Oh, that's super cool. Could you please post more photos of it in action once you get it? Or a video if possible. It uses a coin cell, so you'll never have to worry about a proprietary battery going bad.
How far of a date does the calendar support? It looks like you use the little arrows to navigate. Or is it a touchscreen? Does that mean it has an onscreen keyboard or is it programmed by the computer and is effectively a "read-only" organizer when held? Maybe it needs drivers and a companion application then.
Very cool and super niche that it stores in a PCMCIA slot. I'd have totally used something like this as a kid if I had one.
The front bezel is completely open, and it has a real power supply providing 12V+5V, (not just USB powered), so my hope was that I can swap a DVD drive into this enclosure. It was made in 2004.
Other than 2 screws, which were surprisingly not tight, the rest of the case unsnaps. Of course I didn't do it quite right. I got the front off, but after I got one side of the lid to lift, I hinged the other side the wrong direction causing it to break.
The drive itself is held in with 2 more screws (also not tight) hidden under the front pair of rubber feet.
The adapter PCB has some unused solder points for LEDs and unknown jumpers. It also has a populated audio jack and power switch.
I swapped in a DVD drive and it does work. I copied a DVD from it without issue.
The drive I tried is physically too long for the enclosure though, so I need to find a shorter one.
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I also bought a copy of "Starfleet Academy: Strategic Command" that was in the music CD area. I then dropped the case and broke it, because jewel cases are the most fragile things ever.
Paid £40 for it. Not sure on official size but measuring inside bezel, corner to corner, its 15.75". Seems capable of up to 1280x1024, but 1024x768 seems a more comfortable resolution
The front bezel is completely open, and it has a real power supply providing 12V+5V, (not just USB powered), so my hope was that I can swap a DVD drive into this enclosure. It was made in 2004.
Other than 2 screws, which were surprisingly not tight, the rest of the case unsnaps. Of course I didn't do it quite right. I got the front off, but after I got one side of the lid to lift, I hinged the other side the wrong direction causing it to break.
The drive itself is held in with 2 more screws (also not tight) hidden under the front pair of rubber feet.
The adapter PCB has some unused solder points for LEDs and unknown jumpers. It also has a populated audio jack and power switch.
I swapped in a DVD drive and it does work. I copied a DVD from it without issue.
The drive I tried is physically too long for the enclosure though, so I need to find a shorter one.
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I also bought a copy of "Starfleet Academy: Strategic Command" that was in the music CD area. I then dropped the case and broke it, because jewel cases are the most fragile things ever.
I have an Iomega one that looks identical, except it has a DVD+/- RW in it. Works beautifully, so I assume you'll have similar luck.
Paid £40 for it. Not sure on official size but measuring inside bezel, corner to corner, its 15.75". Seems capable of up to 1280x1024, but 1024x768 seems a more comfortable resolution
This is 17". Size is for complete diagonal of the screen that also includes what is under the plastic cover (case). True, 1024x768 is the optimal resolution.
This is 17". Size is for complete diagonal of the screen that also includes what is under the plastic cover (case). True, 1024x768 is the optimal resolution.
Is there any sticker on the back for more info?
I thought it may be 17 based on the model number, but wasn't sure... This is sticker on back:
Yea I noted two or three of the caps were very very slightly bulged. The card tested just fine through the stress test, but I'm sure it would be good to do so eventually.
Thanks for the extra motivation!
You're welcome.
Yeah, mine worked too, despite the bad caps. VRM is well-designed on this card. Of course I recapped it right away afterwards. Not going to risk it with the bad caps eventually taking out a MOSFET or coil.
Just above someone was mentioning having PTSD from Bestec PSUs 😁 I personally never used or even seen that brand before, so can't comment though.
It's an AT power supply, not ATX, so probably safe from their infamous Kamikaze 2-transistor 5VSB circuit found in the ATX-250-12E.
I have a number of ATX-250-12Z PSUs, and those are really solid 250W PSUs that can be used on both 5V-heavy Athon/XP PCs and Pentium 4 ministoves.
New old stock 200W AT power supply came up for the price of a used low end ATX. I think these are good quality, has Nichicon caps. Just have to get the musty smell out of it!
Curious what else it has inside. 😀
I used to just dust used PSU when taking them apart and then called it good. But now I wash them completely (minus the fan). Just need to have sunny weather (and above freezing temperatures) so they can dry outside. The fan gets a separate scrub with wet wipes. Doing this gets rid of most "musty" / oldy-modly basement smells.
Maybe a little heat to the RAM chips will suffice...
No, it's the GPU chip that goes faulty on these, so reflow that instead. Don't even need to go to the full reflow temp - 160-180C will do about most of the time. If card is stubborn, do the reflow again.... and again.... 'till something burns. That said don't protect the RAM chips from the heat either, as they will be fine.
Oh, and after the 1st reflow, you can try popping out the metal shim on the GPU chip. The heat will make its glue easier to remove. Once that is gone, also get rid of the stock cooler and put something much bigger on there (Zalman VF700CU as minimum or other dual slot cooler preferred.) With some luck, that should help keep the reflown GPU working longer.
shaminowrote on 2025-02-27, 01:41:bought a Memorex 52X external USB 2.0 CDR drive at a local thrift store:
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download/file.php?id=213129&mode=view
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The front bezel is completely open, and it has a real power supply providing 12V+5V, (not just USB powered), so my hope was that I can swap a DVD drive into this enclosure.
In regards to the power supply / power adapter: if it has screws, open it and check it inside. I don't know who Memorex used as the manufacturer in particular, but I do know that in the mid-2000's, there were a rash of these dual-output (5V, 12V) power adapters that were terrible for developing bad caps and doing awful things to the attached hardware. So I always try to check. If you want to do that before opening, see if the adapter has a UL number or if the model number reveals who the manufacturer is. If it's Delta, LiteON, or some other similar known OEM, I wouldn't worry.
Anyways, nice find! Those external drives are pretty handy to have, especially if you have a modern PC without an optical drive (not my case, most of my PCs are decade+ old.)
Paid £40 for it. Not sure on official size but measuring inside bezel, corner to corner, its 15.75". Seems capable of up to 1280x1024, but 1024x768 seems a more comfortable resolution
Nooooo, please don't run 1280x1024 on your CRTs.
If I had a magic wand, I'd make all CRT monitors refuse to run that resolution. It's the wrong aspect ratio (5:4)... and on top of that, this is usually the max resolution most 17" CRTs will do, often disallowing anything but 60 Hz for the refresh rate.
If you drop down to 1280x960 (which is the proper 4:3 resolution for a CRT), sometimes you will get the option to increase the refresh rate to 70 Hz, which is still miles better than a very blinky 60 Hz.
Nooooo, please don't run 1280x1024 on your CRTs.
If I had a magic wand, I'd make all CRT monitors refuse to run that resolution. It's the wrong aspect ratio (5:4)... and on top of that, this is usually the max resolution most 17" CRTs will do, often disallowing anything but 60 Hz for the refresh rate.
If you drop down to 1280x960 (which is the proper 4:3 resolution for a CRT), sometimes you will get the option to increase the refresh rate to 70 Hz, which is still miles better than a very blinky 60 Hz.
Haha. Don't worry. I wasn't planning to. 1024x768 seems optimal for this monitor.
Jamicon (Kaimei) 643L-AT rev 1.2, 32MB SDRAM, a Geforce 4 MX440 64MB that somehow isn't on my capture setup's liking, and the star of the show, a SL2WM Celeron 300A.
And a 3D Prophet 4500 Kyro II. Which either hates me with all its being, or outright HATES the AMD750 chipset it had to reside in.
