Soul of an Old Machine

BB&C Topical SIG WorkshopMarch 2007Roger Bailey

Why Revitalize an old laptop

• Wife’s comments• Don’t bring home

junk• Obsolete and

useless• Waste of time and

money• Smells of mildew

and fungus• Get rid of it!

• My proposal• I inherited this laptop • Cost me nothing• We can stay in touch

while traveling• I always wanted a

laptop• Great project to

revitalize the machine

She is right of course but…it has a soul that needs to be saved

Toshiba Satellite CS 100 Laptop

• 100 MHz Pentium• 11.3” LCD screen• 775 MB HDD• 24 MB RAM• Li ion battery pack• Windows 95• Great laptop 10

years ago

Time’s have changed. Ten years is 4 computer generations

Limitations• Batteries dead, AC only, cmos dead• No CD R or W drive, limited I/O connectivity• No USB, no NIC, no Wi-Fi potential• Tiny HD, no more than a CD, no external HD• Tiny RAM, no picture capability• No Digital photography potential,• No PowerPoint for presentations• No Antivirus or security• No software upgrade capability, floppies only• WSIWIG ! Value = Utility / Cost

Specifications• Hardware

– 100 MHz Pentium– 11.3” LCD screen

• SVGA 800x600

– 775 Mb HDD– 24 Mb RAM– 3.5” FDD 1.44 Mb– Li ion battery pack– PCMCIA 28.8 modem– Mouse port– External monitor or

projector 1024 x 780

• Software– Windows 95– MS Office 97

• Word• Excel• Outlook Express• Scheduler• Access

– Internet Explorer– View 32

Objectives:Why Revitalize an old laptop?

• Musts: – E-mail and internet while away from home

• Wants:– Work on text, spreadsheets, and

presentations away from home – Connect to home network: router, high

speed internet, other computers, CD RW etc– Show pictures and presentations on

external monitors and projectors– Work as an unplugged portable – Add a better mouse

Objectives:Why Revitalize an old laptop?

• Desired (Faint Hopes): – Switch 3.5 FDD for CD R or RW– Upgrade tiny Hard Drive – Upgrade to better operating system– Connect to camera and download

pictures,– Transfer photos to CD– Wi-Fi for hot zones– Minimize loss of good money after badNew capable laptops now start at $700

Objectives:Why Revitalize an old laptop?

• Non Tangibles– It is an interesting opportunity and

challenge – Great learning experience – Revitalizes a wasted resource– Good for our souls

Because it’s there!

Testing

• Unplugged? No response. Batteries dead• Plugged in. Green power light on. Turned on.• Passed smoke test but….• Boot failure: Battery CMOS checksum errors• Pressed F1 for Setup, End to save and yes.• Successful boot and Windows 95 Startup

It works!

Revitalization

• The soul of the old machine revitalized by electrical jolt

• Major functions seemed normal but….

• “What kind of monster have I created” thought Dr. Frankenstein?

Further Testing: Software

• Windows 95 seemed to work as well as ever• Clock reset manually as CMOS battery was dead• Word and Excel handled test documents and

spreadsheets normally• Outlook Express was reset for my account and

checked email. PCMCIA model worked• Internet Explorer worked but dial up is so slow• Downloaded and installed PowerPoint 97 Viewer• MS Schedule removed from Start folder• Personalized: Names, log on etc. changed

Further Testing: Hardware• All three battery packs dead. Zero volts $$$• Screen dim and hard to read in some light• External monitor worked well to 1024x780• Accupoint worked but flakey. External mouse OK• PC Card 28.8 modem worked but slowly with

Telus dial up (I have 15 hours a month available)

Conclusion: It is a keeper!A functioning machine that satisfies my basic Must objectives and has some limited potential

Documentation• Google “Toshiba Satellite CS 110 Laptop”• Specifications found at Toshiba support site• Users Manual found at Toshiba archive sitehttp://209.167.114.38/support/download/files_Archive/Index/online_documentation.htm

• Compressed DOS format, interesting extraction

• Maintenance Manual found at http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/10129/TOSHIBA_toshiba_110cs.html

• Batteries, parts, accessories, etc found on eBay including laptop in working condition $20 + S&H

Limitations: WYSIWYG• Limited to old software and Windows 95• Internet, e-mail, documents and spreadsheets • No upgrade capability, no new programs• Limited to what is installed, no CD, no memory• No connectivity, no USB, no network card• No digital photography potential

– Download camera, edit, store, burn to a disc– Show as a slide show, modify photos

Connectivity Required

Network ConnectionWhat is possible / available

• Laplink parallel connection? Cable $• Direct Computer Connection? Cable $• I have a an RJ 45, CAT 5 cable and

router• Lykel had a PCMCIA 10/100Mbps NIC• D-Link DFE-690TXD CardBus PC Card• Will this work for me?

PCMCIA Network Interface D-Link DFE-690TXD CardBus PC

Card• Check D-Link site• http://support.dlink.com/ • Data sheet,specifications,

installation instructions and drivers

• W 98 or better specified but• W 95 drivers and instructions

available• W95_OSR2 folder with

NETLKR4.INF & DLKRCB.SYS

PCMCIA NIC Installation D-Link DFE-690TXD CardBus PC

Card• Card didn’t fit into slot fully• Subtle difference on edge lip• Easily modified to fit• Card not detected by W 95 Plug & Play

• Never modify an approved device!• CardBus are later PC cards, 32 bit, 3.3 volt• PC Card slots on CS 110 were 16 bit, 5 volt• Card was not suppose to fit!• Higher voltage blows the circuits!

3Com 10/100 FE574BT PCMCIA NIC + Dongle

• Other options?• Check Google & eBay• Cards existed• Old 16 bit W 95 NIC• eBay US$ 5.99 + $10 S&H• Ordered from EZcentral, Rochester NY• Software and documentation available?

3Com 3C3FE574B 10/100 Type III Lan PC Card

• Documentation and drivers from 3Com http://support.3com.com

• Installation Disk 3fe574b.exe • User Guide Manual 3c3fe574b/3c574.pdf• Quick Start Guide, FE574BT family

10040463_qsg.pdf• “C’est possible”

Test NIC Installation

• George lent me a suitable 16 bit W95 NIC

• Linksys EC2T PCMCIA Ethernet Card

W 95 Software Installation• Requires files on W 95 installation disks

– “Install WIN95 floppy 19” etc• George lent me a WIN 95 OSR2 CD, no

floppy version available• WIN 95 OSR2 CD has files like WIN_95.cab• CAB format is special 1.7 MB DMF• CAB files contain 5 MB of .dll, .exe, .vxd files

•MaxiDisk shareware formats 3.5” in DMF•CAB files from CD copied to DMF floppy•Required files not found on cab floppy!

W 95 Software Installation

• Could not find W95 installation disc 19 for required, in all

• Skipped forward to get a list of dll, vxd and exe files files required

• Checked W95OSR2 CD cab files• 1.67 MB cab files extracted to 5 MB of files• W95_19.cab contained a few of the files• W95_18.cab and W95_20.cab had the rest• Saved 39 files, 1.32MB on a floppy for laptop

Dealing with linksys Drivers

• Googled “Linksys PCMCIA ec2td drivers• http://www.pcdrivers.com/network2.htm • had a link for Win 95 drivers “ec2told.exe” ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/ec2told.exe• “ec2told.exe” extracts from 335 kb to 1.9

MB• WIN95B folder had: “ec2t.dos”, “es2t.sys”,

“netec24.inf” and “Readme.txt”, 96 kb total

NIC Software Installation• On laptop, Start, Control Panel, add

hardware, add network adapter• Found Linksys and Combi PCMCIA on list• Installed adapter drivers and TCP/IP• Linksys drivers on floppy were installed• W95 installation files were installed with

a few minor glitches• Ready for card and W95 networking

installation

Progress and Conclusions• Connectivity within reach• A useful portable returned to service• Must and Want Objectives satisfied• Great learning experience:

– DOS, W95 operating systems & drivers – PCMCIA cards and network interface– Files and formats: dmf, cab– eBay, PayPal, OEM support pages

Great BB&C club experience: Thanks!

–Lykel, George, Randy, etc