One of the issues of using an older OS with browser is that some sites will not load. This very
good site is not loading for me in my older browser, frustrating but helps to know:
https://openstax.org/

mp3 Players are making a comeback:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-st...ne-mp3-player/
This may seem odd to share here but if one is just interested in listening to audio,
these devices are small, convenient, excellent, portable and best of all save power
in comparison to desktop. Few years ago I was very sad to see these almost disappear
from local store shelves, now am glad to see them return. :))

Restore old Computers Project:
http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/r_restore.html
http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/r_bother.html

Well, when you go to a REALLY old OS on OLD hardware you do not have that problem. They did not come with network interfaces, just serial and (if you are lucky) Parallel interfaces. There was no option for a browser, because they were seldom gui and there was no internet at the time. Older operating systems are famously valuable for doing real-time processing faster on less iron: because they HAD to!

There is a good reason why some firmware updates are still designed and delivered as DOS images. No background processing, nothing to get in the way.

DVD Writer
Opened the non working DVD writer I got in an abandoned PC last year fully, cleaned the laser lens with alcohol and tried it again, still doesn't work, so replaced it with
the DVD reader, it works on boot however, puppy Linux OS doesn't
recognize it auto, so have to mount, umount and eject it from the
command line. This is fine. This DVD writer has to be recycled.

PC Server Malfunction
When I was working on my PC yesterday, suddenly different windows started opening
in regards to puppy universal installer, it all happened very fast
like a script and will not allow me control of my PC. So powered down
my PC totally, powered of the Modem and then rebooted my PC.
I felt this was hack or malware of some sort initially.
One person altered me to HD failure signs, so learned about them:

http://www.lc-tech.com/pc/warning-signs/
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/fiv...mory-problems/

Even on Mobo capacitors can go bad. As one works with older hardware, there is more chance
these things can happen, so need to be prepared in this regard.

Another person told me that it is just my OS checking its version. So far this PC is
working fine, will monitor it further and see how it goes. The case of this server is
metal and even has metal bay covers, need to learn to remove this inorder to install
another CD writer in this permanently if needed.

P2 Computer:
The P2 I have has a CD Writer, now I feel I must remove it and just place a CD reader
inside it, perhaps even remove the 2 ethernet cards inside it. This way, it can be used
offline and for very basic things. Will reflect on this some and see.

P3 Discarded 2 years ago:
Due to City inspection I had to recycle a P3 PC. There was tremendous pressure then.
Now I feel, I could have removed the RAM, the optical drives, floppy drive and the PSU
from it, perhaps even the fans and processor. Could have just thrown the case and the Mobo.
This was more about space, clutter rather than faulty hardware. Next time will do better,
learning all the time.

Use Freedos to upgrade system BIOS:
https://opensource.com/article/17/6/...e-bios-freedos

BACKUPS
Using the C2D I found on road to do backups, it is going amazingly
fast. Will keep that PC and process separate, offline.

USB HD Cable:
The USB Hard drive cable I found, is white in color and for Samsung,
the plastic covering is cut towards the HD end but it still works fine,
perhaps will cover this area up with duct tape later on for safety.

Tried to backup an old 20G HD that I found in a street abandoned PC. It took too, long to
copy, like 4 hours almost, just 2 partitions but gave approx. over 30 errors during copying
each partition. Then I got a message in red saying ntfs mount failed and mounting it as
read only. However, couldn't mount or read the files in it. This HD had a nice collection of songs of 500 Mb or so approx. and they wouldn't copy over.

Later on, I tried to reboot with another Live CD, got same error message, corrupt volume
unable to mount for the partitions on this drive. After shutdown, reconnecting the
drive to PC didn't help.

Tried to boot with Puppy Linux from my HD again, it failed with error Pausing when trying to
find the Puppy Personal file. Same error repeated twice. Removed this 20G HD and booted
my PC, it booted well and is working perfectly fine. Appears that 20G HD has reached its
end of life and is pretty much toast now. Interesting Experience.

Found many mini electronic items including USB cables, a kindle with a damaged screen, 8Gb USB drive, 2 Tb Seagate Internal HD, Laptop DVD rom drive, etc., Have to try these slowly and see if they work. Also found some Chinese mp3 CDs and a Black and Decker cordless drill.
My wish for finding smaller electronic devices came true today. Guess when folks move, these are discarded in bulk, so have to look very carefully. Made sure I didn't miss anything in the bin I found these.

The 2Tb HD is not detected and doesn't load, however I can feel it turn.
Wonder if it is too much for the PC.
Replugging it, restarting PC didn't help.
Bios also doesn't detect this HD.

Kindle 5.6.1.0.1
Kindle loads as USB drive in Linux after charging it is a bit over 3Gb
in space. Screen is certainly damaged for sure. Language set to
Chinese.

Is it detected in the BIOS??

Not detected in the BIOS. I felt it and feel the vibration when it turns, replugged
all cables to it and restarted PC, still not detected by BIOS.

The vibration means that power is working and it is spinning up. That it is not recognized may indicate anything from a simple communication problem with the connectors to a bad or fried controller on the drive.

Yes, other drives I have are recognized using the same SATA cable. So, the connector is ok.
Appears that the controller on the drive is bad or fried.
Wonder if there is any fix for this.

Edited to add:
Just saw this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCx3GOcRMIk
The Mobo is quite old and seems to be Sata 1 and it is likely
that the drive is Sata 2, so have to try it on a more recent PC.
Will save this for later.

It is possible to swap the drive controller. You search for another of the exact same model of drive and swap the boards.
Unless you need the data I'd not bother with a 20G drive.

A faulty 20G drive is a good source of magnets, screws, etc. Not much use otherwise. (Can make an impressive paperweight.)
A working one can be very useful, but this one sounds like it is about toasted.

Can learn to trouble shoot with faulty HD using this, can try different system rescue
CDs on this etc., Great for learning trouble shooting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt4M9b9L2EI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfvwER9JwJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Y7BniaRXg

I reflected on what kind of items will be thrown in trash, this helps a lot:
1. Mostly non functional and damaged items.
2. Obsolete items
3. Items that have no value almost
4. Discarded for declutter, move etc., These items folks might have better value.

Faulty and non working stuff is great to experiment with, open for parts etc.,
If life gives lemons, I try to make lemonade.

As an aside, I found an old colorfly CK4 Audio/Video player yesterday. It charges well and works ok on surface. So was wondering why it was thrown. These days one gets far better player. Also, this CK4 doesn't recognize many files and just says wrong file format. So, it is unreliable. However, it is ok for someone willing to use it with its SERIOUS limitations.

OK, I didn't think about you using it as a learning exercise, my thought was simply that old I wouldn't keep any data on it.
Try the freezer trick then, it does two things:
1) it will sometimes unstick a stuck bearing, though in this instance it sounds like thats not the issue since yours is spinning
2) electronics that fail when warm it will cool down so you can run for a few minutes to get data off of it until the failing component warms up again.

Thanks for this tip, will try sometime in future.

My related project is to try and open micro IT stuff like tablets, mp3 players, eReaders, Cell Phones etc., Watching related videos now and then. Atleast one can get the battery and a few screws for starters.
I have an old sony mp3 player NZF-S615F that I haven't charged in 3 years almost and was out of power. Charged it today and it charged fully very well, this is surprising. Battery deterioration if left uncharged doesn't seem to affect mp3 players as much.
Changing battery of mp3 player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEFg3PA58Ik
http://tinyurl.com/ybot535z

Wonder if play lists created using Linux on my older PC will work on this mp3 player, will try this also sometime in future when I feel like it.

Few updates:

Kindle
Opened the broken kindle I got, broke the clips but it is a learning experience so ok. Cut the plastic cover of the battery when removing it as it was stuck to the kindle. Need to learn to remove the screen will reserve it for later.

Strongly suggest all reading this thread to watch youtube videos on replacing kindle screen and battery, good learning experience.

Old Nokia Phone
Removed this to pieces as much as possible. This was a project easier than the kindle. Getting used to handling smaller screws and related screw drivers with time.

Old Compaq PS2 KB issue
This KB used to work ok before for a long time. The surface was very dirty, not used for long, so I cleaned it with a wet brush and then dried it with hair dryer. It used to work ok before. Initially, I thought this can be the sticky keys issue.
The shift and ctrl keys on this KB have stopped working after this.

Rebooting PC didn't help. Tried a USB and then another PS2 KB on the same PC, these 2 worked ok. Will try again after another week, if it doesn't work still then perhaps it has lived its life and time to recycle it.

Updated to add:
Was told to clean under the keys, or remove the affected
keys and clean well below them. did all that, cleaned well with water, removed all debris even opened the kb and cleaned insides well, then replaced screws, dried well and tried again, didn't help, issue still exists. guess this kb
is toast. It is even putting random - now non stop sometimes. Also inserts - when down arrow is pressed.

Today's Find:
D-Link router with damaged wireless antenna and some nice cable to go along with it. Have to try it later and see if it works.

kids love to practice their tool skills, so i give them stuff to "screw around" with :D
and these old 5" hard drives are ideal - screws and parts are big enough for kids to handle, and the innards look really interesting.
we once had a 5-year-old who was able to not only disassemble, but also reassemble (!) it.

Starnet AR800 V2.5 ADSL2+ router
http://screenshots.portforward.com/r...StarNet/AR800/
192.168.12.1 is the IP for web interface interestingly.
http://www.official-drivers.com/inst...p?seed=starnet

Found the above router over 10 months ago, decided to try it now.
Its web interface IP is 192.168.12.1 unable to log into its webinterface
with admin/admin for username and pwd. tried a few others and it didn't work.
Only manual I can find for it is in Russian. Resetting it, restarting, replugging
it etc., didn't help.

I have a theory about this router/modem, I found it outside abandoned several months ago, guess it is toast, doesn't allow anyone to login, has frozen with unknown pwd., and reset fails. Perhaps that is why it was abandoned.

Was told to try to upgrade firmware indirectly and try, sometimes have to solder on a connector for a jtag port:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JTAG#Connectors
This is quite complicated and too much time.

Will reflect on it a bit, any thoughts on this are welcome.

Did you try GoogleTranslate on that manual? (any sight of something that looks like a pwd?)
Can you open it up & look for id info on chips?
WorseThanWildGuess search that finds a few obscure pwds:
router default password "192.168.12.1"
(more/better keywords might narrow it down).

Per this+more! saying ..1.1, I hope the reset *really* worked (it's sometimes tricky)!

I bet that router contains a CPU+OS '>' a 2005 PC! :jawa: :study: :cool: :party:

p.s. OhMyGosh, a drop of source code! (tho NOT its): https://github.com/jabberd/starnet
which in turn leads to a NEW search!: Fujian Star-Net AR800 (pic=yours?)

Thanks for the wonderful tips. As per the link below, IP of router is 192.168.12.1
http://screenshots.portforward.com/r...StarNet/AR800/

No other login info. for it online.

The image in your last link is my router but the base plate and adapter, cables etc., are missing, so I had to make do with my own.

I was going to throw this but will reflect on it a bit more.

One of the Bell Router/Modem's I have doesnt even power on now. Need to see if I can open it. It is quite securely compacted in making into one piece.
Manuf.: Sagecom Part No.: 253331441
Have to admit, didn't look for info. about it online. It was most likely thrown
as it stopped working. The last I can do with such a device is to open it and see.

OTHER EFFORTS AND PROGRESS
Opened and took all the screws from the Compaq PS2 Kb and the wireless KB.
It was a bit tricky to open the later.

Was able to log into web interface of the WBR-1310 D-Link router.
Same for the SG link router modem.

Opened the everfocus monitor and took the circuit boards, speakers, screws from
it. This can be thrown now.

My Present KB: sk-2800c compaq manual

It has several special keys on top that don't work with Linux. No Linux drivers for it, so trying to learn to use these:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php..._keyboard_keys

All the rechargable batteries from the cordless phones have run dry and
will be throwing them, so no point in bringing any more of them home.

Cleaned power strip fully of dust and debris, had to even open and clean it due to the debris inside it. Covered all the open plug points with duct tape, hopefully this is better to keep it clean.

Opened the non working solar wristwatch, it was fairly easy with the
dollar store, precision tool. Inside it says it uses GC type battery.
Good experience towards opening other micro devices. Needed magnifying glass for
precise work.

Router kept on DCing recently due to faulty power chord of adapter from mice bites.
Need to check all the other power chords today with time. For modem,
phone etc.,

How to fix an AC Adapter cable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54CkY960hLk

Very old iPod touch I have charges only to 10% of battery. So this is toast, it is 2nd generation I think. Can work with it connected to power for now I think but if
it gets worse might try to open this also.

Batteries from cordless phones are probably nicad, you should look for a hardware store or other store which has a recycle bin for them.

Most cordless pones are a simple trickle charger which overcharges the batteries slowly killing them. We found a set many years ago that uses standard AAA's and has a smart charger which actually stops charging once they batteries are full. So far the original batteries are going on a decade of use.

I brought home an old BT router a few months ago and tried to set it up instead of my existing general-purpose one, just as an experiment. It worked with the computer, acting correctly as a dhcp server, and I could get into its interface with firefox. But I couldn't find a place in its setup program to enter the details my isp requires for connection. I suspect that these proprietary routers have the connection parameters coded into them, so that they can't be reallocated if you change isp.

This is very good to know, I haven't encountered this locally so far, but perhaps might in the future.

As an aside I inadvertently left my iPod touch to charge for a few days. Surprisingly it is fully charged now, will see how it holds charge in future.

Yesterday I got a few cables for iPod. Saw a fully stripped old desktop case and was very glad to see it. Wish I see more such.

You really should stop picking up retired telephonists!!!

Why? I bet they're so grateful. . .

Old PC can be very useful for these projects:
https://opensource.com/article/17/6/...offline-reader
https://opensource.com/article/17/5/...x-raspberry-pi

Makerspace has helped put Linux on older computers:
https://opensource.com/article/17/6/...aces-and-linux

Guess what I saw as I walked the dog last night: a very early Mac. It was a little square box with a built-in screen and a keyboard and mouse attached. I doubt if it even had a network card.

I was sorely tempted to take it home and see if I could power it up. There was a three-pin power connector at the back which looked as if it would take a standard kettle flex. But I didn't. You have to resist the temptation to hoard.

They were beautiful little machines. We had one at work - for support purposes - but it was mostly used for games. there wa one game that was particularly popular where you had to catch things and avoid the chasers. Each level ended when you entered the "goal" at the bottom of the screen to the sound of a very orgasmic sigh
For some reason the word "pigs" is hovering around my mind.

Old Macs have great antique value. Atleast grab it for temp., learn a bit about it online,
reflect on it, if you feel it is not worth it, then you can always throw it away.

I have gotten so many cables and power adapters over the past that I have decided to even slow down. Smaller items like cell phones, mp3 players, USB flash drives, memory cards etc., are more of my interest now. Out of space for big desktops. If I get anything big, it will be to quickly give to someone else and/or to learn something new from it.

This might seem odd but I am listening to mp3 player more these days, spending time in my balcony more and even trying out some container gardening. Most of my plants died but, I am still learning. Mostly away from keyboard as being close to monitor for too long in summer heat makes eyes hot and irritable.

On a different side note, there have been recent warnings online not to collect electronics, furniture and bedding etc., found outside due to severe bed bug infestation. I have been doing dumpster diving for last 18 months and everything was fine. Suddenly I ended up with severe bed bug infestation. It started slow with 5 bed bugs or so initially that I ignored, then it increased fast and over week ago or so I wokeup as I felt like 8 or so bed bugs on me. I turned on the lights to see like 75 bed bugs crawling on my comforter all over waiting for their turn to suck on me or getting training even.

So I figured out a way to deal with this issue. Basically, I wait for bed bugs to come out at night and once I feel this is the max. for the night, I put my hair dryer on high heat but medium air flow and point it at the bed bugs for few seconds each. This has to be done as fast as possible. Also, do this over pillow and to the bed close to my pillow on the sides.
This shocks the bed bugs for some time but doesn't kill them. Then I quickly collect all the bed bugs manually into a transparent small medical vial filled 7 mms or so of either diatomaceous earth or baking soda or both, once they are all collected, I close the vial. This dehydrates them and kills them with time.

This is a not a nice thing to share and goes close to off topic even. However, if one is getting abandoned PCs and other electronics from the street, it is just a matter of time before one encounters some sort of pests issue, so I thought sharing my experience will help.

I don't get it. Old bedding, yes, obviously dangerous. That's why charity clothes collections won't take them. But electronic equipment? What would bugs (other than the programming kind) be doing in an old computer?

I thought the same way before but reality is quite different. Bed bugs don't restrict themselves to just bedding. They go wherever it is dark and safe for them to lay eggs, breed.
That is why when the infestation is extremely severe and a Professional exterminator is called, close co-operation of the occupant is needed for a thorough extermination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bug

It is better to be careful, than sorry.

ag your

Bedbugs will hide in any and every tight space. The paper-thin gap between two pieces of metal case is perfect for them.

The heat gun trick will hold the population down, but never get rid of all of them. They are immune to nearly all chemical treatments and resistant to the rest. Extreme heat and cold are the trick.


Prevention takes some preparation. I have no ready access to dry ice or liquid nitrogen, so I use the process below.

Bag your finds airtight in plastic where you find them, and never open the container before you get home. Use a plastic safe to the boiling point of water (100C or 212F)
Place into a box or bag that you can control in your outbuilding or yard, and fire up a heater and bring it to the 155 F (68C) to 185 F (85C) range and keep it there about 4 hours. You want every single airspace (no matter how small) to hit at least 150+ for more than 90 minutes. This cooks them and kills bedbugs, fleas, ticks, and most other small pests, newt, eggs, etc.

A terrible amount of trouble, but then so is being eaten alive by bedbugs. It does not have to be expensive if you can build your own special-purpose oven and heater.

Afterthought: never do this with something that contains batteries, or remove the batteries and do something else with those. Batteries can explode when cooked. Most electronics are safe at these temperatures AS LONG AS THERE IS NO POWER! Let everything cool down SLOWLY and completely before you open the bag and dig into your new toys.

Make sure that you are not violating your local fire code. Neighbors and spouses can get a bit testy about these things. !!!

Will such high heat not affect the electronic components ?

The heat gun may not get rid of all the bed bugs but if I keep killing the ones that get on my bed for the most part, eventually the rest will starve and this is ok. Hope this works out for me. This will take its time, perhaps even 3 months or so, there are no immediate quick results with such an infestation, time will tell.

Once like the Old Mac you could sell, Mac users will pay a lot for those.

Others like Atari, Commodore, Amiga, etc are collectable too. If you see them grab them and sell on ebay or craigslist.

Maybe following their ride? Years ago, we were shipped a Lear-Siegler ADM3A clamshell CRT for repair, and inside the case was a dead mouse on the main board. I suspect some fleas may have made the UPS trip too :)

For those not familiar with ADM3A's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADM-3A

I've found dead mice in customers' computers on many occasions. the power supply is often where they hide.

Here I was getting ready to post about my Commodore 64c and the first thing I see is a post about bedbugs...

I live in an apartment complex that houses approximately 50 units and the building has been infested for the last 4 years. I cannot escape these things! Luckily, I've been able to ward them off with Diatomaceous Earth, which has microscopic edges that will pierce their exoskeleton and kill them, so they avoid it. My limit to a state of hyper-vigilance is about 2 years, but give me a break...or a Valium.

It's not that Management doesn't address the issue. I can't remember how many times they've had different units heat treated and can only guess how many thousands of dollars have been spent on it. They have the units sprayed monthly and I never see a bug, but it's been a nightmare.


Oh yeah, my Commodore. I've got the Basic Learners book and Owners Manual, power supply and it boots up, but no cord or monitor to hook it up with. I was able to get a picture using the cord from my NES so it does work, but I would love to fire that baby up. I've checked ebay but never found a deal on one so far.

My oldest laptop is a 10 year old Sony Vaio with Dual Core T2060 @ 1.6GHz and 2GB RAM running FreeBSD. It was my go-to machine for the biggest part of its lifetime and is still as reliable today as the day I booted it up with Vista. I treat it with care these days and usually run one of my other more powerful machines, but I dread the day it dies as it has a lot of memories connected to it. Here's a screenshot of it:

https://s18.postimg.org/a6jhi8yzd/siteshot7.png

You, my friend, are fighting a losing battle. Trust me on this.

Get your landlord to address the situation pronto before it gets out of hand. You'll be glad you did and in the long run so will they.

Sooner or later, all devices die, accepting this gives peace. Use them as best as possible as long as they last.

These days I am learning more about container gardening and trying to grow some plants but most died, so far only one tomato plant has survived and is doing ok. It helps a lot to stake plants in garden. Old usb, network cables with damaged ends are good to tie the plant
to the stake if carefully used.

How do you spread, use the diatomaceous earth against the bed bugs ? I heard this substance
is not entirely safe.

I am offline more and turn off my old PC fully mostly. Am able to manage this by listening to KJV Audio Bible on an old mp3 player that needs an AAA battery. People mostly shun these devices, however there is no need to recharge them and I can simply pop in a new battery when the old one dies. Listening time per battery is about two hours. They are not too heavy to carry around and are quite portable. Even if I had an mp3 player with just 256 Mb space, I can add enough Audio Bible mp3 files on it to keep me busy. Will rarely need to replace the files. I prefer mp3 player with FM radio also on it as this is added convenience. Such a device is very cheap these days on eBay as most don't want them, however I have had mine for several years and they still work.

On a very different note, I have swollen feet from walking too much in heat with poor footwear, so have not been looking for more stuffs and rather been resting at home until my foot heals. Doc said it appears routine and nothing to worry about. Now is a good time to learn more at home for me.

Some people have dogs and cats. I have plants. You don't have to endure a litterbox or walk them in the freezing cold at 1am. They absorb the CO2 I exhale and release O2 I breath in, not to mention clean the air to some degree. I've had Bird of Paradise taller in length than the ceiling that finally had to be cut down. My bedroom looked like a jungle with a path through it to the window. Small plants are the way to go in an apartment and I have bonsai now, too, but a couple nice Dragon Trees that still have a few years to go before they hit the ceiling among several other variety of plant.

Look up Pest Pistol on ebay to spread DE. They go for about $15 and spray it out in a dust, which is the proper way to lay it out. Take off the cover plates to wall sockets and do inside the walls, too. The DE I have is food grade and you can mix it in a glass of water and drink it. The pool grade is what's not considered safe, but when I apply it I wear a mask. Imagine me sitting in my living room at 3am, watching TV with a surgical mask on due to the amount of dust in the air... I'm serious about keeping them out of my apartment.

Did I mention I still listen to AM/FM radio on my Sony Walkman with digital display? Not everyone has even seen one. I have cassettes for it and can get about 24 hours playtime on 2 AA batteries. I listen to all my music from .ogg files through the laptops with headphones though.

Just an FYI: Fleas also hate DE. Thing is DE will not keep them out, and MAY not always be fatal for the adults. Eggs and nymphs are vulnerable. Better is to prevent them from arriving, if you can.

Dumpster diving for equipment can be very rewarding, but just keep in mind that you may be carrying more than electronics!

Nice to see ya, Burn_IT. So this is where you spend your spare time, when you're not 'educating' the Puppy crew..!


Mike. :hattip:

All over the place mate!!
Anywhere I can stir up the mud to get to the good stuff.

Growing plants in computer case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujfaI-OLWfQ

http://www.ehow.com/how_7237030_make-pc-grow-box.html

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this yet. However, I am trying to grow a few things in other pots and containers.

DSL is an amazing distro for older PCs and is still going strong:
http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/d...-old-computers

It appears that some of the bed bugs have even moved into my current old PC that I use to even come on LQ. Hence, I had to take more efforts against this problem. Here is the site with best list of tips against bed bugs in this regard:
http://lethow.com/home/peppermint-oi...rass-turmeric/

The glass pane removed from the old printers is very helpful to cover the pots
of small seedlings, plants outside when there is a lot of rain. So, I will try
to get a few more of these in future.

The cardboard boxes that Computers, Printers etc., came in can be used to make a lot of sprouts as per this video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61tn4SaYfEQ