Hey! I found this old laptop for $500. Do you think I should buy it? Can I run Linux? Arch obviously.
from ravhall@discuss.online to linux@lemmy.ml on 26 Oct 23:34
https://discuss.online/post/12944849

;-)

#linux

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[deleted] on 26 Oct 23:37 next collapse

.

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 00:55 next collapse

Oh, now you’re talkin!

navi@lemmy.tespia.org on 27 Oct 04:43 next collapse

Terry would be so proud. And racist and scared. But also proud.

Dpof@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 23:15 collapse

Terry would be proud of you right after telling me to make him a Kebab

DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca on 26 Oct 23:41 next collapse

You may want to also post this to !linuxmemes@lemmy.world

JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee on 26 Oct 23:52 next collapse

Is that just a model, or is there actually a display in the middle that does something?

markstos@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 00:18 next collapse

There is a small LCD in the middle. This is a different brand, but the same idea.

www.amazon.com/…/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=XVKE22F1A9PU…

Odo@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 04:02 collapse

FYI you can trim 80% of that. www.amazon.com/…/B0B6HKB3JF/ Amazon sure loves its tracking data.

cron@feddit.org on 27 Oct 13:13 collapse

You can trim it even further:

www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6HKB3JF/

alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 00:19 collapse

Yes, there’s a monochrome display in the middle. It’s kinda like a TI-86 calculator aimed at children.

Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world on 26 Oct 23:58 next collapse

Someone with NetBSD is already scouring eBay.

terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Oct 00:34 next collapse

You joke but it would be an awesome project. Maybe replace the screen with a real LCD, shove an rpi inside etc.

fin@sh.itjust.works on 27 Oct 01:55 next collapse

Yeah, it’d be really cool if it could run real OS inside it, and can play sound from the builtin speaker it apparently has

Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today on 27 Oct 04:53 next collapse

“diy dr.k” on YouTube did something similar with a barbie kid’s laptop

Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 14:42 collapse

It does seem like it’d be pretty cool, though much rather them than me lol. I think shoving an rpi inside though would really betray the implicit spirit of the project. That would just be “can a raspberry pi run linux when I put in a plastic case shaped like a children’s toy?” The answer would pretty obviously be yes. People are saying the processor in it means it probably couldn’t run Linux which would make it a bit of a non-starter but there apparently other OSs that could be made to run on that kind of processor and that’d be cool to see.

jjlinux@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 01:02 next collapse

Hanna Montana, and you’re good to go.

cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de on 27 Oct 01:26 next collapse

I wonder what CPU it has. You should tear it down and see if you can get some custom code running.

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:24 collapse

What I should do it toss a pi in there and tease everyone

assembly@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 01:45 next collapse

Bet it can run doom.

ggppjj@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 02:21 next collapse

I’m in tears, I’ve finally found the version of this toy I had as a kid.

Thank you so much for this shitpost, sincerely.

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:20 collapse

One person’s shit[post] is another one’s childhood 😘

bloodfart@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 02:40 next collapse

If it’s like the older vtech educational toys it uses some z80 processor, so you won’t be able to run Linux but you can a few different hobbyist microcomputer operating systems like zeal8bit and fuzix.

tehn00bi@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 12:56 collapse

Man, I had a vtech “computer” as a kid in the later 90’s. I don’t remember what happened to it or what it was even actually good for.

Pretty sure this is what I had.

www.ebay.com/itm/395832416009?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mk…

myrrh@ttrpg.network on 27 Oct 14:16 collapse

…that’s the POWER model: the unit posted above is the consumer version with the SX chip, no math coprocessor and fewer function keys…

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 03:00 next collapse

this might unironically run linux depending on the specs

Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 09:43 collapse

On a Z80?

schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business on 27 Oct 16:08 next collapse

Hey, if you can do it on a 4004…

(Yes yes, you’d have to write an x86 emulator and it’d be slow as heck but I mean, you could.)

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:12 collapse

Unironically, of course.

data1701d@startrek.website on 27 Oct 04:06 next collapse

I don’t know. You should make sure it doesn’t have a Realtek Wi-Fi card. Otherwise, it looks fine. I found the Linux Hardware report for it here: https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=7144bb41

I think the price to performance doesn’t look the best, though. Maybe go for a Thinkpad instead?

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:11 next collapse

Bravo.

Petter1@lemm.ee on 27 Oct 21:11 collapse

Realtek work great since 6.2

data1701d@startrek.website on 27 Oct 21:33 collapse

I think it’s mistly okay. I had a bit of misery with my 8852BE on my new Thinkpad E16 (the card would just disconnect from the system until the next reboot occasionally), which was solved with some kernel parameters I found online.

JustAnOrdinaryCreep@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 13:55 next collapse

I bet my left nut it runs NetBSD flawlessly.

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:08 collapse

What am I going to do with your left nut?

JustAnOrdinaryCreep@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 16:10 next collapse

Use your imagination.

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:25 collapse

I think we might both like it…

jagged_circle@feddit.nl on 27 Oct 17:29 collapse

First, I’ll use a pair of rusty sizors to extract them, then I slice it into thin strips and fry with a little olive oil and garlic

I recommend with a grain of salt

TotalFat@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 14:32 next collapse

“It belongs in a museum!”

ravhall@discuss.online on 27 Oct 16:07 next collapse

You belong in a museum.

jagged_circle@feddit.nl on 27 Oct 17:28 next collapse

Just hang it on the wall

hakunawazo@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 20:35 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f9c31b08-8c2b-49e5-83db-a9393ade7359.gif">

linearchaos@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 19:30 next collapse

$500 might be a stretch, It weren’t for the horrible keyboard, and horrible screen, it might be worth putting a raspberry pi into as a sleeper project.

Yes I realize it’s a joke.

iAvicenna@lemmy.world on 27 Oct 22:41 next collapse

More importantly, can it run doom?

electricprism@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 22:56 next collapse

Be sure to wear your hacking goggles while flying through hyperspace, wouldn’t wanna catch any bugs in your eyes at such fast speeds.

ravhall@discuss.online on 28 Oct 04:42 collapse

Oh, I’m not moving. I just always have wind in my hair. 😎😎😎😎

linearchaos@lemmy.world on 28 Oct 00:49 next collapse

I you’re going to hack one, this one is much cooler

www.ebay.com/itm/186640570101

there’s a teardown here:

hackaday.com/…/teardown-vtech-whiz-kid-luggable-c…

ravhall@discuss.online on 28 Oct 04:41 collapse

Wwwwow. Yeah that is cooler. Is that just a repurposed oscilloscope?

linearchaos@lemmy.world on 28 Oct 10:50 collapse

Realistically with that screen size you could put anything in that thing. How do you get the impression that it might be a little smaller than it looks though.

ravhall@discuss.online on 28 Oct 19:24 collapse

Yeah, since it’s for kids, I think we need an adult sized hand in there for scale. Or a banana

Mwa@lemm.ee on 29 Oct 14:09 collapse

yeah its very possible, Take a blow torch and arch linux iso (you need wizard to take it out of your pc you can find the wizard hiding in your tor browser he built a house inside of the tor browser.) then take a blowtorch and burn the iso into the pc front now it should be running arch btw.