_RicH_ Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 So whilst clearing out a cupboard at work I stumbled across an Acorn A4 laptop - now I doubt anyone here remembers these as this thing has a build date of November 25th 1992. Yes, its near enough 18 years old! Heres a picture of one (not mine tho, It's in pieces): Unfortunatly, although mine looks in pretty good condition, its dead I have no power adapter for it so tried to repair the battery but no lights, no sound, nothing. So what do I do with this? 1) Throw it away - seems a shame after its survived 18 years. 2) Try and fix it - maybe I can rig a power supply for it? 3) Go nuts and make the ultimate sleeper laptop - maybe I can cram something like THIS inside it. Other opinions welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordjubblydave Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Maybe install a really low resource linux on it just for sh*ts and giggles. Although it would be kinda cool if you could squeeze modern hardware inside, imagine the confused looks you would get from commuters wielding their ipads or netbooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopskin Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Fix it, i like antique electronics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado Rex Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Fix it and bring it to trendy coffee shops imo. ~ Proud Supporter of the Child's Play Charity! | GTANET + Child's Play ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Mod the hell out of it. I would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike752 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Add a "Sell to Slamman" option, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Maybe install a really low resource linux on it just for sh*ts and giggles.Although it would be kinda cool if you could squeeze modern hardware inside, imagine the confused looks you would get from commuters wielding their ipads or netbooks Ahahaha this comment made me choke on my beer. Imagine sitting at a Starbucks with this thing loading Windows 7 = Epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. H. Hunter III Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 (edited) I said fix it, but I do agree with others here as well. It certainly be worth it to fit new hardware into it and wipe the smug looks off the people in net/coffee cafes. More so if you could be W7 on it like Mike said. Edited March 13, 2010 by Master Headhunter La famiglia è tutto The strength of a family, like the strength of an army is in its loyalty to each other.~ Mario Puzo ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage1120 Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I am a little jealous, In my opinion I think you should fix it then sell it on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saggy Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 You could donate it to some museum or something. There are a lot of exhibits opening up with "the history of computers" and I think a laptop that old would probably be sought after by one somewhere. Better than throwing it away at least if you don't want to put the work into it. Then again if you did get it running again, and then donated it to a museum, that would be pretty f*cking cool. Either way I wouldn't throw it away if I were you. Some collector might even pay for it on eBay. QUOTE (K^2) ...not only is it legal for you to go around with a concealed penis, it requires absolutely no registration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansis Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I had to start laptop use with a used IBM, prior to the Thinkpad, the PS / Note series, color 8 inch LCD, not too vibrant, as you can imagine, the drive was under 100MB, but running Windows 95 Or was upgraded to run Win95, then I uploaded Windows 98 and that worked as well. The drive is used externally as it came with many DOS based applications. The Toshiba Satillites of the 1990s that I later found used had perfectly good batteries, still to this day, but the LCD is starting to fail, sadly. I used those for some time, Again offer to people fond of the old tech, or those in need to run their older DOS apps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cursed Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I'd say restore it. Something that old is going to be worth some money one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_RicH_ Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 OK, I'll see if I can bring any life to it - if not then upgrade it, sounds fair? I doubt it has much value as a working one in mint condition sold on ebay recently for £90 - that had the charger, original books, original carry bag, etc. I'll keep everyone updated with my progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnyboy Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Get it to work, then see how well it runs. If you don't like it, upgrade the hell out of it for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 (edited) If you could get this board for it - it would be a very powerful AM3/AM2 laptop. It's not hard to accomplish, all it takes is patience, some creativity. I say go for it. It would make an interesting project. Damn 504's 502's I was trying to add a vid then 504 502 creeped up behind me. Anyway here it is. Edited March 13, 2010 by pcguytech_2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ats. Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 You should totally fix it dude. Don't throw it away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g30dud3 Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 If it's possible, replace the internal components with modern ones. Confuse people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cursed Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 They should make a standard for laptops like ATX is for desktops. It would make things much nicer, allow people to upgrade their laptops further and even let people build their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 They should make a standard for laptops like ATX is for desktops. It would make things much nicer, allow people to upgrade their laptops further and even let people build their own. Agreed. I'm surprise no one has come up with this yet. This would open a new market for laptops, if they would like you said, make it a standard on laptop components. Selling in parts - GPU, CPU, MOBO with the option to buy them together(bundle) or separate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzy Fozborne Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 The only problem with that is that everything in laptops is engineered to fit. Say all desktop graphics cards were engineered to fit every single ATX case. That would restrict cards like the single-PCB dual-core GTX 295 and HD5970. Keeping in mind that the core i7 quad in the latest laptops produces about a billion times as much heat as an older celeron (which runs on a different socket with different RAM) the cooling would be impossible to find a "happy medium" that would work for all setups. The biggest reason they don't do it is power supplies. To make a more powerful one requires a lot of space in the laptops and you'd have to make all laptops on the new LATX standard capable of handling all power supplies. This means a gigantic, empty case if all you want is a modest Core 2 Duo with integrated graphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cursed Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 I can see what you mean. With desktops you can buy different sized cases depending on your needs. It could be the same with laptops. If you know you're going to be getting something high end then you need to get a case that is high end to match. Then again, you'll always get some idiot who will try and cut corners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_RicH_ Posted March 14, 2010 Author Share Posted March 14, 2010 Sorry for the crappy camera-phone image but... signs of life! Found an old HP AC adapter, wired it up, and we have lights... the HD spins, it beeps, but no screen output I think thats down to the 'brightness' dial is missing, I'll try to bodge a repair if I can figure out how the pins work on it. Oh also I tried the VGA output to my monitor, but I get 'out of range' message - I guess my screen doesnt support the odd resolution off 1152 x 896 that this thing apparantly outputs to. stay tuned... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pico Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 Holy sh*t _Rich_ haven't seen you post for ever! Not sure if you remember me, I originally went as Pickalini, then changed it to Picolini, then re-registered as Pico now. Generally saw you in the Progress Pictures thread in the modding area right? Anyways, the out of range usually has to do with the refresh rate. That means it's either at too low, or more likely too high of a refresh rate for the monitor to display. The only real way to fix that is to load up the thing and adjust the settings... but that doesn't seem like an option, because the external screen wouldn't be needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star-Lord Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 _Rich_ Maybe this Acorn-A4-Tech-Manual can help out a little. It has all the technical reference you're looking for. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_RicH_ Posted March 15, 2010 Author Share Posted March 15, 2010 Thanks, but I'd found the manual already I think the screen problem is down to one of the ribbon cables - 4 of the wires on the LCD cable no longer seem to work on the plus side, it looks like a fairly standard cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That_Guy28 Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 (edited) I have this old Dell Latitude C600. It has 256MB RAM, 8MB video card, 20GB hard drive and a Pentium 3 1GHz processor. It's not as old as the laptop in the pictures that are being shown but I would like to upgrade it the best I can because I can't afford to buy a new one. You should take the motherboard from a mini laptop and put it in that ancient one! Edited March 16, 2010 by That_Guy28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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