Every time you read this thread without replying or buying something God kills a kitten. Please, think of the kittens! -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif --
Compaq Contura 430C laptop -- bought this from someone else on Agora and decided I don't use it like I thought I would.
Compaq Contura 430c Compaq Printers Pda Compaq Ipaq History Of Compaq Computer Compaq Presario 1500 Compaq Evo N800v Compaq Recovery Cd Compaq Help Ac Adaptor 371790-001 For Compaq Presario Compaq Portable 386 Compaq Presario Laptop Compaq Presario 2600 Compaq Presario 5002us Owner's Manual Compaq Presario 2700 242705-001 Compaq R3000 Compaq.
It's not a powerhouse but it works and is great for AIM, remote X session, and light web surfing. Opera under Linux runs surprisingly well on this rather modest hardware (as did IE 5.0 on win95), and its full screen mode makes web browsing possible on the relatively small screen. I will include Debian GNU/Linux preinstalled, including XFree86, ssh, and gcc, with approx 100MB free disk space (and give you the root password) and everything configured properly, or if you prefer, I'll install win95 on it. CPU: Intel 486 DX4/100 (50MHz FSB x 2.0 multiplier - that extra touch of speed! -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif -- Most 486DX4/100 were 33MHz x 3.0) RAM: 32MB (I believe this is the max for this model; the expansion slot is filled with a 24MB Kingston module, and there is 8MB on the motherboard) Hard disk: 400MB Seagate ST9420AG, 12.5mm thick. Testing with other drives the BIOS supports up to 8GB discs, so it's quite upgradable for a laptop this old. Floppy: Integrated 1.44MB floppy, not much to say about this. Video:Western Digital 90C24 1MB video adapter, capable of 1024x768x256@75Hz on an external monitor. (I will include the appropriate XF86Config for both LCD and CRT usage). Screen: 10.4-inch 640x480 DSTN LCD, 256 colors. Not as sharp as a TFT but still pretty good, and the update rate is good too -- no disappearing mouse pointer or anything like that. Screen is perfect, no dead pixels. PCMCIA: Two Type II or One Type III 16-bit PCMCIA slots. Network: 10BaseT PCMCIA network card included, with universal dongle (supports both RJ45 and BNC) Modem: Actiontec 28.8 'cellular ready' PCMCIA modem included; however it lacks the dongle. Power: AC adapter *and* 12VDC car adapter included (like I said, war driving -- just add an 802.11b card! -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif --). Two batteries included but they seem to only work when they want to, so no guarantees on the batteries. The AC adapter and car adapter both work without problems. Weight: About 6 lbs including battery. Ports: VGA, serial, parallel, PS/2, docking station connector (I do not have the docking station -- does anyone ever use those anyway?). Keyboard: Your standard laptop keyboard, although this one is better than many laptops, as the typing feel is very good and the layout is nice too -- very similar to a desktop keyboard, not keys in weird places like some laptops. Mouse: Integrated Logitech 2-button trackball, configured as a PS/2 mouse. (Simultaneous use of external PS/2 mouse also supported.) I actually prefer it to the 'clit' or touchpad present on many laptops. It's not tiny either, a good size. If I had more of a use for a laptop I'd love this pointing device. CD-ROM:On a 486 laptop? I wish. Really, between the network and a ZIP drive I didn't miss it much. Sound:Your standard PC speaker beep. If you really want sound that bad buy a $10 PCMCIA sound card off eBay. -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif -- Misc: Original Compaq manual included, as well as the Compaq setup installed on its separate partition like Compaq does things, and an entry in LILO for launching the setup (Compaq's Win 3.1 style BIOS interface). BIOS has been flashed to latest release, which supports 8GB hard discs. I recently replaced the CMOS battery, so you should be good for another 5 years or so in that respect. -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif -- Carrying Case: I have a laptop bag, but I am not including it in the asking price. I bought it for $35 a few months ago, and it's in mint condition; if you want it you can have it for an extra $20. Condition:Overall very good -- no cracks, no noticeable scratches. I see one small Sharpie marker mark on it but it's not noticeable. I don't have any pictures of it right now, but I will if you wait a few days (although I'd prefer to sell it sooner obviously -- View image here: http://arstechnica.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif -- ). Here is a picture of someone else's -- mine is exactly the same, except the keyboard is a charcoal grey, not white like that picture. Unlike him I have had no problems with parallel port -- I used a parallel ZIP drive to install win95 and later Slackware (I installed Debian over the net). Price: $50 plus actual shipping costs (should be less than $10 including insurance to 48US).
Other old hardware: See pictures of some stuff at http://drewmeister.2y.net/sale/ (warning, page slightly out of date, all current info is in this thread). AMD 5x86/133 CPU w/heatsink and fan, overclocks to 160MHz easily, is fast enough for MP3 playback $5 Socket 3 mobo (goes with above CPU), 7 ISA/3 VESA, 4 30-pin SIMMS and/or 2 72-pin SIMMS, 12MB included) $8 S3 2MB VESA video card $5 2-button joystick (15-pin connector) $5
4-button gamepad (15-pin connector) $3 Logitech WingMan 4-button gamepad w/ 2 turbo buttons (15-pin connector) $5 Hayes ISA 28.8 hardware modem $5 DTC VESA dual IDE/floppy/parallel/serial card $7 generic VESA IDE/floppy/parallel/serial card $5 generic ISA IDE controller with CD-audio connector and RCA jacks on the back $5 generic crappy heatsinks - $2 each or $3 for both HP scanjet card (ISA) $4 4 x 1MB 30-pin SIMMS $1 (if taken separately from above mobo) 2 x 4MB 72-pin SIMMS ditto 2 x 128kB DRAM chips $1 NES games: PowerPunch II, RAID 2020 $4 for both Laptop hard drives: IBM H2344-A4 x 2 (344MB, one works, one doesn't), IBM WDA-2120 (120MB, works), Seagate 9235AG (200MB, works). All are 17.5mm thick. $4 for the 344MB, $3 for the 200MB, $2 for the 120MB, free for the dead 344MB. Prices are flexible and OBO; buy multiple items and get a huge discount! All reasonable offers entertained. Beerology under Gandalf007, 10.0 over 17 transactions. [This message was edited by Gandalf007 on January 09, 2003 at 02:46.] [This message was edited by Gandalf007 on January 09, 2003 at 02:47.]