You can't beat free stuff!

[jimnms]

My sister showed up at my place yesterday and dropped off three old computer's that she got from her work for free. They were going to throw them out, but she told her boss that I could probably find a use for them, so he gave them to me.

This one really isn't too old, but it has some funky brown shit spilled on the front and one side:

System Specs:

AMD Athlon 1.2GHz
256MB RAM
Riva TNT2 Model 64 (16MB)
40GB HD
DVD-ROM
CD-RW
56k Modem
10/100 Ethernet
AC '97 Audio
4 USB ports​

These two are pretty sweet, though they're old. I'm thinking of tossing Linux on them and finding a use for them:

I searched for specs on these before wasting time turning them on. The one on the right was easy, the sticker shows all the specs right on it.

Specs for the one on the left:

Compaq Presario 3060
Intel Pentium 200MHz
800x600 LDC Display
Unknown Video (It would only do 16bit color @ 800x600 or 24bit color at 640x480 )
24MB RAM
Unknown HD
4-Disk CD Changer
1.44MB Floppy
Unknown Modem
DSS1888 16-bit Sound V.6885
2 USB ports​

It doesn't have ethernet, but it does have expansion slots, not sure if they are ISA or PCI though. Hopefully one is PCI because I have a 10/100 card i can throw in it. I also didn't take note of the size of the HD for it. I do have spare 8GB and 80GB drives on my junk shelf. If I can, I'm going to use this one for a small Linux server of some kind, but that 24MB of RAM may make it difficult. I think I still have 3 old Pentium systems stored in my sisters attic, hopefully she hasn't thrown them away and I can rip the RAM out of them to upgrade this one.

One odd thing was I couldn't get the CD drive to read and CD-RW disks. I burned a program to a 24x CD-RW to copy on the machine to help identify some of the hardware, but it wouldn't read it, it just spit it back out. I tried using an old 4x CD-RW, and it wouldn't read it either. I didn't try any other CD's.

The one on the right is:

NEC Z1
Pentium III 450MHz
96MB SDRAM
15" LCD
S3 Savage 4 LT 3D AGP with 8MB Video Memory
8.4GB HD
6x DVD-ROM
1.44MB Floppy
56k Modem
10/100 Ethernet
Creative 3D PCI AC'97 Audio
4 USB ports​

On the sticker it says it includes a "wireless multimedia keyboard with mouse controls," but I didn't get that part. I plugged a PS/2 keyboard and mouse into this and powered it on. It still has Win98 installed on it. For some reason the mouse did not work, even an old serial mouse wouldn't work. It must have something to do with it looking for that "wireless multimedia keyboard with mouse controls." I'll have to play with it more and see if it can be fixed in the BIOS.

Basically this one looks like it's build out of notebook parts. I'm hoping that it will take a standard IDE drive, so I can upgrade it with that spare 80GB I have. I used to have a P3 450 system I built, but I sold it to my sister when I upgraded to a P4 933. She is still using the 933, and I hope she still has the 450 so I can rip the ram out of one of them to use in this one. I'm thinking this one, if upgraded with the 80GB HD and 256MB of RAM or more, will make for a nice little Linux desktop.

Also, about 3 years ago I got a Sony Viao system for free (not pictured) which is a Pentium 4 1.6GHz. I put in a bigger HD and a TV tuner and turned it into an HTPC. I'm fixing to replace it with my old Pentium 4 2.66GHz system, which brings me to a question. Which is faster, the 1.2GHz Athlon or the 1.6GHz Pentium 4? Whichever one is faster, i'm going to give to my sister.

I find it strange that the Compaq 5000 has a TNT2 in it. My old P4 933 had a Geforce2 GTS in it, and that Sony came with a Geforce 4 MX. All of those systems are about the same age. Also, all three systems have a floppy drive in them, and I haven't owned a floppy disk in years.

 

[cooter]

Put IPCOP on one of them, that is what i seem to do with my old computers.

 

[MD_Willington]

On an older Athlon based COMPAQ/HP, the first thing I'd do is verify the mainboard is still in good shape. Some of the boards they used had capaciotr problems that fried the FETs.

I've seen quite a few HP's with the Tri-gem Sante-Fe mainboards that had bad caps and fried FET's

 

[jimnms]

Put IPCOP on one of them, that is what i seem to do with my old computers.

I thought about doing that, but I already have a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router/wireless AP, which runs Linux (DD-WRT). The Buffalo router is 200MHz with 16MB of RAM and about 1/10th the size.

That Compaq 3060 would be perfect for some type of Linux server, since it would barely be able to run any graphical interface. It all really depends on if I can upgrade the RAM and HD on the 3060 or the NEC so I can get Linux on it. Most distros now need 256MB to even install. I haven't had time to rip the NEC open, but I hope it doesn't use notebook HDs. I don't want to spend any m

On an older Athlon based COMPAQ/HP, the first thing I'd do is verify the mainboard is still in good shape. Some of the boards they used had capaciotr problems that fried the FETs.

I've seen quite a few HP's with the Tri-gem Sante-Fe mainboards that had bad caps and fried FET's

It powered up and booted just fine. This one has been in use until recently when they replaced it with a newer one.