The best things in life are free

[ggreig]

...and that includes a laptop PC.

A lot of technological rubbish was to leave work in a skip today - broken monitors and the like - but amongst the debris there was a small piece of history. Once upon a time, it was the company laptop, before we started to acquire such things in greater numbers. And now 'tis mine...

As announced by the "Intel Inside" badge, it is inhabited by a mighty Pentium, and the System applet reveals the trusty 32MB of RAM by its side. There is a 1.3GB hard drive, and the display can run to a pretty impressive 800x600 in 16-bit colour.

I would tell you how fast it goes, but I forgot to look and I'm now waiting to check that it hibernates properly. I don't want to disturb it by hunting for megahertz, as I've just got it off to sleep. A quick Google, based on the model number (Compaq Presario 1080) suggests that it will probably be 166MHz.

This was a fairly good machine when the company bought it, although of course you could now buy a pocket computer that would out-gun it in almost all respects. I suppose the fact that it's still usable, something like 8 years after it was bought, says something about its quality. Most of our laptops don't last nearly so long in the hands of sales staff.

Having checked that the most up-to-date operating system it can possibly support and the most antique operating systems that driver writers bother talking down to overlap (Windows 2000 appears to be the sweet spot), my plan is to acquire a cheap WiFi PC-Card and use it as a minimally-educated terminal, for web browsing and possibly remote desk-topping from downstairs. The card should arrive on Friday.

If I remember rightly, today's new icon shows the original delivery of the laptop, on Dr. Church's steam coach.

Comments

[msinvisfem.livejournal.com]

If I remember rightly, today's new icon shows the original delivery of the laptop, on Dr. Church's steam coach.

It's your icon, I would hope you'd remember!* :-)

So what is up with the laptop? Is it a boys and their toys thing? I mean walking upstairs to mess around on your computer doesn't strike me as that much of a hardship... ;-)


* There is nothing wrong with coming out and just saying, "Look! Look! Look Guys!! I have a new icon! Ain't it cool! It's write about your icon in an excited-twelve-year-old-AOLer-anime-fangirl fashion." At least I don't think there is anything wrong with directly talking about one's new icon acquistions...

[ggreig]

IF I REM3MBR RIGHTLY 2DAYS NU ICON SHOWS TEH ORIGINAL DELIEVRY OF TEH LAP2P ON DR!!!!!!1 CHURCHS ST3M COACH 11!1 OMG

It's cool because: (a) it's old and rubbish, so (b) I got it for nothing, but (c) £20 may make it useful again. Also, (d) it has some nostalgia value. Practically, it means if something interesting comes up on the TV and I think I would like to find out more, I don't have to interrupt my viewing or remember something until the end of the programme. There may also be potential for using the laptop for GMing tasks.

There's nothing wrong with posting about a new icon, but I prefer to mention them as a postscript - and as it happens my recent new icons have all fitted in with something I wanted to say anyway.

[msinvisfem.livejournal.com]

IF I REM3MBR RIGHTLY 2DAYS NU ICON SHOWS TEH ORIGINAL DELIEVRY OF TEH LAP2P ON DR!!!!!!1 CHURCHS ST3M COACH 11!1 OMG

That was tooooo funny! Just imagining the pained look on your face as you copied and pasted that mess into your journal was enough to make me double over with laughter! Also the idea of you actually getting so excited that you would write like that had me going as well. :-D

Anyway good luck with your new laptop. :-)

[tobyaw]

I'd like to think that the inner Gavin speaks like that all the time - his 'shadow' self full of yellow energy, perhaps?

[ggreig]

ANYONE WUD THINK U MIGHT HAEV WORK3D FOR A COMPANY TAHT W3NT IN FOR TAHT SORT OF THNG

IMM111!1!! OMG LOL NOT DA MOST BLUE PARSON IN DA COMPANY THIS YAAR BUT I STIL HAEV DA LEAST YALOW1!111!!! OMG

[tobyaw]

Good grief, who is bluer than you? (And I like the idea of blue parsons...)

[ggreig]

I think it was JMH. Perhaps it was Nicholas Parsons?

[msinvisfem.livejournal.com]

I am glad that Gavin keeps "inner Gavin" very inner. The only thing "inner Gavin" would inspire me to do is shut "inner Gavin" up with something blunt and heavy - or at least inspire me to imagine doing so! :-D

[myceliumme.livejournal.com]

if something interesting comes up on the TV and I think I would like to find out more

I recall you doing something similar with a wireless PDA. but 'bigger screen real estate' and 'pose value: resurrecting old silicon' would swing it for me. I hope the battery is still in decent condition.

[ggreig]

Me too, although I can always run it off the mains. Another advantage over the PDA is that the company doesn't want the laptop back :-)