What to do with an old thinkpad?

myersn024 · Post by **myersn024** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:49 pm

I just found my old Thinkpad at my parents' house, and it still runs. Its pretty old, though. I think it's a Thinkpad 355 but I can't remember the number. The processor is a 486SX2 and it has 4MB of ram running MS-DOS 6.22. Anybody got any cool ideas as to what I can use it for. If it had USB ports, I could use it for all kinds of things, but it doesn't. I'm open to suggestions...

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:07 pm

Run Windows 3.1 on it for fun.

If you can find an old copy of Office for it, you'll have a pretty quick word processor. Also check out websites like www.dosgames.com and Home of the Underdogs for tons of great games and programs for it. You could run 95 on it if it has enough memory, but it will be slow.

You could also pack the battery with new cells, replace the hard drive with a CompactFlash card, and LED-mod the screen and have a semi-useful laptop with good battery life.

EDIT: Actually, I highly recommend the CF hack. The hard drive in that laptop is probably very small, FAT16 is limited to 2 gigs anyways, that hard drive is getting old, and the flash card is the cheapest practical way to expand the storage space.

In High School I installed DOS 6.22, Windows 3.11, and Office 4.0 onto a Pentium 3 500 with 64 MB of RAM for kicks. It was about the fastest computer I've ever used (10 second cold boot to the desktop after I disabled the startup memory scan).

It had a floppy drive, and Office 2000 had no problems loading the older documents. I put it on a scrap projector cart with a junk 13" monitor, and brought in a UPS a couple times so it would run during trips between rooms. We affectionately dubbed it "the 80s laptop".

What does this have to do with your question? Well, nothing really, aside from the software. I just thought it was fun.

myersn024 · Post by **myersn024** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 2:41 pm

I just got done looking at doing a compact flash swap, but the old Thinkpads use SCSI harddrives. It's probably more trouble than its worth to do that particular swap. I'm thinking about getting some more memory for it, but I REALLY want to put a network card in it. It would be nice to also find some directions on how to take it apart. I could figure it out myself, but I don't want to mess it up.

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:57 pm

Bic would any of that be possible on a compaq 1622?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:35 pm

Nonsense Man wrote:Bic would any of that be possible on a compaq 1622?

Most likely.
I'm going to try to replace the dead lithium cells in my laptop with rechargeable AAs. They work as a replacement for my pocket pc's lithium battery, should work with the laptop, too. Might try LED modding it, too, the screen is even a little visible without a backlight (can see some contrast). I have a 4GB CF card that might be destined for it, only 2GB less than what it has now.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:10 pm

Nonsense Man wrote:Bic would any of that be possible on a compaq 1622?

I don't see why not.

The only problem with Windows 3.1 will be finding device drivers. There's a few here but I haven't tried any of them:

http://www.gaby.de/win3x/edrivers.htm

EDIT: If you really want to blow peoples' minds, install <a href="http://www.calmira.de/">Calmira XP</a>.

EDIT: More links!
http://wiki.oldos.org/Downloads/Windows3x
http://oldfiles.org.uk/lightspeed/main.html
http://www.logicalsky.com/Windows31_FAQ.htm

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:15 pm

Does having windows 98 on it make a difference?

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:27 pm

No, the OS has nothing to do with re-packing the battery and adding an LED backlight.

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:50 pm

Well I put Calmira installer on a cd then that into my compaq and when I go to my computer nothing appears except a blank disk. Help?

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:18 pm

Um, Calmira is a shell for Windows 3.1. I recommended that system to him because his computer is a 486 with 8 megs of RAM. Windows 98 is light-years ahead of 3.1, and installing a Windows 95 shell work-alike is redundant and pointless. I thought you just meant the LED mod and new battery.

You could install it, but you'd be better off with the Windows 98 unofficial service pack.

Don't do any Windows 3.1 specific stuff on 98. There's no reason to.