") >> >>> I converted all the 5" I wanted to keep to 3", and now to CD. >> >> >> I just imaged all of the 5" media and tossed it away. >> Unfortunately, that also included the SETUP/INSPECT/TEST >> disks for the lunchbox. >> >>> I actually had one 8" floppy (remember those?) I wanted to keep - an >>> old 8048 Avocet cross-compiler. >> >> >> I still have an 8" soft-sectored as well as a hard-sectored drive >> (and a few boxes of virgin media of each). >> >>> Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't take those files and convert them yet >>> again - to SD Memory Cards! Ha!!! >>> >>> As time marches on, the list of stuff I want to keep (in general, not >>> just specific to computers!) drops significantly!! >> >> >> That's the *mistake* I made :-/ Stuff takes up far less space than >> the aggravation of *not* having it causes! :< > Something interesting > > http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html Cool! But: "The FC5025 is read-only. It cannot write to floppies." makes it useless in my case. :<
From: Michael A. Terrell on 11 Mar 2010 18:54
D Yuniskis wrote: > > Hi Jamie, > > Jamie wrote: > > D Yuniskis wrote: > > > >> mpm wrote: > >> > >>> On Mar 11, 12:10 pm, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...(a)seen.com> wrote: > >>> > >>>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy > >>>> so I can't create the "SETUP floppy" to reinitialize the CMOS > >>>> now that the battery died. (<frown> I was smart enough to save > >>>> images of all the floppies -- but forgot to save a drive that > >>>> could write them... other than the one in the Compaq!) > >>> > >>> > >>> What are your images on? Just files on your hard drive? > >>> Why not just email them to a machine that has a 5-1/4, or am I missing > >>> something here? > >> > >> > >> Yes: > >> > >>>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy > >> > >> > >> :> I can grab a scrap machine *with* a 5" floppy, etc. > >> and solve this (immediate) problem. But, that's not a > >> long term solution. (I also have 5" drives available) > >> A better solution is a 5" USB floppy (or, build a NAS > >> with a variety of "removable media") > >> > >>> I converted all the 5" I wanted to keep to 3", and now to CD. > >> > >> > >> I just imaged all of the 5" media and tossed it away. > >> Unfortunately, that also included the SETUP/INSPECT/TEST > >> disks for the lunchbox. > >> > >>> I actually had one 8" floppy (remember those?) I wanted to keep - an > >>> old 8048 Avocet cross-compiler. > >> > >> > >> I still have an 8" soft-sectored as well as a hard-sectored drive > >> (and a few boxes of virgin media of each). > >> > >>> Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't take those files and convert them yet > >>> again - to SD Memory Cards! Ha!!! > >>> > >>> As time marches on, the list of stuff I want to keep (in general, not > >>> just specific to computers!) drops significantly!! > >> > >> > >> That's the *mistake* I made :-/ Stuff takes up far less space than > >> the aggravation of *not* having it causes! :< > > Something interesting > > > > http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html > > Cool! But: > > "The FC5025 is read-only. It cannot write to floppies." > > makes it useless in my case. :< $55.25 for that board? You can buy a working computer for less. -- Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!' |