EvieSigma wrote on 2021-12-25, 00:54:

Probably more the "Acer laptop" part than the rain part that's a deal-breaker...

^ this.

And while being in rain (even for a few days) wouldn't made them unusable - then definitely it would be a good idea to disassembly them, wash electronics with IPA or demineralized water (or even better electronic water) and dry properly (each component separately).

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-12-25, 01:20:

Most of their desktops deserve an early date with a steamroller but their laptops have treated me well on the whole. Most of what has died in service here has been HP or Compaq.

I mean, aside from some rather cheap plastics I haven't had any problems with the Acer Gateway Core2 laptops I picked up on a whim, entirely because they were metallic red...

HanJammer wrote on 2021-12-25, 01:40:

EvieSigma wrote on 2021-12-25, 00:54:

Probably more the "Acer laptop" part than the rain part that's a deal-breaker...

^ this.

And while being in rain (even for a few days) wouldn't made them unusable - then definitely it would be a good idea to disassembly them, wash electronics with IPA or demineralized water (or even better electronic water) and dry properly (each component separately).

Rainwater is very demineralised, on account of it being condensed vapor.

edit: i.e. you'd be better off if you dropped your phone in a sink of water and rinsed it in the gutter, than if you dropped your phone in the gutter and rinsed it in the sink.

The Acer Predator laptops are actually rather nice, but you pay for it of course.

The laptops might have been salvageable but I'm really not interested in laptops. I love the standardised interchangeability of desktops. Laptops parts are like car parts - complete pain in the arse replacing anything. Wish I had an ATX car.

Honestly I wouldn't even have bothered if these had Starter COAs.
Most of the Acers bearing Starter COAs are very likely craptacular Atom based Aspire Ones that aren't really worth anything.

The ones that I would aim for are usually those that have at least some form of Core 2 Duo/i3 CPU, preferably with a dedicated GPU as well but iGP is okay too.

PcBytes wrote on 2021-12-26, 11:19:

Honestly I wouldn't even have bothered if these had Starter COAs.
Most of the Acers bearing Starter COAs are very likely craptacular Atom based Aspire Ones that aren't really worth anything.

The ones that I would aim for are usually those that have at least some form of Core 2 Duo/i3 CPU, preferably with a dedicated GPU as well but iGP is okay too.

Even those can still be pretty capable web browsing machines nowadays. I've had surprisingly good experience so far running Devuan with XFCE on my Toshiba NB200, even got a performance improvement upgrading from Beowulf to Chimaera. Windows 10 would be too bloated.

PcBytes wrote on 2021-12-26, 11:19:

Honestly I wouldn't even have bothered if these had Starter COAs.
Most of the Acers bearing Starter COAs are very likely craptacular Atom based Aspire Ones that aren't really worth anything.

The ones that I would aim for are usually those that have at least some form of Core 2 Duo/i3 CPU, preferably with a dedicated GPU as well but iGP is okay too.

That is what I woukd have said if you hadn't beat me to it

Any time I've had to touch an Atom based computer, it is has always been a very miserable experience. No good memories regarding these things, hence thay can sit in the rain and rot!

soggi wrote on 2021-12-20, 08:22:

[*]Shuttle HOT-591P (with CPU)

Sigh. Just ordered one of these from ebay a few days ago for just under $200 Canadian.

Very rare to find any useful free hardware around here.

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today:

Reeks of cat piss and in terrible shape, it's an Olivetti M24! Quite vintage, apparently features an 8086 CPU inside.

Proprietary video connector (for a CRT that I don't have) and keyboard connector (for a keyboard that I don't have) and a PSU that's slowly rusting away... be a miracle if I manage to get this thing running!

I wish you luck, that is a bit more than I would tackle. Having cats, you can never seem to get the pee smell out so well that they won't try to pee on something to cover it. But should I have been feeling REALLY enthusiastic back in the day, it might have got a bath of vinegar, a bath of bleach, bath of detergent and a bath of alcohol and maybe after getting it bone dry again, I could have though about getting it working. Bearing in mind it's an Olivetti though, things might get a little weird, they're sorta like Compaq or Apricot the early ones, their own thing that's maybe PC adjacent, but possibly only MSDOS compatible (for low numbered versions) not 100% IBMPC compatible. So even if it came in good shape you might be in for a bit of a ride.

I would dismantle everything down and repaint it.
Something tells me the strong paint thinner smell that's used in spray paint should get the piss smell off if done in big quantities.
I've personally had the occasion to gift one of my friends a classic PS1, model SCPH-7502.
Not only it smelled of cockroaches (it's a distinct smell), but it also had a few bug poop marks inside.
Sanded everything down, painted the casing red and yellow (I remember it looking absolutely rad), and you wouldn't tell that unit has had cockroaches anytime in its life.
On a totally funny note, my friend asked me why did the PS1 smell like pineapples 🤣

kdr wrote on 2021-12-27, 05:10:

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today: […]
Show full quote

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today:

IMG_20211227_174626_t.jpg

Reeks of cat piss and in terrible shape, it's an Olivetti M24! Quite vintage, apparently features an 8086 CPU inside.

IMG_20211227_174645_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174651_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174837_t.jpg

Proprietary video connector (for a CRT that I don't have) and keyboard connector (for a keyboard that I don't have) and a PSU that's slowly rusting away... be a miracle if I manage to get this thing running!

That's what most vintage hardware looks like when left in a Florida garage for multiple decades. Almost looks like a Sun desktop with the grid pattern design along the bottom. Great project. I'm a weird one though. I like to get boxes like that cleaned and working, but leave the Fallout aesthetics intact. I've posted this pic before, but this was my most hopeless find from a garage sale. The drives were seized, the screws were sealed in rust so bad I had to drill them out. It was a total loss. Well, almost. The controller cart was recoverable. Yes, courtesy of a Florida garage sale.

kdr wrote on 2021-12-27, 05:10:

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today: […]
Show full quote

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today:

IMG_20211227_174626_t.jpg

Reeks of cat piss and in terrible shape, it's an Olivetti M24! Quite vintage, apparently features an 8086 CPU inside.

IMG_20211227_174645_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174651_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174837_t.jpg

Proprietary video connector (for a CRT that I don't have) and keyboard connector (for a keyboard that I don't have) and a PSU that's slowly rusting away... be a miracle if I manage to get this thing running!

You can probably find it somewhere online, and if not, just ask, the ollivetti dos has some slight differences.
I once had one of those m24's and the normal keyb.com that is included with normal msdos just hung the machine.
Asked around on fidonet at the time and got sent a zip file with the ollivetti dos on it.
oh yeah and fyi, the DB25 port closest to the side is for the display. do not connect a printer to it 😀

kdr wrote on 2021-12-27, 05:10:

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today: […]
Show full quote

Here's a literal "found it in a rubbish heap" entry from today:

IMG_20211227_174626_t.jpg

Reeks of cat piss and in terrible shape, it's an Olivetti M24! Quite vintage, apparently features an 8086 CPU inside.

IMG_20211227_174645_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174651_t.jpg
IMG_20211227_174837_t.jpg

Proprietary video connector (for a CRT that I don't have) and keyboard connector (for a keyboard that I don't have) and a PSU that's slowly rusting away... be a miracle if I manage to get this thing running!

Here's a great resource for the M24: http://olivettim24.hadesnet.org/index.html

You can build a keyboard adapter and also hook up a VGA monitor with another adapter (the M24 uses analog signals), provided your VGA monitor can sync to 25.9 KHz horizontal refresh rate (which unfortunately many couldn't).

jesolo wrote on 2021-12-27, 16:35:

Here's a great resource for the M24: http://olivettim24.hadesnet.org/index.html

You can build a keyboard adapter and also hook up a VGA monitor with another adapter (the M24 uses analog signals), provided your VGA monitor can sync to 25.9 KHz horizontal refresh rate (which unfortunately many couldn't).

Thanks for the link!

Unfortunately I don't have anything that can sync to 25.9khz - I've got a Philips CM8833-II that can do analogue RGB at 15.7khz but otherwise only have standard VGA/SVGA displays. I keep hoping to find an old NEC Multisync but so far zero luck in the department. 😀

I think this M24 has the VRAM expansion board, because it's a second board that uses both the ISA and Olivetti connectors and also has a ribbon cable connecting it to the video card.

When I eventually get around to pulling the M24 to bits and start cleaning it up I'll post a thread here.

I bought a collection of three cards on eBay from a single listing: an NVIDIA TNT2 Pro, some Adapted SCSI card, and an Advance Logic sound card.

All of are dead and have rust or corrosion on them. The TNT2 is missing at least five SMD components on the back.

Although not stated in the listing, I suspect that these were salvaged from either a recycler or an actual dumpster.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-01-01, 15:05:

I bought a collection of three cards on eBay from a single listing: an NVIDIA TNT2 Pro, some Adapted SCSI card, and an Advance L […]
Show full quote

I bought a collection of three cards on eBay from a single listing: an NVIDIA TNT2 Pro, some Adapted SCSI card, and an Advance Logic sound card.

All of are dead and have rust or corrosion on them. The TNT2 is missing at least five SMD components on the back.

Although not stated in the listing, I suspect that these were salvaged from either a recycler or an actual dumpster.

IMG_20220101_094028_resize_90.jpg

IMG_20220101_100152_resize_49.jpg

IMG_20220101_094048_resize_92.jpg

IMG_20220101_093955_resize_52.jpg

IMG_20220101_093930_resize_10.jpg

"I bought"
Wrong thread my dude.
You want to put this in this thread:
Bought these (retro) hardware today

Tetrium wrote on 2022-01-01, 20:58:

"I bought" Wrong thread my dude. You want to put this in this thread: Bought these (retro) hardware today […]
Show full quote

"I bought"
Wrong thread my dude.
You want to put this in this thread:
Bought these (retro) hardware today

Well they do look like they belong in a dumpster...

Sorry had to.

In pretty sure they came out of a dumpster too. There's no way these were fresh pulls from an old PC.