ragefury32 wrote on 2020-11-20, 05:33:
Picked up a 400MHz Thinkpad 240 from Japan (2640-43J) that went for less via Buyee. Found out that due to COVID-19 Japan Post suspended all SAL small airmail parcel to the US, and with the 2nd wave happening the suspension won’t be lifted any time soon - so instead of spending about 27 USD on shipping, I paid about 48 for DHL. Surface (SEA) mail wasn’t that much cheaper (35) and transit is quoted at nearly 2 months, while DHL can get it here in a few days (aiming for right after Thanksgiving?). I still have the 300MHz machine arriving from Surface mail from Japan, which will arrive before Christmas (I hope). Oh well, the plan is for the 300MHz machine to get Windows 2000SP4 while the 400Mhz will get OpenStep 4.2 (maybe?). I would probably put Win98 on it and see how well it performs on old school games.
Have to shop around for a hot air pencil to repair the T21(s).
Just received the ThinkPad 240 - despite traveling halfway around the world in the past 2 days and not being particularly heavily padded, the machine made it to me in immaculate shape - the 20 year old battery still holds a charge, believe it or not. This machine looks rarely used and still has its floppy drive gasket intact. The laptop is licensed for Win98 SE, and runs the Japanese version. I am planning to install OpenStep on it.
The seller never wiped the contents of the machine - it has a few documents that points to the machine being used by an agent (more accurately, a regional manager) for Sony Life Insurance in Osaka. Sony (yes, of the Playstation/Vaio/Walkman fame) has a financial services division in Japan thats responsible for roughly 9% of the company's overall revenues, and Sony Life Insurance (formerly Sony Prudential Life) is a major part of it. No customer data, but the manager did have a self-introduction sheet, and a couple of guidelines for life planning. I do find it...interesting that Sony financials didn't give their own employees Vaio PCG-SR1/5/7k or N505s but went with IBM ThinkPads.
Anyways, I'll be wiping it, then adding a single 256MB SODIMM to bring it to 320MB of RAM (maxing it out). I have a Celeron 300 model still coming to me via slowboat, and I picked up a refurbished Celeron 300 motherboard to repair a third (parts machine). Going to use the broken motherboard as a test mule for working with the hot air pencil I just ordered.