SO MANY ?!#@%* Laptops... and Linux? 

Good to know, thank you!

@@TheRetroRecall Trinity desktop is based on KDE 3.5 and retains pretty much all the feature set, plus some cleanup. It is quite mature, still maintained, and uses only about 300mb RAM. It's a good choice for an older system (and I believe it still has a 32bit version available). It is one of the last desktops that lets you set your own colors for everything. I'm not so familiar with it on the Q4OS distro but I have used it atop PCLinuxOS (my personal favorite linux). You'll want to run updates on it before putting it into service.

Thank you!!

Funny enough, I've got straight Debian running on an old Dell Inspiron from the early 2000s. One-core Pentium M, though I don't know the frequency, 500MB of memory, and it set 500MB of swap (should I adjust that?) when I installed it. I was wise enough to go with MATE and it's decently responsive in basic use.

I just got the latest it is v 5.4 as of today.

I didn't know that, that's amazing... It's a shame this machine has these challenges. I'm still debating on restoring it or using it for parts.

@@TheRetroRecall Mine was (is actually, I still have it) a somewhat later model, 8470p; it's ivy bridge-based, and that one over there is Penryn if I'm not mistaken. Not much of a difference really. Those can be found pretty cheap on ebay, if you pay more than $100 for a working one you've paid too much... I always recommend them to anyone who needs a spare laptop, and I've never had complaints. :)

I'm currently looking for an EliteBook myself to use as a Xubuntu machine.

Nice!!!

The elite books are nice.

Thank you, I'm glad!

Wow, I didn't know that - neat! Thank you!

The keyboard was shared with other HP and Compaq laptops, so you should be able to find one that works, assuming you also get a good display.

Thanks for the info!

It's not KDE3, it's Trinity Desktop Environment, which is based on KDE 3.5 (for the reasons you mention). Unlike KDE3, Trinity is still updated and maintained, and has pretty much worked the bugs out. As you note, not very demanding.

Thanks for the insight.

The fact it is still running without an issue says a lot. Seeing as how the newer Toshiba and HP laptops don't work.

I have a Presario still running 98.

Appreciate it!!!

Great info, I didn't know about the resource sharing. As for the docking - I think I read that somewhere.

Yeah, that was the one I was expecting NOT to work lol

No problem! First I've seen it haha!

Yes I heard for an entry level system it worked as intended. The fact that it is still working today says something.

Thank you! That will definitely help. It would be neat to see what is on this system..

Nice!! Good luck on the restoration - curious how it got waterlogged... A simple cup of water or did it go for a swim haha. Thanks for watching!!

Thank you for this comment, I really appreciate it and you for being here! If it is something you want to get into, start small and do it for fun! Everyone has a different perspective on this tech and we all learn something new from each other. Glad to have you on board :)

As a side note, I just checked out your channel and the 5.00 computer you saved! It would be really cool to see a video on it :)

I'll have to go back and check - good eye!!! Thank you!

100%. If anything I could do a full installation / clean install.

No problem, thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed!

Thanks!

It was labelled as system memory in the BIOS unless it was indicating it was using 8mb of system memory!

@@TheRetroRecall 30:50 the ram fixed itself it said system memory 512mb

@@crasht3424 Yeah, on second boot there was no mem error probably. Either way, memory like this is not reliable at all.

I'm totally curious now, I will go back and look, thank you!

Agreed, definitely in need of some Replacement memory. I'll go back and see if the error is there :)

Thanks for sharing your memories! Happy to hear that this brought back some nostalgic moments for you.

Good point!!! I will try that and report back. Thank you!

Haha! Yes, love all of the old tech.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed!

Thank you!

@@TheRetroRecall Your very welcome mate anytime :)

Thank you, and great suggestion about the CMOS Battery! I never even thought about that! I will try that :). Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying!

Some laptops won't boot without battery...

Others have mentioned the same, I will check that out.

I'm guessing the Satellite had a liquid spill.

For sure. The Armada is quite the machine.

I will definitely find out when I get the time to deconstruct it haha.

That's awesome, I love hearing these systems being restored and still in use!

Good to know, thanks for the info!

I knew they were quite popular as they were decently priced at the time and you could get them with relatively decent specs :)

Had an Acer notebook once, which failed during the warranty period. Acer claimed customer-caused damage. I will never buy anything Acer again. It's junk, in my opinion.

I had quite the opposite experience wotht heir support team when I had issues with customers computers. That said, every situation is different.

I've never heard of the oven trick - kind of scares me lol. I would definitely inspect the Baird for bad solder joints to start which I think is a great suggestion!

It's a fun hobby and feels rewarding when you get them going again!

Thanks for this!

That's amazing! Jealous. Let me know how the second one goes!

Thanks for sharing this - I will definitely check that out. I agree that even with a lower end of machine, you can always find some sort of retro use for it :)

I thought 8Mb sounded low on that Dell Latitude at: 32:10 and wondered if it was referring to VRAM in the BIOS?

Thanks for sharing this, and hello!!

I thought so too, however there are two lines in there 8mb for system and video memory. Both were reading 8mb. I went back after reading similar comments and it did the same thing. Once I get the CMOS Battery replaced, I will try out the ram again as it may be a configuration issue as someone pointed out. Someone also stated they saw the memory had corrected itself, however after a power off it may have been reset back. Either way - isn't this fun??? :)

Actually, I still have that Elitebook 8440p, perhaps I could send it to you if you want to use the parts! It's already mostly disassembled, if i remember correctly everything should work on it except the logic board. The LCD bezel is broken and there's some other cosmetic damage i think but the LCD itself is good

@TheRetroRecall gotta see this.

That's neat! I agree - as you know in my videos I tend to express my dislike for gloss screens lol.

I JUST saw your email. I'll send you a note back tomorrow :). Thank you!

It would be a great restoration video!

Thank you!

SOME linux distros are great for older laptops. Mageia 9 chugs on my Xeon 3.7GHz with 64GB RAM.

Nice!!! Yes I will have to experiment with it some more and get to know it.

That's awesome! Yes, so many projects haha. A lot of people are suggesting Linux Mint - so I will have to give it a try!

@@TheRetroRecallLinux Mint Mate is my daily driver, the Cinnamon version is their flagship distro, but Mate uses less resources and is more stable, There is also the XFCE version and the previously mentioned LMDE 6 distros which are currently only available with the Cinnamon desktop. Zorin is also a fine distro. I do have Windows 10 on a spare small PC., and Windows 11 on a laptop just in case I need Windows for some task. PS., it's a pity that your HP., laptop is faulty as it's a solidly built computer.

Thanks again for this info. I will definitely look into those. I am going to do a poll int he community chat and see what everything thinks about the HP :)

@@TheRetroRecall I have a question, what is the procedure for uploading old software to the internet archive?

I think you need to setup an account first. Once you have that, you will be ready to Upload. You will need to create images from your software to upload

The HP did hold a slight charge. I think however at this stage the best practice (if we were going to refurbish then) would be to replace the battery :)

@@TheRetroRecall true

For sure, keep watching :) not sure what we will do with he HP yet.

@@TheRetroRecall still watching ofc, thanks for the content! love the channel

Glad you are enjoying and happy to have you along!!!!

Interesting. I have an old Panasonic charger that works with a lot of random laptops, yet I think it came from a printer originally. Some are a lot fussier than others! Conversely, the Lenovo laptop complains if it get some different Lenovo charger, even tho the specs are the same. Bitches loudly at an adapter. (Still works, but gripes.)

Thanks for the clarity.

Appreciate it, yeah, when recording I sometimes use it interchangeably and it's not intended lol

Appreciate the info. Not exactly sure what I am going to do with the HP... I may do a poll.

@@TheRetroRecall Quite a few older laptops need the battery in place to power on plugged in, even if the battery is dead as a rock. May take them a while to start passing power through it, tho. (Couple minutes or more.) Also if the BIOS has a "calibrate battery" function, that will sometimes bring the battery back to life.

Thanks for the info, I will try!

@@TheRetroRecall I'd say you debunked my claim, yours did start with the battery out. It had some issues, but it did post

Yes, however it is good to have one in there nonetheless.

These Armadas are soooo cool!

When I disassemble I'll check that out. I was also told the CMOS Battery could also cause similar issues. Either way, we will see what we can do!

It’s a little older than those. That was the HD 6000m series, mostly in the MacBook Pros from 2011.

@@TheRetroRecallcould even be bad ram, there’s a lot of things that can cause a black screen.

No problem! How did it go so far?? It was the first time I have ever seen it!

@@TheRetroRecall I picked one of my older laptops a Samsung x125 with a 1.7Ghz cpu and a ssd. I installed v5.4 the latest from Q4´s web page and it seams to be working just fine. Now I just have to decide what to do with it as I am a linux noob proberbly not much in the near future but I hope it will help me learn Linux good enough to avoid having to switch to win 11 when 10 is end of life in a couple of years.

Yeah, I think with Microsofts latest fiascos more and more people will be switching to Linux.

Nice! I see a lot of potential with this machine... Just hard to jusify the cost of screen, keyboard and possibly a batt :)

I loved Acer equipment back in the day. I never had this particular machine, however I knew others who did. I never really had laptops - mostly custom desktops with Acer /Aopen components.

Yes, good catch, I didn't see that. That said it is still reporting a memory error so I will swap it out and see if it gets rid of it. Thanks again!

I was going to say the same thing

Someone else had suggested a dead CMOS Battery could be causing the issue on the Toshiba, so It should be interesting.

@@TheRetroRecall While not a common cause people should always do the CMOS battery swap first to rule it out. Ancient machines with the old "Dallas" chips would sometimes fail to work properly when the battery died 🙂

Yes, I actually had that happen on one of my Socket 7 boards.

Nice!!!

Hahah I remember those days, however years before with a much older system. Check out the Zenith MinisPORT video :)

Haha others have shouted as well, I didn't see it lol! Thank you!

I was able to get it going with the universal.

Thanks, I'll check it out. Awesome. That you have those systems!

@@TheRetroRecall be warned the CPi is getting to that stage where it's quite brittle,

Yes, I find the same with a few of my older laptops, the plastics and various finishes are definitely not the same and should be treated gently.

Between the screen and keyboard - those would be the first replacements.

Haha that sounds awesome! If the parts can be easily sourced, that may be an option :). Ps - vwestlife is great!

It sounds like it could have possibly been a Capacitor issue. It will be neat to see what is wrong with mine.

Thank you! Yes, a lot of similarity to Winxp. It was quite fast, I'll say that.

Nice machine! They are so nice.

Really, that's cool! Was it difficult to modify?

@@TheRetroRecall Not at all. It's a standard cd rom input inside the caddy. The DVD rom was from another laptop and sits proud of the original cd rom. But is completely functional.

Awesome!!

For sure. I did for a couple of them. When indecide to do full restorations I will do a thorough inspection of each one.

Good suggestion. I did try that and unfortunately it didn't work. I also connected it to an external monitor and nothing. I think something is making it hang. I'll know more when I dissect it haha.

@@TheRetroRecall yep time to dig deeper into that one

I was lucky - I showed that the modular optical worked just fine :)

@@TheRetroRecallI didn’t have one when I got it from my dad originally. The modules were also a lot more back then, but now I have all sorts of modules. Also with the CMOS battery, the replacement will either have to be rechargeable, or have a diode inline to prevent charging.

That's good to know - I was wondering that and would have tested with a multimeter. These older systems you never know what you are going to get into haha.

@@TheRetroRecallthus was one of the first old computers I had, so I kinda had to figure things out as I went along. There was much less info available about these back then. Guess they were still in the awkward middle ground of being old, but not old enough to be “cool” I just recently maxed the ram and put an Ethernet card into it, which I had planned to do a while ago. Still need to replace the speakers, as they break often apparently.

I love when these experiences are shared. When people share this knowledge everyone benefits :)

Oh, there's always a way - as long as there's something to solder to :). Good luck!

@@TheRetroRecall Might ask the technology teacher about it on Monday after I'm done with my English exam, I learned soldering once some time in the first few years of high school.

RU-vid also has a lot of tutorials.

@@TheRetroRecall You think a blob of solder connecting all 3 parts would short anything out? I'm thinking part of it snapped so I'd want to connect everything together in case

It would if they are all different connections. You will need to use a multimeter in continuity mode to see where the three connections go, however its more likely you will need to solder them separately.

That's awesome, good to know, thank you!

Great starter system!

That's awesome - I liked the Acer laptops from back in the day. Yes, it's common on the lower end models that driver support was minimal.

Yes, much like the Thinkpad coatings!

Very possible! I did get it going with the universal power adapter. The screen is also another issue and of course there is the keyboard.

I see you sent me a msg, try emailing RU-vid@bravtech.ca and we chat there :)

I think someone else also mentioned puppy. What are your thoughts on Linux Mint?

@@TheRetroRecall Good for a reasonable modern machine... Obviously there are different flavours of Linux Mint Even the lite version XFCE is too heavy for 20 year old machines I have also some 2007 laptops mid level ones They peak at lubuntu 18.04 ish Puppy worked on a recent Intel atom I picked up N280 The N280 has only 47 million transistors It did come out in 2009 granted It was the closest thing I could get to replicate my 2002 amd 2000+ xp CPU Running at 37 million transistors. Puppy ran on that just fine... Linux Mint seems to get fat after about 2018... But that's just my subjective test on my own hardware I own about 10 ish laptops from different eras. I run Linux Mint mate on a celeron from 2014... It runs fine. It really all depends on what functionality you wish for. I wanted to test H.264 encoding on super old hardware Which works at my desired 3 fps. Recording... You will not get gaming in general for Mint... Not without some tinkering... But Linux is up to a point basic video editing is perfect viable. I do not have windows on any machine at this point. I would suggest changing over unless you want windows recall on your machine We have just gone super surveillance mode... Yes they tell you that you can turn it off... Guessing every update they could turn it back on 🤔🤐 My suggestion to gamers at this point Either change to console... Maybe Have a separate computer only for games. Time for Linux is here for the mainstream if they value their privacy.

I appreciate that! I've used Knoppix generally for that live boot testing. It seems to work well.

@@TheRetroRecall I also like Puppy as a quick and dirty test OS. (In fact I use one that's really old for this, Wary Puppy probably 15 years old now). For multiboot testing and installs try Easy2Boot.

Hahha oh that poor AMD CPU!!! It's the Little Engine that Could lol! I love that you have the dual boot setup, such a great idea.

Yes I believe they made a lot of different models :)

Haha, a mercy lol

Lmao!!!! Hahahaha. Yeah, I haven't heard any grumblings yet in terms of storage or the stock.. But I feel. The day is coming lol! Thanks for the Linux recommendations!

Oh for sure, my experience has never been wonderful with them. The Tecra line was decent. I tended to lean towards the Thinkpad line as it was always reliable and a powerhouse... again, IMO :)

Yes, and 8mb system memory. I tested again and only 8mb of system memory showed, however others have said it showed 512 on reboot due to the battery having some charge.

That's awesome, I'm glad that it did!!

Probably just an integrated Radeon like the mobility hd 3200 or something like that.

I'm Going to see what we can do to get it working again. :)

I have a compaq cq60 of a similar age where I upgraded the single core sempron to a Turion RM-72. It also has GeForce 8200m g graphics.

Nice!!! So many, %%$&$ laptops lol!

Hey buddy :) I have found many of these systems upgraded beyond what the 'sticker' says. Can't always assume as it can get you into difficulties when restoring these systems.

I reloaded the laptop and looked - it states 8mb next to the system ram as well.

Is that in the Linux OS I showed?

@@TheRetroRecall yes you said it was Firefox, but I immediately recognized the logo.

I could of sworn I read Firefox setup.

That's amazing!!! It is definitely worth exploring. Thank you for the offer, I'll let you know!

I did upload and there is a copy of the 1700 restoration cd's. That would install those drivers.

@@TheRetroRecall thank you for that.....only laptop i have that isn't right

What kind of computer do you have?

@@i80386sx compaq armada 1530DM

I will definitely try that, thank you!

I assume you mean the Toshiba? If so, some have suggested bad solder joints.

Thank you! I will try that. :)

Thanks for the additional info! You should check out my video on an older Ubuntu distro I did.

I have had good luck with them in the past. Unfortunately this one didn't work. Either way, it workes with the universal power adapter :)

Definitely depends on the end user and what the use case is for these systems. Some older business models were certainly upgradable and are still in use today.

Haha indeed!