Is this old laptop worth salvaging

[Dry then Catch]

Toshiba Satellite 2590CDT

Its a Pentium II Celeron 400 mhz that I bought from a friend for a dinner and a signature on a wedding gift some years back. 

The AC Adapter is broken.
The battery has long ceased working, so I can't power it up to test it.  It worked a few years ago with XP believe it or not. 

I think there is 128MB of RAM.  There is only one low speed USB port.

I think I would spend about $120 in parts/upgrades + PC wireless card.  I hope the slot is the same as we use today. 

I would run Ubuntu or some Linux and hopefully its performance will improve.  Then just use open office/firefox/lightweight media players.  Maybe put some emulator games on it. 

I guess I'm asking if its worth the cost and effort.  And if I do go about doing this what would be the most efficient OS for my purposes.  Is there a way to scrimp on paying for batteries and AC adapters?  And also, would there be compatibility problems with Linux and the PC card?

[BigDun]

No

[Dry then Catch]

why not? 

is it because linux + old hardware + desired wireless capacity = more complicated than i realize? 

i read some stuff about how operating system Debian Etch is supposed to be good at running old systems, but I know nothing of the ins and outs of Linux. 

[Alice]

This would be a good game show.

[Jessie]

It could be one of those TLC/PBS type shows.

[Bennyhana]

I think it's because putting $120 into a laptop that old when you can get a new cheapass POS one on sale for like $300 doesn't make sense.

[BigDun]

I think it's because putting $120 into a laptop that old when you can get a new cheapass POS one on sale for like $300 doesn't make sense.

This, or buy a working old laptop with build in wireless off Craigslist or ebay for $100.

[Alice]

I need to start looking for a new laptop now.  This one is the offices and my supervisor sadly remembered that.

I asked her if she could figure out what she thinks is a fair asking price for it.  I may try and buy it off of them... or hope that the boss says I can just keep it because he's a fuckwit and what will they do with it anyway?

[meredith]

That's really, really old, catchr.  Even to throw Debian on it, you'll need to know what you're doing to pare down the installed software so it doesn't run miserably slow.



Compare that $120 with a $300-400 laptop like Benny said:

oh here's a Core 2 Duo T2370 laptop at Best Buy for 399.

Just in processing power alone, ignoring memory capacity and speed, and disk capacity and speed.

Pentium II 400, benchmarks at ~1,400 million instructions per second. (Edit: oh that's even a celeron 400, so even lower in practice.)

I don't have confirmed numbers but from what I know about architectural changes and extrapolating from a similar processor, the T2370 is going to run about 15,000 MIPS, per core.  That laptop has two.

You'll get much more out of your $120 if it goes toward a $400 new laptop.

[meredith]

simpler way of putting it into perspective:  that laptop is about to go over a decade in age.

[Infobahn]

"This Old Laptop" with Bob Villa

[Dry then Catch]

That's really, really old, catchr.  Even to throw Debian on it, you'll need to know what you're doing to pare down the installed software so it doesn't run miserably slow.



Compare that $120 with a $300-400 laptop like Benny said:

oh here's a Core 2 Duo T2370 laptop at Best Buy for 399.

Just in processing power alone, ignoring memory capacity and speed, and disk capacity and speed.

Pentium II 400, benchmarks at ~1,400 million instructions per second. (Edit: oh that's even a celeron 400, so even lower in practice.)

I don't have confirmed numbers but from what I know about architectural changes and extrapolating from a similar processor, the T2370 is going to run about 15,000 MIPS, per core.  That laptop has two.

You'll get much more out of your $120 if it goes toward a $400 new laptop.

I had previously installed XP and it worked well browsing the internet and viewing pictures.

Regardless thank you for your warnings, but I will sally forth.  I cannot bear to see it just sitting there and I can't throw it away.  Much like the noble true Aryan must throw off the shackles and preconceptions of the world's lesser races, the engineer must ignore the tittering of his  milquetoast IT cousins and claim his glory.

I will start small and just purchase an ac adapter to see if the damn thing will even boot up. 

[meredith]

windows XP? on a celeron 400 with 128MB of ram? we probably have different ideas of working well  ._.