Where to get a dirst cheap laptop for modding?

whizzbang

I want to put our home wifi network to good use so I'm thinking of getting a dirt cheap laptop, detaching the screen and folding it aroud to it is against the back of the laptop and then mounting it in a frame (or nice box) for the kitchen. the idea is that it will just display the weather and news headlines and how many emails are unread on the mail server. I'll most likely manage it using VNC or the like so the keyboard and battery etc can be dead (so long as I cna plug in a external; keyboard to install the OS)

So essentially I want a laptop with a decent screen that will run windows 98 (minimum for wifi) and a PCMCIA port (or wifi on board)

The cheapest I can see is €250 odd in buy and sell. Does anybody know a cheaper place to get one? or a company that is throwing out old Laptops? (I just found out mine gutted a few for parts then sent the remains for recycling yesday! bah!)

Cheers

WB

dubdvd

just keep your eye on the boards for sale forum ive seen lots floating around there lately ...and i wouldnt be thinking about one with build-in wifi cos your talking way above your 200 euro limit ...if i see any while im crub crawling in the shop ill pm you

po0k

You should be able to pick up a chape PII 300+ laptop with what you need for cheap.
Get something with 128 or more Megs of ram, and put a Linux install on it. Far better for what you want to do with it than Win98

Gone West

why not just get a real cheap tft. Use it as a remote second monitor for your system.

whizzbang

FuzzyLogic wrote:

why not just get a real cheap tft. Use it as a remote second monitor for your system.

good idea but the main PC is a fair distance off. Its probably better to have a self contained PC for this.

Tom Dunne

whizzbang wrote:

good idea but the main PC is a fair distance off. Its probably better to have a self contained PC for this.

Wasn't there a gadget Microsoft were touting - a "monitor" that worked with XP, but when you went downstairs, for example, you took the "monitor" with you. It was, AFAIR, a cut-down tablet PC running Windows CE, that had WiFi built in and was touch screen. I don't believe it had any kind of expansion, or hard-disk either. It worked off the Remote Desktop feature of XP.

Damned if I can remember what the device was called, but the idea is that it would be much cheaper than a PC/Laptop.

ambro25

You can grab my Tosh' portege 300CT for 125 yoyos.

133MMX, 64 RAM, 1.5G HDD, PCMCIA (tested good with Intel WiFi adapter), USB, widescreen apect ratio 10.4" TFT, 2MB video, stereo speakers. Good clean & clear screen, no dead pixels.

Comes with official 95 CD, external tosh FDD, tosh power supply, battery good for an hour+, port replicator AND base station (base station only for bits, though - just had it delivered but An Post f***ing knackered it, the meurghs :mad: . Has speakers, CD-ROM & lots of other gubbins)

Currently on '95, but I can sell you an official 98SE CD with it as well.

Anyhow, Google it up & let me know if you're interested (just got myself a TPad 240X, so this one can go ) - for the asking price, I'll throw in a Palm V with serial data cable and US charger

whizzbang

ambro25 wrote:

You can grab my Tosh' portege 300CT for 125 yoyos.

133MMX, 64 RAM, 1.5G HDD, PCMCIA (tested good with Intel WiFi adapter), USB, widescreen apect ratio 10.4" TFT, 2MB video, stereo speakers. Good clean & clear screen, no dead pixels.

Comes with official 95 CD, external tosh FDD, tosh power supply, battery good for an hour+, port replicator AND base station (base station only for bits, though - just had it delivered but An Post f***ing knackered it, the meurghs :mad: . Has speakers, CD-ROM & lots of other gubbins)

Currently on '95, but I can sell you an official 98SE CD with it as well.

Anyhow, Google it up & let me know if you're interested (just got myself a TPad 240X, so this one can go ) - for the asking price, I'll throw in a Palm V with serial data cable and US charger

sounds interesting! one question, how did you test the Wifi? I thought Win 98SE was the earliest Wifi compatible windows?

logic1

whizzbang wrote:

sounds interesting! one question, how did you test the Wifi? I thought Win 98SE was the earliest Wifi compatible windows?

I think he tested the PCMCIA port and not the WiFi functionality per say.

.logic.

atilladehun

I picked aload of old laptops in the recycling center near me.(Blanchardstown). I felt like playing around with them just to see how they worked etc. I got 2 with win 98, and a couple of ancient artifacts, win 95 & 3.1. I brought them back since though- in pieces. I though initially people threw them out cause they were unsaveable but 2 just had wrecked battery, and 2 were just old. If you live near one you might get lucky. you might have to pick up a power cable though.

whizzbang

atilladehun wrote:

I picked aload of old laptops in the recycling center near me.(Blanchardstown). I felt like playing around with them just to see how they worked etc. I got 2 with win 98, and a couple of ancient artifacts, win 95 & 3.1. I brought them back since though- in pieces. I though initially people threw them out cause they were unsaveable but 2 just had wrecked battery, and 2 were just old. If you live near one you might get lucky. you might have to pick up a power cable though.

PC Recycling center? Never knew we had those here! Where abouts in Blanchardstown is it? Sounds like just the job!

Fr0g

ambro25 wrote:

You can grab my Tosh' portege 300CT for 125 yoyos.

133MMX, 64 RAM, 1.5G HDD, PCMCIA (tested good with Intel WiFi adapter), USB, widescreen apect ratio 10.4" TFT, 2MB video, stereo speakers. Good clean & clear screen, no dead pixels.

Comes with official 95 CD, external tosh FDD, tosh power supply, battery good for an hour+, port replicator AND base station (base station only for bits, though - just had it delivered but An Post f***ing knackered it, the meurghs :mad: . Has speakers, CD-ROM & lots of other gubbins)

Currently on '95, but I can sell you an official 98SE CD with it as well.

Anyhow, Google it up & let me know if you're interested (just got myself a TPad 240X, so this one can go ) - for the asking price, I'll throw in a Palm V with serial data cable and US charger

I might be interested in this if whizzbang doesnt't take it. does have a built-in modem?

whizzbang

ambro25 wrote:

You can grab my Tosh' portege 300CT for 125 yoyos.

133MMX, 64 RAM, 1.5G HDD, PCMCIA (tested good with Intel WiFi adapter), USB, widescreen apect ratio 10.4" TFT, 2MB video, stereo speakers. Good clean & clear screen, no dead pixels.

Comes with official 95 CD, external tosh FDD, tosh power supply, battery good for an hour+, port replicator AND base station (base station only for bits, though - just had it delivered but An Post f***ing knackered it, the meurghs :mad: . Has speakers, CD-ROM & lots of other gubbins)

Currently on '95, but I can sell you an official 98SE CD with it as well.

Anyhow, Google it up & let me know if you're interested (just got myself a TPad 240X, so this one can go ) - for the asking price, I'll throw in a Palm V with serial data cable and US charger

Right so, I think I'll take you up on this! I'll PM you.

whizzbang

atilladehun wrote:

I picked aload of old laptops in the recycling center near me.(Blanchardstown). I felt like playing around with them just to see how they worked etc. I got 2 with win 98, and a couple of ancient artifacts, win 95 & 3.1. I brought them back since though- in pieces. I though initially people threw them out cause they were unsaveable but 2 just had wrecked battery, and 2 were just old. If you live near one you might get lucky. you might have to pick up a power cable though.

thats interesting that they still had OS on them! I thought most of those recycling places guaranteed data removal?

zod

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=239525

dubdvd

i was'nt going to sell this but if your interested it would do perfect for what you want to do get a tft and this which i have with windows xp pro running on it

http://www.cappuccinopc.com/cappuccinotx1.asp

gline

there is a pc recycling place in tallaght, i cant remeber the name of it. Also check out www.pcn.ie they sometimes have cheap old laptops