prokyonid - Network

Wow, the USPS Missing Mail website is hot garbage. I have to complete a form online to submit a claim, but the form is broken.

Wow, the USPS Missing Mail website is hot garbage. I have to complete a form online to submit a claim, but the form is broken.

No surprise with everything going on, but wow USPS has gotten unreliable within the last couple months. It's like all of a sudden every...

No surprise with everything going on, but wow USPS has gotten unreliable within the last couple months. It's like all of a sudden every piece of mail is getting lost and every parcel that actually makes it gets smashed.

Seems to work great with all the game discs I've had forever, so it must just be the used one I bought isn't in great shape.

Seems to work great with all the game discs I've had forever, so it must just be the used one I bought isn't in great shape.

I love Daylight Savings Time - it is more agreeable to my internal clock to wake up to the sunlight. I seem to be the only one, everyone...

I love Daylight Savings Time - it is more agreeable to my internal clock to wake up to the sunlight. I seem to be the only one, everyone else is always griping about 'losing' an hour. Sure, but it's one hour on a Sunday, and the specific hour is at 2am. What are you missing out on at 2am on a Sunday?

Not sure which yet, but either the BD Drive on my new-to-me PS3 is about to go out or the disc for the used game I bought with it is...

Not sure which yet, but either the BD Drive on my new-to-me PS3 is about to go out or the disc for the used game I bought with it is damaged. Fortunately, with these 'George Foreman' PS3s repairs are simple and the BD drive is very easy to get access to, so I'll probably keep it even if it gives up within my 30-day warranty.

Had to tear the thing down and give it a thorough cleaning before setting it up - it was pretty gross inside! Replaced the unhealthy-looking...

Had to tear the thing down and give it a thorough cleaning before setting it up - it was pretty gross inside! Replaced the unhealthy-looking 60GB HDD with a 120GB HDD I had laying around. Installed the latest firmware and hey presto here we are. Glad to see I can still download most (all?) of the stuff I bought back in the day. Looks like the software update servers are still alive as well.

Bought a PS3 from the local used game store today, since I've been itching to play some of the old disks and the BD drive has gone out...

Bought a PS3 from the local used game store today, since I've been itching to play some of the old disks and the BD drive has gone out of my old Super Slim. It's a 60GB 'George Foreman' model, very similar to the first PS3 I bought way back when. Between it, the HDMI VCR it's sitting on, the 4100-series Bravia they're both connected to, and the Inspiron 1720s stacked up nearby, my living room is beginning to look a lot like 2008.

WUXGA actually makes it the highest resolution non-phone display in my house at the moment.

WUXGA actually makes it the highest resolution non-phone display in my house at the moment.

Sometimes, you buy a computer for parts and discover it's more intact and in better shape than the one you're fixing up.I found an...

Sometimes, you buy a computer for parts and discover it's more intact and in better shape than the one you're fixing up.

I found an Inspiron 1720 on ebay for not much more than what a replacement IDE slim disk drive was going to cost, and it has the WUXGA display instead of the WXGA+ display my old yellow one has. It's in great shape - the wear on it is more consistent with being carried in a bag than with any amount of use. It's also in the black color I *actually* wanted, way back in 2007.

Does anyone know anything about ExpressCard TV Tuners and which models may have some sort of Linux support?

Does anyone know anything about ExpressCard TV Tuners and which models may have some sort of Linux support?

I decided to try out Devuan 32-bit on the laptop. The install took much much longer than expected and afterwards it didn't really work....

I decided to try out Devuan 32-bit on the laptop. The install took much much longer than expected and afterwards it didn't really work. I decided I'd try to initiate a network install from the install DVD, but the DVD wouldn't read. Turns out the optical drive's laser had died - it'll spin-up but that's it. I swapped out for another slim optical drive, but it wouldn't quite fit, then I realized the original one from the laptop was a slim *IDE* drive.

Well heck. I don't have any of those.

I think in the morning I'll image the HDD and then start planning what to do with this old thing, I kind of want to put it back in...

I think in the morning I'll image the HDD and then start planning what to do with this old thing, I kind of want to put it back in service. With my limited current space, setting up an early 64-bit laptop as a WinXP machine would be pretty great fun, and I could even set up a dual-boot and play around with some low-spec distros, maybe even try a BSD or 9front.

Wild, after I put the laptop back together, the screen works. Given how many times I dropped it, I figured it'd be all spidered instead...

Wild, after I put the laptop back together, the screen works. Given how many times I dropped it, I figured it'd be all spidered instead but nope. It used to do nothing but display a solid screen of red.

Can't believe how fast this thing booted. Also, slight correction, had to reattach the keyboard to boot - that's where the power...

Can't believe how fast this thing booted. Also, slight correction, had to reattach the keyboard to boot - that's where the power button is.

I have no idea what my username is.

Couldn't help myself. What started out as a simple attempt to strip the sticky yellow plastic coating accidentally turned into an almost...

Couldn't help myself. What started out as a simple attempt to strip the sticky yellow plastic coating accidentally turned into an almost complete disassembly.

It's actually still exactly as functional in this state as it was when I last used it, and that percentage of functionality is greater than zero.

I went and fetched it out. Updated the first post to correct the screen size. You can see where dog hair and dust floated onto and got...

I went and fetched it out. Updated the first post to correct the screen size. You can see where dog hair and dust floated onto and got adhered to the lid, and where at one time there was some paper on top of it that became one with it. Numpad enter is held together with scotch tape, less obvious is the number of other keys held in place by adhesives.

I finally retired the machine in 2017. After 10 years of hard use, the battery was trashed, the AC port was broken and only worked at...

I finally retired the machine in 2017. After 10 years of hard use, the battery was trashed, the AC port was broken and only worked at certain angles, the rubberized material on the yellow lid was breaking down, becoming incredibly sticky, the keyboard was almost entirely non-responsive, and the display would only show a solid block of red. To use it required you to prop it up weird and use an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

I still have it, out in the garage. Just in case.

Nowadays, running an 8-year-old machine is no big deal unless you are doing some cutting-edge tech work. My current desktop is 8 years old,...

Nowadays, running an 8-year-old machine is no big deal unless you are doing some cutting-edge tech work. My current desktop is 8 years old, and is perfectly capable of running modern games in 1080p60 on Ultra or Very High. It can run Blender, GIMP, KiCad, Vegas, any kind of production software I throw at it.

In 2015, an 8-year-old QVC-grade laptop was *struggling* just to run a 64-bit OS, but I developed my patience and we soldiered on.

Eventually I saved up enough to build a budget desktop. I was always trying to improve the cheap thing, stalking ebay and salvaging bits...

Eventually I saved up enough to build a budget desktop. I was always trying to improve the cheap thing, stalking ebay and salvaging bits from discarded machines. One night, I left the side off the case after trying in vain to install a full-length GPU. My apartment was always dusty from the tractors on the road outside my window, and I guess some ferrous dust must have settled in because the next morning the machine blew up (sparks!) when I tried to turn it on. So, back to the 8-year-old laptop.

I got a full-time retail job after dropping out, but it was still years before I was able to afford another computer, so when my laptop...

I got a full-time retail job after dropping out, but it was still years before I was able to afford another computer, so when my laptop started failing, I had to scab it back together. Broken keys were glued back in and avoided. The battery stopped charging and it became an AC-only machine. Eventually the HDD failed, and I replaced it with a drive salvaged from a broken first-gen Xbox 360, this time installing Mint MATE after bouncing off of the Unity DE. The machine was about 4 years old.