So I repaired an old laptop
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Yep, I have an ancient Pentium II laptop, I think it is, 300 MHz CPU, 160 MB Ram, 40GB hard disk and no SSE even. If my software will run on that, it will run on *anything*. XP is the latest thing it can cope with so that's handy for testing too.
Paul Sanders. If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal. Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.
Paul Sanders (the other one) wrote:
XP is the latest thing it can cope with
You can use Tiny Core Linux 14 too if you want a more recent OS: IBM ThinkPad 560Z Core Project Pentium II[^] Maybe you could even have a GUI with 160 MB of RAM... I'm using the Core version with the terminal only since I have only 64 MB.
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Paul Sanders (the other one) wrote:
XP is the latest thing it can cope with
You can use Tiny Core Linux 14 too if you want a more recent OS: IBM ThinkPad 560Z Core Project Pentium II[^] Maybe you could even have a GUI with 160 MB of RAM... I'm using the Core version with the terminal only since I have only 64 MB.
Thanks. That's (potentially) interesting, actually, because I have vague plans to port my software (VinylStudio) to Linux and it would be a good 'challenged' test platform.
Paul Sanders. If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal. Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote:
I got the case open and the old battery removed after some difficulty
If a laptop needs any tool at all to remove the battery...that's a design fail in my book. I haven't bought a laptop in over a decade for that reason.
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Why can't you just securely erase all your private stuff on the drives, leaving a working operating system? Who on earth would want an old laptop without a drive?
Discarding a computer of any sort with a drive in it should be considered a security problem. Removing it and destroying the drive is one option. Securely erasing it is another option but doing that requires that you find software to do that (compatible with os/hardware) and then actually get it on to the computer. This also presumes that the computer still runs. And with a laptop there might be concern about how old the battery is.
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Myself I wouldn't want the battery to come out too easily. I have a remote where the battery cover has disappeared. Certainly would not want to deal with that on a laptop.
Never in my life have I ever seen a laptop battery just "fall out", even with old laptops with physically worn out parts. Usually you have to hold a button or slide a switch to unlock the battery. Not exactly a fair comparison to look at a remote control, and hope the same thing doesn't happen with a laptop.
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Partially, at least. I have my dad's old Lenovo Yoga 2 11, and the battery had failed. Thankfully replacement batteries are relatively cheap, so I ordered one and a tool to open the case. I got the case open and the old battery removed after some difficulty (the screw in the middle of the battery was stuck, but I was able to grab it with some pliers and make it turn), and the new battery went in easily. Several keys on the keyboard don't work, but I have a number of external keyboards and mice from various presents over the years, so those work. I put Fedora on it, and am using it to pull up game guides while playing on my consoles.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question? The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism. Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Discarding a computer of any sort with a drive in it should be considered a security problem. Removing it and destroying the drive is one option. Securely erasing it is another option but doing that requires that you find software to do that (compatible with os/hardware) and then actually get it on to the computer. This also presumes that the computer still runs. And with a laptop there might be concern about how old the battery is.
You can use a live install CD and "dd" to overwrite the disk sufficiently to ensure it's not recoverable - with some caveats: 1) If the disk is SSD - then the wear levelling makes it impossible to guarantee deletion, short of using the manufacturers utility for the purpose (if you can get it). 2) There are variations on what you need to do, depending on the age, the ACSC ISM says this:
Control: ISM-0354; Revision: 6; Updated: Dec-21; Applicability: All; Essential Eight: N/A
Non-volatile magnetic media is sanitised by overwriting it at least once (or three times if pre-2001 or under 15 GB) in its entirety with a random pattern followed by a read back for verification.- It takes hours to delete the disk - so unless you plan to re-use it, physical destruction is usually easier. This page decribes how to use dd as hinted earlier. [How to Wipe Hard Drive Clean Using dd Command in Linux - LookLinux](https://www.looklinux.com/how-to-wipe-hard-drive-clean-using-dd-command-in-linux/)
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You can use a live install CD and "dd" to overwrite the disk sufficiently to ensure it's not recoverable - with some caveats: 1) If the disk is SSD - then the wear levelling makes it impossible to guarantee deletion, short of using the manufacturers utility for the purpose (if you can get it). 2) There are variations on what you need to do, depending on the age, the ACSC ISM says this:
Control: ISM-0354; Revision: 6; Updated: Dec-21; Applicability: All; Essential Eight: N/A
Non-volatile magnetic media is sanitised by overwriting it at least once (or three times if pre-2001 or under 15 GB) in its entirety with a random pattern followed by a read back for verification.- It takes hours to delete the disk - so unless you plan to re-use it, physical destruction is usually easier. This page decribes how to use dd as hinted earlier. [How to Wipe Hard Drive Clean Using dd Command in Linux - LookLinux](https://www.looklinux.com/how-to-wipe-hard-drive-clean-using-dd-command-in-linux/)
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pmauriks wrote:
You can use a live install CD
I have at least one computer that does not and never did have a CD drive.
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But does it have a USB port you can plug a drive into. . drives are like $40 AUD nowadays.