Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid
and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes
dark instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation
dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after
booting. It makes the thing totally unusable.
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
On 16.07.2025 13:44 Carlos E.R. wrote:
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid
and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes
dark instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation
dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after
booting. It makes the thing totally unusable.
Does an external monitor work?
It may be a faulty LCD panel, but also a faulty graphics card.
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually. Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which. I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
On 2025-07-16, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,When the CMOS battery is replaced all the options are reset, you would need to
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and
opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of
times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says
something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not
involved.
What do you think may be going on?
enter the BIOS and set them again for your use.
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and
opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of
times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says
something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not
involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
On 16.07.2025 13:44 Carlos E.R. wrote:
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid
and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes
dark instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation
dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after
booting. It makes the thing totally unusable.
Does an external monitor work?
It may be a faulty LCD panel, but also a faulty graphics card.
On Wed, 7/16/2025 7:44 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually. Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which. I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not involved.
What do you think may be going on?
If the unit has an intensity control, such as one of the old dial-adjust ones,
that will reduce the electrical load of the CCFL backlight, to keep it lit.
Devices where the intensity control is a OSD control, well, it's going to be pretty hard to see the screen and turn down the intensity. On some panels, holding a strong light near the back of the disassembly, may allow seeing
the OSD.
It's something like this. Only a small panel uses a single CCFL.
700-1000VAC 25KHz Sine wave
14.4VDC ------ inverter-board ------------------------------- CCFL tube (inside panel ?)
"How to Replace a Compaq Presario CQ61 LCD Inverter"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ8uAvI7JBk
The inverter board has a "strike" voltage (1000V) and this causes the initial conduction
in the (cold) CCFL backlight tube. The tube warms enough so the trace mercury is vaporized a bit.
As the tube warms, it conducts more current (3mA) and the inverter board responds
by dropping the voltage to, say, 700 VAC. The 700VAC in this case, is termed the
"burn" voltage and is the normal operating voltage as the thing stabilizes. It
can take 20 minutes, for the optical properties of a CCFL to settle completely
(instructions on my scanner).
The inverter is power limited. If at this point, the inverter is in a weakened
state, or, the CCFL is drawing more than normal, the inverter can shut off in response. It goes from driving 700V to 0V.
More modern laptops use LEDs for backlight. The LEDs edge-light a piece of some
sort of plastic that distributes the edge light. This can make shadows or blooming
along one edge. One of the problems with the idea of LED backlights, is the LED
backlight area has poor cooling. The LED area can get hot enough, to melt the plastic diffuser element, ruining the smooth distribution of the light. So while
on the surface, a LED based solution seems the reliable choice, it really has its own set of issues and is not a perfect solution. The LED output drops with
age, in the same way that the CCFL tube output drops with age (the display color turns brown, if you actually wear out a CCFL tube). CCFL and LED can last
for 25,000 hours. The electrodes on the CCFL, sputter onto the glass, which yields a brown color for the light output at 25000 hours.
Large displays in the past, had as many as 16 CCFL tubes, at about 3 watts each.
This used to throw off enough infrared, as you walked past the display when the display was on, you could "feel" the heat hit your face, from the raft of CCFL tubes. It might take four quads to drive that many CCFL, or eight dual output
inverters to do the job. If a single inverter dies on one of those, the screen is
not completely black.
The inverters are AC coupled to the CCFL tube. With 2kV capacitors. This means
the amount of coupling required, the caps might only be 33pF or so. A very tiny
capacitance. If there is any "foil" in the area of the tube (which you likely won't be working on in this case), do not bend/fold/mutilate the foil, since the foil also represents a capacitance. Messing with the foil, when the designer
intended the foil to couple to the tube a bit, causes the tube to malfunction with your new inverter. When an inverter is a dual or a quad, there are more HV
connectors and coupling caps for the tube(s) connected.
So why all the goofy care, about "sine waves" and shit ? The tube cannot have a DC component across it. Only AC may be applied to the tube. The sloshing
of AC, helps reduce the damage to the CCFL electrodes over lifetime. This is why the thing is specified with sine wave drive. By modulating the inverter, and not putting out continuous sine waves, you can achieve dimming... without changing the peak voltage, and this keeps the CCFL in "burn" state when
the intensity is set to lower values. _XXXXXX______XXXXXX______XXXXXX_ Those are bursts of 25KHz sine waves, 50% intensity.
I don't know if you can get at the tube-area for your LCD panel, but
after viewing the video above, you can bet it would be a bear to get at :-)
Summary: Reduce electrical load on inverter, by reducing the intensity setting.
This will give about three weeks of service, before it quits for good.
The video has a baggy with a part number on it. That could be the
inverter they are trying to sell to people.
Inverters and tubes, work as a pair. The characteristics should match.
The CCFL tube is unlikely to have a part number on it. If the inverter
has the wrong capacity, it could overdrive or underdrive the CCFL and so on.
It's not a well-specified area, except for a person who does a lot of
these, and they feel they have the right "generic" inverter for the job.
Some CCFL tubes are longer than others, the "strike" voltage is slightly
different and so on. The foils must be put back as you found them.
A USENETter in sci.electronics, wrote an entire book about this, and
the book was provided free by his employer. That's where I got the hint
about the foils, and how some lighting designers, don't actually understand
how the CCFL circuit works. And the results are comedic failures for other
people to try and fix.
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 16/07/2025 19:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
Before throwing away the machine, try to reinstall Windows or better
still boot up with live Linux distro to see if it is the OS corruption
or something else.
On 2025/7/16 19:41:52, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
[]
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see >>> what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
Certainly worth a try. Would be a pity to junk it just because something has come loose. The fact that you said it had given problems in the past that were curable by closing and opening it definitely _suggests_ either the connector, or the hinge switch, may be loose - though the inverter could indeed be flaky. But have a look first!
If it _is_ backlight failure, still worth replacing (I'd say the whole display-plus-backlight assembly rather than trying to separate the latter) - especially if you can find a parts one of the same model where "display works but won't boot", "no HD", or similar, for peanuts.
On 2025-07-16 19:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
If it's not the cable, it might well be worth looking on eBay for a lid/display to buy used as a unit - it's usually much easier to change the lid and display as a unit rather than just the display. However, I have no experience of dismantling Compaq laptops, so am unable to comment further.
On 2025/7/16 19:41:52, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see >>> what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the
Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
Certainly worth a try. Would be a pity to junk it just because something
has come loose. The fact that you said it had given problems in the past that were curable by closing and opening it definitely _suggests_ either
the connector, or the hinge switch, may be loose - though the inverter
could indeed be flaky. But have a look first!
VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and >>> opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of
times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the
Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 2025-07-16 21:09, Jack wrote:
On 16/07/2025 19:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
Before throwing away the machine, try to reinstall Windows or better
still boot up with live Linux distro to see if it is the OS corruption
or something else.
No.
The display is black, there is no backlight, on the BIOS boot screen,
before any OS loads.
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and >>> opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of
times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says
something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not
involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 7/16/25 13:30, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-16 21:09, Jack wrote:
On 16/07/2025 19:41, Carlos E.R. wrote:
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
Before throwing away the machine, try to reinstall Windows or better
still boot up with live Linux distro to see if it is the OS corruption
or something else.
No.
The display is black, there is no backlight, on the BIOS boot screen, before any OS loads.
I had that model some years back and the hard drive interface failed.
I got a new HP on sale then and it died in a few years so I started buying used. some used very hard, Dell Latitudes after than. Then I got more carefully used laptops Dell again after than which gave me greater reliability.
Now I have a Precision as my workhorse. I got it refurbished and it looked new then, not so much after a few years.
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.07- Linux 6.12.38- Plasma 5.27.11
When I bothered with x86_64 laptops, I got (used/refurb) IBM/Lenovo
Thinkpads (off E-Bay). Probably the most durable / rugged laptops.
Following on VanguardLH hint, it is the backlight.
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
<https://icecat.es/es/p/hp/vk845ea/compaq+presario-laptops-0884962367797-cq61-330ss-3589205.html>
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid and >>> opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
instants after opening the lid. I have repeated the operation dozens of
times. It happens before booting and keeps doing it after booting. It
makes the thing totally unusable.
I just replaced the CMOS battery (it reads 3 volts). On boot, it says
something about replaced battery, needs to reset, but I don't have time
to read what key to press, if any.
So that battery was not the problem.
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
cer@Telcontar:~> ssh root@minas-tirith
Bad server host key: Invalid key length
cer@Telcontar:~>
It also has Windows.
But the problem happens before booting, so the operating system is not
involved.
What do you think may be going on?
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
So, unless it is a faulty cable, it is garbage time.
On 7/16/25 2:41 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:which.
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I bought >>>> around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid >>>> and
opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember
[]I can not ssh to it, says
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you see >>> what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the
Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
You MIGHT try some of the distros meant for
older machines however. You don't have to
abandon the benefits of Linux - just find
a Linux oriented towards the right hardware
context. Ancient hardware can STILL do a
very good job with Linux - five times faster
and more compact than any Win distro.
On 16.07.2025 20:43 Carlos E.R. wrote:
Following on VanguardLH hint, it is the backlight.
If that is the issue, you should see content if you light the screen
with a flashlight.
On 2025-07-17, Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> wrote:
When I bothered with x86_64 laptops, I got (used/refurb) IBM/Lenovo
Thinkpads (off E-Bay). Probably the most durable / rugged laptops.
I've had the Lenovo T410 that I'm typing this on for 10 years.
It replaced another refurbished Lenovo whose hinge broke.
They're great machines, stand up to heavy daily use, and for me
satisfy a critical criterion: they have good solid professional-
grade keyboards. I'm not your typical hunt-and-peck typist,
and a good keyboard is critical to my productivity.
And they run Linux just fine from the get-go.
On 2025/7/17 8:37:0, c186282 wrote:
On 7/16/25 2:41 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:[]
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I
bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal
speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing the lid
and
opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't remember which.
I can not ssh to it, says
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can you >>>> see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see the
Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
[]
You MIGHT try some of the distros meant for
older machines however. You don't have to
abandon the benefits of Linux - just find
a Linux oriented towards the right hardware
context. Ancient hardware can STILL do a
very good job with Linux - five times faster
and more compact than any Win distro.
Geez ...
It was working, now isn't - but the screen can be seen if external illumination used.
So NOT an OS problem, but a hardware one: faulty hinge switch, loose
cable, faulty backlight, or faulty power supply to backlight (inverter,
if it's that kind of backlight).
He only uses it to watch movies, so no place for Linux evangelism - he's already using a Linux anyway.
(Personally, after checking for switch/cable problem, I'd be expecting
to replace the display [even though working] and backlight all as one
sealed unit, as that's easier in my [very limitd] experience - but check [I'm not sure how] that the inverter, if it's that sort of display, is included in the display module, or is OK if not. And, again based on
very limited experience: get the part number off the existing module. I found doing that produced much cheaper modules than searching for
"display for a <laptop model>".)
On 2025-07-17 11:16, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
On 2025/7/17 8:37:0, c186282 wrote:
On 7/16/25 2:41 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:the lid
On 2025-07-16 18:52, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Hi,
I have an old Compaq Presario CQ61-330SS laptop, which I think I
bought
around 2010. Battery died, I replaced it, also died eventually.
Currently I only use it to watch movies (it has very good internal >>>>>> speakers), when exercising on an static bike.
Some months ago, the display went black on boot, but closing
remember which.and
opening it again made it work. Today it is impossible, it goes dark
Installed system is openSUSE, some old version, I don't
[]I can not ssh to it, says
Take a flashlight, and shine it at the display at an angle. Can
you see
what would have been displayed if the backlamps came on?
I can easily try that. [...] You are absolutely right, I can see
the Compaq logo as it tries to boot.
[]
You MIGHT try some of the distros meant for
older machines however. You don't have to
abandon the benefits of Linux - just find
a Linux oriented towards the right hardware
context. Ancient hardware can STILL do a
very good job with Linux - five times faster
and more compact than any Win distro.
Geez ...
It was working, now isn't - but the screen can be seen if external
illumination used.
So NOT an OS problem, but a hardware one: faulty hinge switch, loose
cable, faulty backlight, or faulty power supply to backlight
(inverter, if it's that kind of backlight).
Right.
He only uses it to watch movies, so no place for Linux evangelism -
he's already using a Linux anyway.
Right.
(Personally, after checking for switch/cable problem, I'd be expecting
to replace the display [even though working] and backlight all as one
sealed unit, as that's easier in my [very limitd] experience - but
check [I'm not sure how] that the inverter, if it's that sort of
display, is included in the display module, or is OK if not. And,
again based on very limited experience: get the part number off the
existing module. I found doing that produced much cheaper modules than
searching for "display for a <laptop model>".)
I don't feel up to doing it myself, I would need to find a shop willing
to do it. The laptop has seen 14 years of service, so whether this is worthwhile I have my doubts. It was a good purchase and served me well. Maybe cheaper to buy something else.
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:[]
On 2025-07-17 11:16, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
(Personally, after checking for switch/cable problem, I'd be
expecting to replace the display [even though working] and backlight
all as one sealed unit, as that's easier in my [very limitd]
experience - but check [I'm not sure how] that the inverter, if it's
that sort of display, is included in the display module, or is OK if
not. And, again based on very limited experience: get the part number
off the existing module. I found doing that produced much cheaper
modules than searching for "display for a <laptop model>".)
I don't feel up to doing it myself, I would need to find a shop
willing to do it. The laptop has seen 14 years of service, so whether
this is worthwhile I have my doubts. It was a good purchase and served
me well. Maybe cheaper to buy something else.
The second hand market is a awash with out-of-service-contract ex
corporate machines bought for Covid.
IN all case however spending a day learning to take one apart to find
the problem, and order the part and another day to reassemble it when I
can get a new better 'preloved one' for less than $300 is questionable
Especially if it has a board fault. I have not got the gear -
microscopes, tweezers, hot air guns, infra red cameras - that seem
necessary to diagnose faults, nor yet access to a bin of scrap boards
to pirate for a component whose value is unknown and on a machine with
no circuit diagram.
I think the pro laptop fixers charge a flat fee on the basis its all
labour anyway, if you have scrap laptops for parts, that you couldn't
repair with blown CPUs or GPUs.
Three hours of UK average labour rate nets me a new refurbed laptop.
Go figure
I don't feel up to doing it myself, I would need to find a shop willing
to do it. The laptop has seen 14 years of service, so whether this is worthwhile I have my doubts. It was a good purchase and served me well. Maybe cheaper to buy something else.
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working display.
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making me think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch,
so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the rubber,
but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
VanguardLH wrote:
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
I don't feel up to doing it myself, I would need to find a shop willing
to do it. The laptop has seen 14 years of service,
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making me
think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch,
so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the rubber,
but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
On 17/07/2025 19:25, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:3D print a bracket to hold some extension speakers on then!
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making
me think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch,
so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the
rubber, but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
You can get USB powered ones that are pretty good for the inevitably
small size.
On 17/07/2025 19:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:Its hard to get 4k on a lappy anyway - the pixels count is generally too small.
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?
N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo,
fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
I can confirm that intel integrated chipset on my HP will fill a full HD screen (1920x 1080) at anyrate and keep up with U tube.
U tube generally allows you to select non-4k though
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo,
fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
Try a Chromium variant web browser (e.g. Edge, Brave, Vivaldi). I gave
up on Firefox: too slow to run many scripts (so slow that, at time, I
think Firefox or the site is dead), unreliable rendering (too many sites
I hit couldn't display properly in Firefox), so I finally quit using
Firefox after many years of using it. Mozilla forced me to switch.
Are you always watching videos in a web browser? Or downloading them to watch locally, like capturing them (e.g., yt-dlp) using VLC to view
them? Highly scripted web sites can generate more heat with more CPU
cycles than watching the videos locally. Because many sites have
dynamic web pages (scripted, and keep changing), the web browser can
consume more power while you do nothing but site at a web page, because
of all the scripting. Ad/content blockers can help eliminate some of
the bandwidth and superfluous scripts.
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I don't feel up to doing it myself, I would need to find a shop willing
to do it. The laptop has seen 14 years of service,
14 years is a good service and it deserves a good retirement present
such as a gold watch <https://retireon.com.au/gold-watch-retirement-tradition>.
You can then employ (in fact buy) a Refurbished Laptop to replace the
old one. It will work out cheaper in the long run rather than buying
parts from eBay and looking for a local shop to fix them. Some are good
but most are bunch of crooks. They will swap other good parts from the
laptop without telling you.
On 2025-07-17 23:56, Robert wrote:
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:
or...
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed, instead
of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this usage
because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its time.
Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop instead. I
have to move it each time, but I save on having to maintain more
hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have to
wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't download at full speed anymore.
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed, instead
of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this usage
because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its time.
Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop instead. I
have to move it each time, but I save on having to maintain more
hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
On 2025-07-18 09:49, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 23:56, Robert wrote:
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:
or...
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed,
instead of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this
usage because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its
time. Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop
instead. I have to move it each time, but I save on having to maintain
more hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
My desktop computer display has a VGA entry, but it is the one with
three rows of pins, the same as in the vga cards, so that the cable I
found would not fit, because in the monitor end it has 2 rows, and on
the PC end 3 rows. I would need a cable with 3 pin rows on each end.
So I dug out an old monitor that has a VGA cable attached (no plug on
the display end). Actually, it is the first flat display I bought,
second hand. They were very expensive at first. Connected it to the old laptop, powered every thing, and after reseating a power connector, the display did display the correct output. Fantastic that it did so automatically. Only that the monitor is 3/4, and the laptop has the
modern form aspect, so a bit was lost to the right.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running XFCE session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
On Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:25:18 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken
in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working
display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during
the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making me
think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch,
so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the rubber,
but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
I make a point of buying headphones with fabric not vinyl or rubber. No
sweat and they are comfortable for hours at a go.
On 2025-07-17 20:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 17/07/2025 19:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:Its hard to get 4k on a lappy anyway - the pixels count is generally
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?
N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary >>>> bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything >>>> of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small,
Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did
not try on the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some
youtubes overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full
screen.
too small.
No, of course, the player (vlc normally) does a down conversion on the
fly. With some files, the result is sound with no video.
I can confirm that intel integrated chipset on my HP will fill a full
HD screen (1920x 1080) at anyrate and keep up with U tube.
My hardware has Intel inside, except the two recent incumbents: the main desktop machine and the normal laptops both have AMD and both cope very well.
Intel does bad maintenance in Linux of some chipsets.
U tube generally allows you to select non-4k though
It was certainly using an adequate resolution for the display, but not copying well, it stutters with some videos.
On 18/07/2025 10:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-18 09:49, Carlos E.R. wrote:RIP old friend.
On 2025-07-17 23:56, Robert wrote:
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:
or...
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed,
instead of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this
usage because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its
time. Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop
instead. I have to move it each time, but I save on having to
maintain more hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
My desktop computer display has a VGA entry, but it is the one with
three rows of pins, the same as in the vga cards, so that the cable I
found would not fit, because in the monitor end it has 2 rows, and on
the PC end 3 rows. I would need a cable with 3 pin rows on each end.
So I dug out an old monitor that has a VGA cable attached (no plug on
the display end). Actually, it is the first flat display I bought,
second hand. They were very expensive at first. Connected it to the
old laptop, powered every thing, and after reseating a power
connector, the display did display the correct output. Fantastic that
it did so automatically. Only that the monitor is 3/4, and the laptop
has the modern form aspect, so a bit was lost to the right.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running
XFCE session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a
doddle..:-)
On 18/07/2025 08:01, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Mmm. Got enough internet bandwidth?
On 17/07/2025 19:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:Its hard to get 4k on a lappy anyway - the pixels count is generally
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?
N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a stationary >>>>> bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or anything >>>>> of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small,
Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did
not try on the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some
youtubes overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full
screen.
too small.
No, of course, the player (vlc normally) does a down conversion on the
fly. With some files, the result is sound with no video.
I can confirm that intel integrated chipset on my HP will fill a full
HD screen (1920x 1080) at anyrate and keep up with U tube.
My hardware has Intel inside, except the two recent incumbents: the
main desktop machine and the normal laptops both have AMD and both
cope very well.
Intel does bad maintenance in Linux of some chipsets.
U tube generally allows you to select non-4k though
It was certainly using an adequate resolution for the display, but not
copying well, it stutters with some videos.
Sometoimes pausing, and resuming allows the buffering to become larger
On 18/07/2025 07:04, Simon wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:25:18 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:Ah. I am on the point of puchasing some, and that is a very useful tip
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to
judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken >>>>> in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working >>>>> display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother
with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during >>>> the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making me
think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch,
so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the rubber, >>> but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
I make a point of buying headphones with fabric not vinyl or rubber. No
sweat and they are comfortable for hours at a go.
Thank you.
On 2025-07-18 12:14, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 08:01, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Mmm. Got enough internet bandwidth?
On 17/07/2025 19:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:Its hard to get 4k on a lappy anyway - the pixels count is generally
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?
N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a
stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or
anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small,
Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did >>>>> not try on the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some
youtubes overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full >>>>> screen.
too small.
No, of course, the player (vlc normally) does a down conversion on
the fly. With some files, the result is sound with no video.
I can confirm that intel integrated chipset on my HP will fill a
full HD screen (1920x 1080) at anyrate and keep up with U tube.
My hardware has Intel inside, except the two recent incumbents: the
main desktop machine and the normal laptops both have AMD and both
cope very well.
Intel does bad maintenance in Linux of some chipsets.
U tube generally allows you to select non-4k though
It was certainly using an adequate resolution for the display, but
not copying well, it stutters with some videos.
Fibre to the home, 1 gig. Also 1Gbit ethernet and switches.
Sometoimes pausing, and resuming allows the buffering to become larger
No, it is the cpu not coping with the decoding.
On 2025-07-18 12:12, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 07:04, Simon wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:25:18 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:Ah. I am on the point of puchasing some, and that is a very useful tip
On 2025-07-17 20:11, VanguardLH wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
Trouble is, Carlos wants good speakers, and that's probably hard to >>>>>> judge online - unless he can find one of the same model that's broken >>>>>> in some other way (no HD, smashed keyboard, etc.) but with a working >>>>>> display.
Use ear buds or headphones, and Bluetooth if you don't want to bother >>>>> with a cord. I don't recall ever thinking "Gee, that laptop (or
monitor) has really great audio". Those are useful as backups during >>>>> the interim to fix a problem with real audio hardware.
I thought of that.
I have a very good pair of BT headphones, noise cancel. They were
expensive. Sennheiser. The rubber pad is already wearing out, making me >>>> think if they are replaceable.
The thing is, my ear lobes sweat with them even when sat on the couch, >>>> so imagine while doing exercise.
And they itch. My ear lobes, and not only the parts touching the
rubber,
but the entry to the ear canal, itch badly!
I make a point of buying headphones with fabric not vinyl or rubber. No
sweat and they are comfortable for hours at a go.
Thank you.
I am very happy otherwise with those headphones. They are the first I
buy with noise cancellation; it makes a huge difference in an airplane.
The cushioning alone maintains out a good part of the noise; then power
them up and another big portion goes out. But it causes my ears to itch
in summer at least, and the soft rubber degrades.
I now use them to watch the telly at the sitting room. I have there a
cheap portable AC machine which roars. I have to push the TV volume
almost all the way up, and I miss what they say when they speak softly.
So those earphones make a tremendous difference. The TV set is new (LG)
and has bluetooth.
On 18/07/2025 11:26, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-18 12:14, The Natural Philosopher wrote:What was the CPU, again? Ive not had that problem since the Pentium days with no graphics card...
On 18/07/2025 08:01, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:56, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Mmm. Got enough internet bandwidth?
On 17/07/2025 19:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 20:04, VanguardLH wrote:Its hard to get 4k on a lappy anyway - the pixels count is
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
...
https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?
N=600514773%20100006740%204016%204823%20600004798%20600004804&d=laptop&Order=1
short URL: https://tinyurl.com/usedlaps2newegg
I can't see someone watching a laptop while exercising on a
stationary
bike needs to be doing word processing, graphical editing, or
anything
of much strain on the hardware.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small,
Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I
did not try on the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. >>>>>> Some youtubes overload firefox on those machines and can't watch
at full screen.
generally too small.
No, of course, the player (vlc normally) does a down conversion on
the fly. With some files, the result is sound with no video.
I can confirm that intel integrated chipset on my HP will fill a
full HD screen (1920x 1080) at anyrate and keep up with U tube.
My hardware has Intel inside, except the two recent incumbents: the
main desktop machine and the normal laptops both have AMD and both
cope very well.
Intel does bad maintenance in Linux of some chipsets.
U tube generally allows you to select non-4k though
It was certainly using an adequate resolution for the display, but
not copying well, it stutters with some videos.
Fibre to the home, 1 gig. Also 1Gbit ethernet and switches.
Sometoimes pausing, and resuming allows the buffering to become larger
No, it is the cpu not coping with the decoding.
Well OK raspberry Pis suffer from it too, but I don't use them as desktops,,,yet
or...
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed, instead
of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this usage
because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its time.
Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop instead. I
have to move it each time, but I save on having to maintain more
hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo, fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
[...]
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo,
fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
Can you give me a pointer to some specs of your 'mini-PC MSI Cubi N', especially the CPU (brand, series, model, speed, cores)?
I'm looking for a replacement for my wife's sort-of 'desktop' (Windows
10 laptop in a drawer with external dispay, keyboard and mouse) and I
wonder what CPU I need.
*My* current (Windows 11) laptop has an AMD Ryzen 5 5000 Series
(System Information says: "AMD Ryzen 5 5625U with Radeon Graphics, 2300
MHz, 6 Core(s)") which is fast enough, but I wonder what comparable
'mini-PC' CPU I would need. Some of the mini-PCs I see have normal CPU
names, like "Intel Core 5", but others have meaningless (for me) names
like 'N<some_number>'.
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops - not accessible easily these days)
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
Linux cross-posting removed!
On 7/18/2025 3:24 PM, Jack wrote:
Linux cross-posting removed!
Nope. It was still in you post.
On 7/18/2025 4:25 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-18 22:49, sticks wrote:
On 7/18/2025 3:24 PM, Jack wrote:
Linux cross-posting removed!
Nope. It was still in you post.
Please keep the crosspost.
You do realize Jack was the one who posted content and thought he had removed them. So, you just sent a message to all three groups adding it with a post that literally has no subject content in it. Perhaps, you should have done that to Jack's post???
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops *cannot* do themselves
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops - not
accessible easily these days)
Open the fucking thing up without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
I don't use Chrome because it doesn't allow to run add blockers
recently. They removed the extensions add blockers use.
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have
to wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't
download at full speed anymore.
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops *cannot* do themselves
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all >>>> the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops - not >>> accessible easily these days)
Open the fucking thing up without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
Since there is nothing particularly to lose on--
this project, it all depends on whether a carcass can
be located for a transplant. If the disassembly-reassembly
doesn't work, it isn't the end of the world.
If parts cannot be located, then the project has an easy answer.
If the parts price is too high, that also answers the question.
That's why a carcass is usually cheaper than "focused parts".
People who part out and charge the moon for the bits, are
to be avoided.
Paul
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
I don't use Chrome because it doesn't allow to run add blockers
recently. They removed the extensions add blockers use.
With Edge, a Chromium variant, I use: Adguard Adblocker, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin Lite (MV3 version), and Ping Blocker. They are very
effective, and together give me almost everything that uBlock Origin
(MV2 version) did. They overlap on coverage, but catch a bit more than
the others. All of them are available at the Google Chrome Store, and
all of them are MV3 (Manifest version 3). However, after several
months, I decided to remove uBO Lite and Privacy Badger, and just go
forward with Adguard AdBlocker and Ping Blocker.
Adguard Adblocker https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/adguard-adblocker/bgnkhhnnamicmpeenaelnjfhikgbkllg
Ping Blocker https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ping-blocker/jkpocifanmihboebfhigkjcdihgfcdnb
Privacy Badger https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp
uBlock Origin Lite https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have
to wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't
download at full speed anymore.
I use yt-dlp to grab videos to keep a local copy. The only places, so
far, where it doesn't work are sites that use Javascripted video players
with a secret key to decode the protected videos. Their script knows
how to decode the video stream. It captures the video stream as fast as
the server will deliver it, not at the slow pace of watching a video.
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
This a a command-line tool. There are GUI frontends for it, but I found yt-dlp.exe was all I needed since it is very simple to enter:
On 18/07/2025 23:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>> all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a
doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops
- not
accessible easily these days)
Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
*cannot* do themselves
Open the fucking thing up without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
Mostly they are little plastic tabs that invite a screwdriver to pry
apart and when it slips, it takes out the motherboard
Since there is nothing particularly to lose on
this project, it all depends on whether a carcass can
be located for a transplant. If the disassembly-reassembly
doesn't work, it isn't the end of the world.
If parts cannot be located, then the project has an easy answer.
If the parts price is too high, that also answers the question.
That's why a carcass is usually cheaper than "focused parts".
People who part out and charge the moon for the bits, are
to be avoided.
Paul
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
I don't use Chrome because it doesn't allow to run add blockers
recently. They removed the extensions add blockers use.
With Edge, a Chromium variant, I use: Adguard Adblocker, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin Lite (MV3 version), and Ping Blocker. They are very
effective, and together give me almost everything that uBlock Origin
(MV2 version) did. They overlap on coverage, but catch a bit more than
the others. All of them are available at the Google Chrome Store, and
all of them are MV3 (Manifest version 3). However, after several
months, I decided to remove uBO Lite and Privacy Badger, and just go
forward with Adguard AdBlocker and Ping Blocker.
Adguard Adblocker https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/adguard-adblocker/bgnkhhnnamicmpeenaelnjfhikgbkllg
Ping Blocker https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ping-blocker/jkpocifanmihboebfhigkjcdihgfcdnb
Privacy Badger https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp
uBlock Origin Lite https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have
to wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't
download at full speed anymore.
I use yt-dlp to grab videos to keep a local copy. The only places, so
far, where it doesn't work are sites that use Javascripted video players
with a secret key to decode the protected videos. Their script knows
how to decode the video stream. It captures the video stream as fast as
the server will deliver it, not at the slow pace of watching a video.
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
This a a command-line tool. There are GUI frontends for it, but I found yt-dlp.exe was all I needed since it is very simple to enter:
yt "<URL>"
at the command line. Just copy the URL from the web browser's address
bar, and paste into the command line. I use a batch file to specify
where to find the yt-dlp.exe, the output folder, and add double quotes
around the URL since ampersands (&) are legitimate characters in URLs to separate arguments, but they screw up the command-line parser which
thinks they are to separate multiple commands in one command line.
yt-dlp isn't using any web browser. Doesn't matter how slow is your web browser at handling video streams. If there is a long pause to yt-dlp,
it is because the server isn't delivering the video stream right away
perhaps as their means of throttling access. NO TOOL can obtain a video stream faster than the server will deliver it. Not a web browser, not yt-dlp, not any other video stream capture software.
yt-dlp will not get around geofencing. For that, you could try using a decent VPN that has multiple exit nodes to see if one of them is with
the geolocation allowed by a site. I don't bother with a workaround to geofencing. If a site doesn't want to deliver to me, I can find the
same or similar content elsewhere.
VanguardLH wrote on 7/18/2025 6:47 PM:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
I don't use Chrome because it doesn't allow to run add blockers
recently. They removed the extensions add blockers use.
With Edge, a Chromium variant, I use: Adguard Adblocker, Privacy Badger,
uBlock Origin Lite (MV3 version), and Ping Blocker. They are very
effective, and together give me almost everything that uBlock Origin
(MV2 version) did. They overlap on coverage, but catch a bit more than
the others. All of them are available at the Google Chrome Store, and
all of them are MV3 (Manifest version 3). However, after several
months, I decided to remove uBO Lite and Privacy Badger, and just go
forward with Adguard AdBlocker and Ping Blocker.
Adguard Adblocker
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/adguard-adblocker/bgnkhhnnamicmpeenaelnjfhikgbkllg
Ping Blocker
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ping-blocker/jkpocifanmihboebfhigkjcdihgfcdnb
Privacy Badger
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp
uBlock Origin Lite
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have
to wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't
download at full speed anymore.
I use yt-dlp to grab videos to keep a local copy. The only places, so
far, where it doesn't work are sites that use Javascripted video players
with a secret key to decode the protected videos. Their script knows
how to decode the video stream. It captures the video stream as fast as
the server will deliver it, not at the slow pace of watching a video.
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
This a a command-line tool. There are GUI frontends for it, but I found
yt-dlp.exe was all I needed since it is very simple to enter:
yt "<URL>"
at the command line. Just copy the URL from the web browser's address
bar, and paste into the command line. I use a batch file to specify
where to find the yt-dlp.exe, the output folder, and add double quotes
around the URL since ampersands (&) are legitimate characters in URLs to
separate arguments, but they screw up the command-line parser which
thinks they are to separate multiple commands in one command line.
yt-dlp isn't using any web browser. Doesn't matter how slow is your web
browser at handling video streams. If there is a long pause to yt-dlp,
it is because the server isn't delivering the video stream right away
perhaps as their means of throttling access. NO TOOL can obtain a video
stream faster than the server will deliver it. Not a web browser, not
yt-dlp, not any other video stream capture software.
yt-dlp will not get around geofencing. For that, you could try using a
decent VPN that has multiple exit nodes to see if one of them is with
the geolocation allowed by a site. I don't bother with a workaround to
geofencing. If a site doesn't want to deliver to me, I can find the
same or similar content elsewhere.
I took the easy way out. Got rid of google chrome and started using
Firefox (with ublock origin).
Seems to work OK and no google hoops to jump through, nor kiss their ass.
Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> wrote:
VanguardLH wrote on 7/18/2025 6:47 PM:
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
I don't use Chrome because it doesn't allow to run add blockers
recently. They removed the extensions add blockers use.
With Edge, a Chromium variant, I use: Adguard Adblocker, Privacy Badger, >>> uBlock Origin Lite (MV3 version), and Ping Blocker. They are very
effective, and together give me almost everything that uBlock Origin
(MV2 version) did. They overlap on coverage, but catch a bit more than
the others. All of them are available at the Google Chrome Store, and
all of them are MV3 (Manifest version 3). However, after several
months, I decided to remove uBO Lite and Privacy Badger, and just go
forward with Adguard AdBlocker and Ping Blocker.
Adguard Adblocker
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/adguard-adblocker/bgnkhhnnamicmpeenaelnjfhikgbkllg
Ping Blocker
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ping-blocker/jkpocifanmihboebfhigkjcdihgfcdnb
Privacy Badger
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp
uBlock Origin Lite
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh
Sometimes, with very recent videos, download in advance means I have
to wait significant time for the download to finish, it doesn't
download at full speed anymore.
I use yt-dlp to grab videos to keep a local copy. The only places, so
far, where it doesn't work are sites that use Javascripted video players >>> with a secret key to decode the protected videos. Their script knows
how to decode the video stream. It captures the video stream as fast as >>> the server will deliver it, not at the slow pace of watching a video.
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
This a a command-line tool. There are GUI frontends for it, but I found >>> yt-dlp.exe was all I needed since it is very simple to enter:
yt "<URL>"
at the command line. Just copy the URL from the web browser's address
bar, and paste into the command line. I use a batch file to specify
where to find the yt-dlp.exe, the output folder, and add double quotes
around the URL since ampersands (&) are legitimate characters in URLs to >>> separate arguments, but they screw up the command-line parser which
thinks they are to separate multiple commands in one command line.
yt-dlp isn't using any web browser. Doesn't matter how slow is your web >>> browser at handling video streams. If there is a long pause to yt-dlp,
it is because the server isn't delivering the video stream right away
perhaps as their means of throttling access. NO TOOL can obtain a video >>> stream faster than the server will deliver it. Not a web browser, not
yt-dlp, not any other video stream capture software.
yt-dlp will not get around geofencing. For that, you could try using a
decent VPN that has multiple exit nodes to see if one of them is with
the geolocation allowed by a site. I don't bother with a workaround to
geofencing. If a site doesn't want to deliver to me, I can find the
same or similar content elsewhere.
I took the easy way out. Got rid of google chrome and started using
Firefox (with ublock origin).
Seems to work OK and no google hoops to jump through, nor kiss their ass.
I used Firefox as my primary web browser for decades, but more and more
I had to use my secondary web browser to compensate for sites that
Firefox could not render properly, or was extremely slow to run scripts.
A couple years ago, I'd hit about 2 sites per month that didn't work in Firefox. Then it became more and more sites incompatible with Firefox. Eventually my ISP, bank, pharmacy, and other commonly visited web sites
that would not work with Firefox. Often the web site or Firefox
appeared hung, but was due to extreme long times to run scripts. Those
sites rendered and scripted just fine in Chromium variants -- and a
Chromium variant does NOT mean you are kissing Google's ass.
I used uBlock Origin (MV2) in Firefox for a long time. The only reason
why I stalled on dropping Firefox to move to Chromium variants was
solely due to wanting uBlock Origin (MV2) to have all the features of
the full-blown version of that extension. If not for uBO (MV2), I
would've dropped Firefox a year sooner. Eventually I grew weary of
switching to a secondary (Chromium) web browser to compensate for
Firefox's failings, and made the switch. With uBlock Origin Lite, Ping Adblocker, Adguard Adblocker, and Privacy Badger, all of which are MV3 versions, I had all the features of old uBO (MV2) in Firefox, but none
of the increasingly fails of Firefox. After monitoring the effect of disabling some of the extensions regarding what was not blocked, I
decided all 4 extensions were overkill, and kept to just 2.
It was a hard decision to drop Firefox, because it is so highly user customizable, but it could not keep up with today's state of web sites.
That was my decision for myself. Others have different criteria.
If you want to keep using Firefox, yes, uBlock Origin (MV2) is still
usable there. Mozilla claims they will indefinitely support MV2 and
MV3. Alas, indefinitely is not the same as infinitely. Should Mozilla
lose Google's revenue, they will have to cut back, and that includes
manpower to continue supporting legacy code.
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops *cannot* do themselves
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to all >>>> the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops - not >>> accessible easily these days)
Open the fucking thing up without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
Since there is nothing particularly to lose on
this project, it all depends on whether a carcass can
be located for a transplant. If the disassembly-reassembly
doesn't work, it isn't the end of the world.
If parts cannot be located, then the project has an easy answer.
If the parts price is too high, that also answers the question.
That's why a carcass is usually cheaper than "focused parts".
People who part out and charge the moon for the bits, are
to be avoided.
Paul
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
[...]
Oh, some videos overload another one of my laptops (too small, Lenovo,
fanless) and my mini-PC MSI Cubi N aka acting server. I did not try on
the Compaq. Usually videos done at 4K and/or h265. Some youtubes
overload firefox on those machines and can't watch at full screen.
Can you give me a pointer to some specs of your 'mini-PC MSI Cubi N', especially the CPU (brand, series, model, speed, cores)?
I'm looking for a replacement for my wife's sort-of 'desktop' (Windows
10 laptop in a drawer with external dispay, keyboard and mouse) and I
wonder what CPU I need.
*My* current (Windows 11) laptop has an AMD Ryzen 5 5000 Series
(System Information says: "AMD Ryzen 5 5625U with Radeon Graphics, 2300
MHz, 6 Core(s)") which is fast enough, but I wonder what comparable
'mini-PC' CPU I would need. Some of the mini-PCs I see have normal CPU
names, like "Intel Core 5", but others have meaningless (for me) names
like 'N<some_number>'.
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>> all
the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is a
doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD
Upgrade Memory
Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan
Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops
- not
accessible easily these days)
*cannot* do themselves
Open the fucking thing up without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused muffin tin to confine them to work area.
On 2025-07-19 04:42, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>>> all the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is >>>>>> a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD Upgrade Memory Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops
- not accessible easily these days)
*cannot* do themselves Open the fucking thing up without destroying
it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused muffin
tin
to confine them to work area.
If you can grab them before they jump.
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:11:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
You should note what came from where, a very simple way to document it all is to video the disassembly, then you can refer back when rebuilding it.
Without one storing the screws usually isn't the issue for me, it's
finding where they've hidden them under pads/stickers/trim on the
laptop.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:11:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-19 04:42, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>>>> all the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is >>>>>>> a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD Upgrade Memory Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops >>>>>> - not accessible easily these days)
*cannot* do themselves Open the fucking thing up without destroying
it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused muffin >>> tin
to confine them to work area.
If you can grab them before they jump.
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
You should note what came from where, a very simple way to document it all
is to video the disassembly, then you can refer back when rebuilding it.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:11:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-19 04:42, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>>>> all the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is >>>>>>> a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD Upgrade Memory Apply new CPU thermal paste
Clean internal fan Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops >>>>>> - not accessible easily these days)
*cannot* do themselves Open the fucking thing up without destroying
it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused muffin >>> tin
to confine them to work area.
If you can grab them before they jump.
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
You should note what came from where, a very simple way to document it all
is to video the disassembly, then you can refer back when rebuilding it.
Service manuals tell you all that anyway, and I already posted a link to
the service manual for this laptop. Without one it can be hard, but with
a good manual like that everything's much easier.
Without one storing the screws usually isn't the issue for me, it's
finding where they've hidden them under pads/stickers/trim on the
laptop.
Oh you unfamiliar with the concept! A muffin tin is a bakingtool
has a number of cups to hold the muffin dough. So that one tin has from
8 to 12 cups on it and the fewer cups, the larger the individual cup are
so that your screws have plenty of space>
On 20 Jul 2025 09:55:51 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
Without one storing the screws usually isn't the issue for me, it's
finding where they've hidden them under pads/stickers/trim on the
laptop.
It was so long ago I don't even remember what it was, maybe a Cpmpaq, but
I managed to pour half a cup of coffee on a laptop keyboard. Replacement wasn't difficult -- as long as you had the secret guide to the concealed fasteners.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:43:11 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Oh you unfamiliar with the concept! A muffin tin is a bakingtool
that
has a number of cups to hold the muffin dough. So that one tin has from
8 to 12 cups on it and the fewer cups, the larger the individual cup are
so that your screws have plenty of space>
That's fine until you knock the muffin tin off the workbench.
amazon.com/10-Piece-Magnetic-Holder-Stainless-Organization/dp/B08LG9M39F
Of course, that assumes the screws are magnetic. I recently assembled a PiDog.
https://docs.sunfounder.com/projects/pidog/en/latest/
I think the smallest screws were M1.5x3 and the largest were M3x6. All the fasteners were in separate ziplock bags and identified but keeping track
of them was fun. The magenetic holders saved me several times.
Unfortunately the plastic push rivets weren't magnetic but they were a little easier to keep track of.
My eyes and my patience ain't what they used to be.
The cat isn't sure what it is but suddenly decided it was time for a
stroll outside.
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:43:11 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Oh you unfamiliar with the concept! A muffin tin is a bakingtool
that
has a number of cups to hold the muffin dough. So that one tin has from
8 to 12 cups on it and the fewer cups, the larger the individual cup are
so that your screws have plenty of space>
That's fine until you knock the muffin tin off the workbench.
amazon.com/10-Piece-Magnetic-Holder-Stainless-Organization/dp/B08LG9M39F
Of course, that assumes the screws are magnetic. I recently assembled a PiDog.It shows good sense
https://docs.sunfounder.com/projects/pidog/en/latest/
I think the smallest screws were M1.5x3 and the largest were M3x6. All the fasteners were in separate ziplock bags and identified but keeping track
of them was fun. The magenetic holders saved me several times.
Unfortunately the plastic push rivets weren't magnetic but they were a
little easier to keep track of.
My eyes and my patience ain't what they used to be.
The cat isn't sure what it is but suddenly decided it was time for a
stroll outside.
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
On 2025-07-19 14:11, Carlos E.R. wrote:
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So
using a single tin is problematic.
I use a large clutter free workspace like, say, a cleared kitchen
worktop, and as I remove the screws I place them within named circles on
a sheet of paper which I place slightly apart from the rest of the work
so that it will not be disturbed - depending on the laptop usually you'll need circles such as Keyboard, Palm Rest, HD, DVD, Screen, Base, etc. That way I know which screws belong where, regardless of slight differences is length or thread, etc.
On 7/19/25 06:36, Simon wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:11:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-19 04:42, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of laptops
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you could send it to >>>>>>>> all the peole here who thingk that replacing a screen and cable is >>>>>>>> a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD Upgrade Memory Apply new CPU thermal paste >>>>>>> Clean internal fan Change keyboard (but very rarely!!)
Change battery (but requires unscrewing the old one on thin laptops >>>>>>> - not accessible easily these days)
*cannot* do themselves Open the fucking thing up without destroying >>>>>> it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused muffin >>>> tin
to confine them to work area.
If you can grab them before they jump.
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
Oh you unfamiliar with the concept! A muffin tin is a baking tool that has a
number of cups to hold the muffin dough. So that one tin has from 8 to 12 cups on it and the fewer cups, the larger the individual cup are so that your
screws have plenty of space>
You should note what came from where, a very simple way to document it
all
is to video the disassembly, then you can refer back when rebuilding it.
In any video the problem is distinguishing any tiny part from another.
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2025.07- Linux 6.12.39- Plasma 5.27.11
On Sun, 7/20/2025 1:29 AM, rbowman wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:43:11 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-robots-achieve-what-humans-never-will-assembling-an-ikea-chair-in-less-than-21-minutes
It took three years, to program the robot arms to assemble an Ikea chair (peg based).
(The "programming" being the sequential series of tools to allow the robot
to autonomously plan the whole project. It's not just playback of a fixed set of motions. The robots plan the whole thing for themselves. )
The robot goes all the way from comparing the pieces to a 3D library
of finished items, to determine what kind of object the parts
can be assembled to produce. Like other entities,
the robots did not read the instructions.
The putting-the-side-of-the-chair-on is pretty cool. With the
robot arms acting as "master" and "follow the leader".
And it didn't snap the pegs off. You would think in three years,
they would have trashed the chair several times while
attempting assembly.
On 2025-07-19 14:11, Carlos E.R. wrote:
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So
using a single tin is problematic.
I use a large clutter free workspace like, say, a cleared kitchen
worktop, and as I remove the screws I place them within named circles on
a sheet of paper which I place slightly apart from the rest of the work
so that it will not be disturbed - depending on the laptop usually you'll need circles such as Keyboard, Palm Rest, HD, DVD, Screen, Base, etc. That way I know which screws belong where, regardless of slight differences is length or thread, etc.
On 2025-07-20 06:43, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/19/25 06:36, Simon wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 15:11:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-19 04:42, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 7/18/25 15:31, Paul wrote:
On Fri, 7/18/2025 5:05 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 18/07/2025 21:24, Jack wrote:
On 18/07/2025 11:11, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Unfortunately all these require one thing most users of
So if it is *merely* a display problem perhaps you
could send it to all the peole here who thingk that
replacing a screen and cable is a doddle..:-)
The thing(s) most users of laptops can do themselves
are:
Change/upgrade HDD/SSD Upgrade Memory Apply new CPU
thermal paste Clean internal fan Change keyboard (but
very rarely!!) Change battery (but requires unscrewing
the old one on thin laptops - not accessible easily
these days)
laptops *cannot* do themselves Open the fucking thing up
without destroying it!
Anything else requires careful cost/benefit analysis.
They're just screws, they won't bite :-)
No but they will roll away and hide. Use a clean unused
muffin tin to confine them to work area.
If you can grab them before they jump.
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length.
So using a single tin is problematic.
Oh you unfamiliar with the concept! A muffin tin is a baking tool
that has a number of cups to hold the muffin dough. So that one
tin has from 8 to 12 cups on it and the fewer cups, the larger the
individual cup are so that your screws have plenty of space>
Oh, language problem here. I did not realize what muffin tin you were
talking about. English is not my first language.
Ice cube boxes :-) Or egg boxes.
I had forgotten them.
In my 20x I could disassemble something and remember where everything
went. Not any longer.
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
In my 20x I could disassemble something and remember where everything
went. Not any longer.
On 2025-07-19 14:11, Carlos E.R. wrote:
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
I use a large clutter free workspace like, say, a cleared kitchen
worktop, and as I remove the screws I place them within named circles on
a sheet of paper which I place slightly apart from the rest of the work
so that it will not be disturbed - depending on the laptop usually
you'll need circles such as Keyboard, Palm Rest, HD, DVD, Screen, Base,
etc. That way I know which screws belong where, regardless of slight differences is length or thread, etc.
On 2025-07-20 13:34, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 7/20/2025 1:29 AM, rbowman wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:43:11 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-robots-achieve-what-
humans-never-will-assembling-an-ikea-chair-in-less-than-21-minutes
It took three years, to program the robot arms to assemble an Ikea
chair (peg based).
(The "programming" being the sequential series of tools to allow the
robot
to autonomously plan the whole project. It's not just playback of a
fixed set
of motions. The robots plan the whole thing for themselves. )
The robot goes all the way from comparing the pieces to a 3D library
of finished items, to determine what kind of object the parts
can be assembled to produce. Like other entities,
the robots did not read the instructions.
The putting-the-side-of-the-chair-on is pretty cool. With the
robot arms acting as "master" and "follow the leader".
And it didn't snap the pegs off. You would think in three years,
they would have trashed the chair several times while
attempting assembly.
Wow.
On 2025-07-19 14:11, Carlos E.R. wrote:
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So
using a single tin is problematic.
I use a large clutter free workspace like, say, a cleared kitchen
worktop, and as I remove the screws I place them within named circles on
a sheet of paper which I place slightly apart from the rest of the work
so that it will not be disturbed - depending on the laptop usually you'll need circles such as Keyboard, Palm Rest, HD, DVD, Screen, Base, etc. That way I know which screws belong where, regardless of slight differences is length or thread, etc.
On 7/20/25 12:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-20 13:34, Paul wrote:
On Sun, 7/20/2025 1:29 AM, rbowman wrote:
On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 21:43:11 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
absolutely nothing as far as I can recall about this topic.>
Robots are slowly increasing their capacities for making things but unlike many other entities I read the instructions and in less than 8 hours with the help of a second pair of hands assembled my new bed frame
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-robots-achieve-what- humans-never-will-assembling-an-ikea-chair-in-less-than-21-minutes
It took three years, to program the robot arms to assemble an Ikea chair (peg based).
(The "programming" being the sequential series of tools to allow the robot >>> to autonomously plan the whole project. It's not just playback of a fixed set
of motions. The robots plan the whole thing for themselves. )
The robot goes all the way from comparing the pieces to a 3D library
of finished items, to determine what kind of object the parts
can be assembled to produce. Like other entities,
the robots did not read the instructions.
The putting-the-side-of-the-chair-on is pretty cool. With the
robot arms acting as "master" and "follow the leader".
And it didn't snap the pegs off. You would think in three years,
they would have trashed the chair several times while
attempting assembly.
Wow.
which is all metal with a lot of parts. I need the second pair of hands
to remove the old mattress as I no longer have the strength to do so alone. That was in 2022.
A robot to help would be very useful but would be out of my
price range for a long time to come.
bliss
There are people on USENET, who have more than one robot, and they're
first generation and just awful. This is one of the disadvantages of
being an early adopter. The first generation robots, a lot of them were "greeters", that could barely bring a tray to your table with your meal.
And they weren't cheap either.
There is that sinking feeling when you have everything buttoned up and realize you have a screw left over. That's when you start singing the
old Meatloaf song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVvXWUAKtus
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
On Sun, 20 Jul 2025 13:41:03 +0100, Java Jive wrote:
On 2025-07-19 14:11, Carlos E.R. wrote:
[screws]
Also, not all of them are the same thread, or the same length. So using
a single tin is problematic.
I use a large clutter free workspace like, say, a cleared kitchen
worktop, and as I remove the screws I place them within named circles on
a sheet of paper which I place slightly apart from the rest of the work
so that it will not be disturbed - depending on the laptop usually
you'll need circles such as Keyboard, Palm Rest, HD, DVD, Screen, Base,
etc. That way I know which screws belong where, regardless of slight
differences is length or thread, etc.
One word -- cat
On 2025-07-21 11:41, Daniel70 wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
Assembling a robot is just following instructions. Robots programming
robots would be the important trick.
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots. Unfortunately
I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the
robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since
robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen
lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon.
It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots. Unfortunately
I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the
robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since
robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen
lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon.
It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe, in which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a positronic mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a robot, of any shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
On Mon, 7/21/2025 1:55 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots. Unfortunately >>> I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title might >>> be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the
robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since
robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen
lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon.
It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe, in which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a positronic mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a robot, of any shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
It's not red. It is perhaps not finished (sitting in draft?).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Isaac_Asimov%27s_Robot_City
Here is a video with some self-assembling robots. One robot
has managed to stack a second robot, which begins to move. Presumably
the footing they are working on top of, exists for environments which
lack gravity.
MIT Center for Bits and Atoms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94FDMGLwCc
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots. Unfortunately
I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the
robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since
robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen
lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon.
It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe, in
which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a positronic
mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a robot, of any shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
On 22/07/2025 3:55 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:Not RED for me. Clicking your link takes we to a page which shows ....
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of
Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots. Unfortunately >>> I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title
might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the
robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since
robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen
lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon.
It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe, in
which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a positronic
mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a robot, of any
shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
Quote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robot City may refer to:
Robot City, a fictional city in the 2005 Blue Sky Studios film Robots
* Isaac Asimov's Robot City, a series of science fiction novels * written by multiple authors, inspired by Isaac Asimov's Robot series.
Robot City (game), a computer game developed by Brooklyn Multimedia and released in 1995, based on the book series
On 2025-07-22 11:57, Daniel70 wrote:
On 22/07/2025 3:55 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:Not RED for me. Clicking your link takes we to a page which shows ....
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of >>>>> Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots.
Unfortunately
I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title
might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the >>>> robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take
apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since >>>> robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen >>>> lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon. >>>> It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe, in
which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a positronic
mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a robot, of
any shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
Quote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robot City may refer to:
Robot City, a fictional city in the 2005 Blue Sky Studios film
Robots
* Isaac Asimov's Robot City, a series of science fiction novels *
written by multiple authors, inspired by Isaac Asimov's Robot series.
Robot City (game), a computer game developed by Brooklyn >> Multimedia and released in 1995, based on the book series
The link marked with ** above shows in red to me.
Screenshot: <https://paste.opensuse.org/29f504172f63>
On 22/07/2025 8:08 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:Not for me.
On 2025-07-22 11:57, Daniel70 wrote:From that page ....
On 22/07/2025 3:55 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-21 19:35, Charlie Gibbs wrote:Not RED for me. Clicking your link takes we to a page which shows ....
On 2025-07-21, Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> wrote:
On 20/07/2025 9:34 pm, Paul wrote:
<Snip>
Your first robot, should have been one with hands,
so it could assemble your other robots for you.
Hmmm! Robots assembling Robots!! Isn't that part of the backstory of >>>>>> Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" string of films??
I once read a short story about robots assembling robots.
Unfortunately
I can remember neither the author nor the title (although the title >>>>> might
be something like "How the World Ended"). The basic idea was that the >>>>> robots had an overriding desire to build more robots, and would take >>>>> apart other machinery to get parts. This brought an end to war, since >>>>> robots would disassemble weapons to get parts to build more robots.
In the end robots became a sort of natural resource: take half a dozen >>>>> lower halves of robots, lay a plank across them, and you have a wagon. >>>>> It was a clever story; I wish I could find it again.
I remember another history, set in the Asimov Robot City universe,
in which there were robot cells. Put many together, throw a
positronic mind, and a power cell, and it would shape itself into a
robot, of any shape.
No wikipedia article, funny. The link is red.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_City
Quote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robot City may refer to:
Robot City, a fictional city in the 2005 Blue Sky Studios film >>> Robots
* Isaac Asimov's Robot City, a series of science fiction novels * >>> written by multiple authors, inspired by Isaac Asimov's Robot series.
Robot City (game), a computer game developed by Brooklyn >>> Multimedia and released in 1995, based on the book series
The link marked with ** above shows in red to me.
Screenshot: <https://paste.opensuse.org/29f504172f63>
"Blue Sky Studios", "Robots", "Isaac Asimov's Robot City", "Isaac
Asimov's Robot series", "Robot City (game)", "disambiguation" and
"internal link" all show as Blue Clickable links for me.
On 2025-07-18 09:49, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-17 23:56, Robert wrote:
On 17/07/2025 12:00, Carlos E.R. wrote:
or...
I could simply use my good laptop, moving it around when needed,
instead of purchasing anything. My old laptop was very good for this
usage because it existed, it was a way of using old hardware past its
time. Now that it doesn't work, I can use my working, good, laptop
instead. I have to move it each time, but I save on having to maintain
more hardware or buying hardware.
I can try it out today.
I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
My desktop computer display has a VGA entry, but it is the one with
three rows of pins, the same as in the vga cards, so that the cable I
found would not fit, because in the monitor end it has 2 rows, and on
the PC end 3 rows. I would need a cable with 3 pin rows on each end.
So I dug out an old monitor that has a VGA cable attached (no plug on
the display end). Actually, it is the first flat display I bought,
second hand. They were very expensive at first. Connected it to the old laptop, powered every thing, and after reseating a power connector, the display did display the correct output. Fantastic that it did so automatically. Only that the monitor is 3/4, and the laptop has the
modern form aspect, so a bit was lost to the right.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running XFCE session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
On 2025-07-18 11:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:[...]
[...]I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running XFCE session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
I just learnt that you can not remove an ADE (Adobe Digital Editions) registration remotely. You can register or authorize up to 6 devices or computers with ADE, and you need the actual machine running to remove an authorization. If the computer dies, the authorization holds. The only resource is to go to https://www.adobe.com/es/about-adobe/contact.html
and ask them to reset ALL your authorizations.
So I have to power up again this lapptop, connect it to the external display, fire up the Windows side, open up ADE, and press Ctrl + Shift +
D and follow the dialogue instructions.
[...]
Done, on the next day.
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-07-18 11:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:[...]
[...]I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running XFCE
session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
I just learnt that you can not remove an ADE (Adobe Digital Editions)
registration remotely. You can register or authorize up to 6 devices or
computers with ADE, and you need the actual machine running to remove an
authorization. If the computer dies, the authorization holds. The only
resource is to go to https://www.adobe.com/es/about-adobe/contact.html
and ask them to reset ALL your authorizations.
So I have to power up again this lapptop, connect it to the external
display, fire up the Windows side, open up ADE, and press Ctrl + Shift +
D and follow the dialogue instructions.
[...]
Done, on the next day.
That's quite bad. For a similar situation, F1 TV (Formula 1)
subscription, I can use it on a maximum of 6 devices at a time. If I
need to 'logout' an unavailable device, I can just use their web
interface to do so. Strange that Adobe doesn't have a similar facility.
⚠️ Important: This change **does not affect your authorizations orpurchased eBooks** — they remain linked to your **Adobe ID**, regardless
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-07-18 11:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:[...]
[...]I connected the old laptop to an VGA display.
The machine was actually hibernated, so it restored to the running XFCE >> > session, where I could find out what episode I was watching of
Montalbano. Wrote it down, and did the final power off sequence.
Farewell.
It is actually the first computer I own that actually fails. I have
older machines still working, like an Amstrad PC 1512 DD.
I just learnt that you can not remove an ADE (Adobe Digital Editions)
registration remotely. You can register or authorize up to 6 devices or
computers with ADE, and you need the actual machine running to remove an
authorization. If the computer dies, the authorization holds. The only
resource is to go to https://www.adobe.com/es/about-adobe/contact.html
and ask them to reset ALL your authorizations.
So I have to power up again this lapptop, connect it to the external
display, fire up the Windows side, open up ADE, and press Ctrl + Shift +
D and follow the dialogue instructions.
[...]
Done, on the next day.
That's quite bad. For a similar situation, F1 TV (Formula 1)
subscription, I can use it on a maximum of 6 devices at a time. If I
need to 'logout' an unavailable device, I can just use their web
interface to do so. Strange that Adobe doesn't have a similar facility.
### 🧠 Best Practice
* Consider using a **permanent email provider** (e.g. Gmail or Outlook)
to avoid issues later.
In practice, if Google withdraw their email provision, it would cause
major world unrest. What they could always do, again to widespread displeasure but probably would be acceptable, is start charging for it - initially a small amount, maybe.
The _nearest_ you can come to a "permanent email address" is to register
your own domain, and (this is a _separate_ activity, though in many
cases handled by the same company for convenience) pay someone to handle
that domain for you, such as handle mail to it. This is permanent as
long as you keep paying the registration fee. (Even then there can be a _temporary_ interruption to your _use_ of it if you fall out with the
company handling it for you [or they go bust or otherwise cease to
operate satisfactorily]; if _you_ own the domain, you can switch hosting provider, though it will take some time.)
On Wed, 6 Aug 2025 23:39:16 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
In practice, if Google withdraw their email provision, it would cause
major world unrest. What they could always do, again to widespread
displeasure but probably would be acceptable, is start charging for it -
initially a small amount, maybe.
I think it is too woven into their entire infrastructure. I've had a gmail account from the days when it was by invitation. I don't use it directly; anything arriving in gmail is automatically pulled by my regular mail account. However that has become my Google identity in for phones,
Fitbit, and so forth.
I recently received email that an account we'd created when we were
testing Android tables had been inactive and was going to be deleted. i
don't have a clue what the password was so sayanora.
You could at least
get around not having a MS account to set up Windows but I don't know if
you could fire up a new tablet without a Google account.
On 7/08/2025 8:39 am, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
<Snip>
The _nearest_ you can come to a "permanent email address" is to registerIf that were the case (Current host going belly up,) would 'you' still
your own domain, and (this is a _separate_ activity, though in many
cases handled by the same company for convenience) pay someone to handle
that domain for you, such as handle mail to it. This is permanent as
long as you keep paying the registration fee. (Even then there can be a
_temporary_ interruption to your _use_ of it if you fall out with the
company handling it for you [or they go bust or otherwise cease to
operate satisfactorily]; if _you_ own the domain, you can switch hosting
provider, though it will take some time.)
have access to your information (to then transfer) or might that be
lost, too??
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
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