Old Before Their Time

[raymac46]

I spent some time today fiddling around with two of the worst pieces ot IT crap I have left in the computer museum in the basement. They are truly obsolete - old before their time. They are netbooks and what's even more ironic is that they were bought with the intention of running Linux back in the day:

• Acer Aspire One 110L (2008) This is an 8.9 inch Atom N270 with Intel GMA 950 graphics and an Atheros wifi chip. It is about as Linux friendly as you can get, and Acer put the worst distro I have ever seen on it when new. It was called Linpus Light. It was Xfce but crippled so you'd never know what it was. This machine has had all sorts of 32 bit Linux on it and now runs AntiX. It only supports 32 bit. The hard drive is a weird slow SSD with a PATA interface. It has 8GB of capacity and is not upgradeable. Originally this machine came with 512 MB of RAM. I had to tear it down completely but I put in another MB so all the way up to 1,5 MB (wowee!) Upgraded its AntiX today and all is well.
  
• Dell Inspiron Mini 12 (2009.) My daughter got this one to try Linux -hated it and went back to Windows. Easy to see why. It is the most unfriendly Linux machine ever built. Atom Z540, 1 MB of RAM, not possible to upgrade. Poulsbo GMA500 graphics. No HD video, no 3D, It took years for Intel to even release a decent 2D driver. Oh yes and the worst strange Broadcom card you can imagine for wifi. I was running AntiX here but the upgrade totally trashed the wifi. Could not even find the wifi Interface. I eventually gave up and installed MX-16 32 bit and it works again. It's got a 12 inch screen but that is all you can say for it.
  

I think it's time these two went to the recycler. Well at least one of them.

Another irony is that I have an even older junker down there that is far less obsolete and more useful than the netbooks. It's a 2008 desktop that has a dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor, 6 GB of RAM and an older Nviidia discrete card. That one runs 64 bit software, can play music and videos perfectly. It's got Athheros based wifi that I chose and installed. It's aging far more gracefully than those 32 bit netbooks. Another example of how desktops last longer.

Edited April 13, 2017 by raymac46

[securitybreach]

Yeah, I would definitely trash those..

 

As far as desktops lasting longer, they do but there is a very good reason for this. Most desktops can be upgraded way past anything a laptop could handle. I bet if those netbooks had the same processor and ram, they would run just as nicely as the desktop does. With portability, you give up the power unless you buy one of those expensive and heavy desktop-grade laptops and those are really a waste IMO.

[raymac46]

The worst thing about the netbooks is that they are only 32 bit machines. I have a newer Atom netbook that supports 64 bit so it's a lot more future-proof. And of course the desktop is 64 bit.

[raymac46]

BTW I know that the AntiX upgrade that borked my wifi on the Mini 12 is specifically related to the Broadcom adapter - probably the firmware is messed up.

How do I know?

1. The Acer with an Atheros chipset just kept on truckin' after the upgrade.
   
2. I plugged in a USB wifi dongle with an Atheros chipset into the Mini 12 and after a bit of config, it worked fine.
   

[securitybreach]

The worst thing about the netbooks is that they are only 32 bit machines. I have a newer Atom netbook that supports 64 bit so it's a lot more future-proof. And of course the desktop is 64 bit.

 

That is incorrect as I have an HP Mini 110-3015dx with a 64bit Atom processor in it that I bought back in 2009. The problem is that the machine maxes out with 2gb of ram so it sits in a drawer unused.

 

There is something odd about it as Intel claims that the processor it 32bit but I had no problem running 64bit distros on it. I only found that out by accident when I booted a 64bit distro.

 

https://ark.intel.co...GHz-533-MHz-FSB

[raymac46]

Well mine are definitely 32 bit.

https://www.notebook...or.23718.0.html

If you try to run a 64 bit ISO it tells you it's a 32 bit machine. 64 bit will NOT boot.

My Toshiba NB305 is a 64 bit machine.and it has only 2 GB of RAM max.

http://www.informati...d/d-id/1085931?

 

The Mini 110-3015dx is the same as my NB305 with an Intel N450 in it. They came with 32 bit Windows 7 starter but are capable of 64 bit.

 

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c02251588

Edited April 13, 2017 by raymac46

[securitybreach]

Ah ok, the one I have also c ame with Win 7 starter 32bit but I wiped it and installed 64bit nix. I fully expected the netbook to give me that error but I was amazed when it went through.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

That Athlon 64 X2 processor was an outstanding processor.

[raymac46]

Ah ok, the one I have also c ame with Win 7 starter 32bit but I wiped it and installed 64bit nix. I fully expected the netbook to give me that error but I was amazed when it went through.

Yeah I wiped Win7 starter, put in a $50 SSD and installed MX-16. I was almost embarrassed to show it to my neighbor who gave it away to me.

[raymac46]

That Athlon 64 X2 processor was an outstanding processor.

Here's my post about the system when it was new.

 

http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=20441entry245962

[abarbarian]

That Athlon 64 X2 processor was an outstanding processor.

 

Yup my X2 system was donated to my sister after years of sterling service with me and she is quite happy with it.

[raymac46]

Granted a low spec netbook from 2010 with 2 GB of RAM isn't going to be much use as a production unit, but if all you want is something to toss in a backpack, send a few emails, maybe back up your digital photos, and do a quick web search -well the Toshiba will do that. All I have invested in it is a $50 SSD and that really improved its performance.

It's a good gadget to take on holidays - it has a keyboard for starters - and I never worry about theft or breakage.

In a pinch you could watch a YouTube video - but I don't think I'd want to watch "Titanic" or "Lawrence of Arabia."

Edited April 13, 2017 by raymac46

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I have two or three working X2 cores out in my shop should anyone need a replacement some day.

[securitybreach]

Granted a low spec netbook from 2010 with 2 GB of RAM isn't going to be much use as a production unit, but if all you want is something to toss in a backpack, send a few emails, maybe back up your digital photos, and do a quick web search -well the Toshiba will do that. All I have invested in it is a $50 SSD and that really improved its performance.

It's a good gadget to take on holidays - it has a keyboard for starters - and I never worry about theft or breakage.

In a pinch you could watch a YouTube video - but I don't think I'd want to watch "Titanic" or "Lawrence of Arabia."

 

I bought a 11" netboot last year with an Intel N2940 Quad-Core, 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (I upgraded to 8gb), 128 GB Solid State Drive, etc,

in it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AS3B79G

[raymac46]

Looks like a nice notebook. Considerably more powerful than the netbooks back in the day.

If I had a serious need for a travel notebook I'd get one of these.

https://www.tte.ca/computers/laptop-computers/dell-xps-129q33-309748

[raymac46]

I am still playing around with this Linux unfriendly Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook. I tried the latest AntiX release but I just cannot configure the wifi properly. MX-16 works but it's a bit on the heavy side for such a low spec system.

So I have installed Lubuntu 17.04. Of course the wifi wouldn't work but I expected that since it's Ubuntu and the wifi drivers aren't installed if they are proprietary. I used a wire to get the system working, used the Driver Manager and voila! the Broadcom wifi works. Posting wirelessly from the Dell right now.

I am a bit of a hoarder but I hate to trash a working system even if it's old and slow. I can test out 32 bit distros on these old netbooks as long as the distros are available and the netbooks are functional.

[raymac46]

Actually I like Lubuntu on this old netbook. It seems quite polished and stable and it's only using about 240 MB of RAM with the System Monitor running.

I don't think I'll be running too many browser tabs at once though.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'm not one of those 50+ open tab geeks. At most, I have 5 or 6 open at a time... more often 2 or 3.

[securitybreach]

I'm not one of those 50+ open tab geeks. At most, I have 5 or 6 open at a time... more often 2 or 3.

 

I usually have at least 50 tabs open at a time.

[Hedon James]

Actually I like Lubuntu on this old netbook. It seems quite polished and stable and it's only using about 240 MB of RAM with the System Monitor running.

I don't think I'll be running too many browser tabs at once though.

 

That seems a little on the high side for Lubuntu, IMO. It seems like the less RAM a machine has, the more likely it is to "hold onto" it, so maybe that helps explain it. But the majority of machines in my house hover around 170MB-190MB of RAM at default, from cold boot, INCLUDING conky and compton in startup. I used "top" in CLI, but I can't imagine System Monitor accounts for the difference.

 

If you're happy with the 240MB RAM usage, that's certainly nothing to sneeze at. But it seems like you could lower that even further if you wanted to...IMO...

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I'm not one of those 50+ open tab geeks. At most, I have 5 or 6 open at a time... more often 2 or 3.

 

I usually have at least 50 tabs open at a time.

 

Well, you were the geek I was thinking of when I posted that number.

[goretsky]

Hello,

 

There are several reports that the 8GB PATA SSD in the Acer Aspire ONE can be removed and replaced with a low-profile 1.8" ZIF HDD. Here's a report where someone replaced one with a 60GB HDD: https://tnkgrl.com/2008/08/16/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hard-drive/. There are also some reports of using a ZIF to CF adapter, etc.

 

I have a few Lenovo X1nn series notebook computers (X100e, X120e, X140e) which are netbooks in all but name (11.6" screen). Interestingly enough, they can be upgraded to 8GB (X100e) or 16GB (X120e and later). The X140e may even take 32GB (2×16GB DDR3L SO-DIMMs), although I've never bothered to test. The X100e was tremendously under-powered and notable for running quite hote, but the newer models (X120e, X121e, X130e, X131e, X140e) are okay for basic computing tasks. The X130e and up were marketed heavily to primary (K-12) schools and are semi-ruggedized. If you come across a used model and are looking for an inexpensive netbook, one of them would probably work. They came with both Intel and AMD CPUs, with the former being slightly faster, while the latter having better graphics and, in some cases, longer battery life.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[raymac46]

Thanks Aryeh. Looks like these ZIF mini-drives were designed for iPods so they could fit.

[raymac46]

Upon further reflection I tink both of these 32 bit junkers would be best served by Lubuntu. AntiX (unlike the much better behaved MX-16) just doesn't seem stable enough. A tleast with Lubuntu 17.04 I'll have over a year of support and that's about all you could want with these old machines as far as life expectancy goes.

I have had one problem with the Acer though. It has an SD card which gives a bit extra memory and the Lubuntu installer wants to put GRUB on it rather than /dev/sda. So I pulled it out and am repeating the install. That's easier than trying to repair the bootloader. Had enough of that the last couple of days.