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I've been looking for a used laptop. I got one for free yesterday, but it may never become the beast I'd hoped I'd have and my search for a laptop will continue. Why? Because I found as many of the specs as I could find.
This is a Compaq Armada 1125. Ever heard of it? Right. It has a Pentium 100 MHz CPU, 8 MB RAM built in and the ability to accept another 16 MB. It has a hard drive that cannot spin up and is thus garbage. The floppy drive works, so I was able to update the BIOS and get it to boot DOS and Linux from floppies. Since the rechargeable battery is missing and the CMOS battery is mostly dead, I can only use this thing when it's plugged in and I don't care about the date.
I so wanted this to be the conclusion of a search, but what should I expect for nothing? It's funny how big a difference that line of laptops (from late 1996 into 1997) is from a modern machine: the parts are almost standardized, but there is still something missing.
I'll still scrounge up parts at the Easter MIT Flea. However, I'll be more keen to find a P2 350 MHz laptop versus hunting for an FPM SODIMM ram slab or a tiny hard drive with odd mounting points.
More sci-fi next time! Maggie and I are off to Queens tomorrow and Pittsburgh Friday. Drivin'...
-insert a system disk and press any key, Dante
This is a Compaq Armada 1125. Ever heard of it? Right. It has a Pentium 100 MHz CPU, 8 MB RAM built in and the ability to accept another 16 MB. It has a hard drive that cannot spin up and is thus garbage. The floppy drive works, so I was able to update the BIOS and get it to boot DOS and Linux from floppies. Since the rechargeable battery is missing and the CMOS battery is mostly dead, I can only use this thing when it's plugged in and I don't care about the date.
I so wanted this to be the conclusion of a search, but what should I expect for nothing? It's funny how big a difference that line of laptops (from late 1996 into 1997) is from a modern machine: the parts are almost standardized, but there is still something missing.
I'll still scrounge up parts at the Easter MIT Flea. However, I'll be more keen to find a P2 350 MHz laptop versus hunting for an FPM SODIMM ram slab or a tiny hard drive with odd mounting points.
More sci-fi next time! Maggie and I are off to Queens tomorrow and Pittsburgh Friday. Drivin'...
-insert a system disk and press any key, Dante
