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Eric Gets a Lappy?


V.T. Eric Layton

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V.T. Eric Layton

And another means to access the Internet, maybe...

 

I just inherited this HP 15-f272WM laptop from ladyfriend:

 

41-zyMZo0tL._AC_SX425_.jpg

 

HP 15-f272WM Specs: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04790128

 

Her complaint a year or so ago when she last used this little 'puter was that it was randomly shutting down after 10 minutes or so of usage. She'd then have to wait about 15 minutes to be able to reboot it. My guess, from this symptom, is that she was experiencing a thermal shutdown.

 

I'm going to pull this little guy apart and blow all the dust and other crud out of the fans and heat sink vent areas. It's probably impacted with all kinds of ca-ca that is preventing good air flow. If I'm right and this resolves the shutdown issues, I will WIPE WINDOWS INTO OBLIVION and install Slackware. This little lappy will run like the proverbial scalded dog with Slackware in it!

 

Oooh, YAY! I also actually have RAM and larger hard drives available out in my shop for this machine, if necessary. I haven't actually had a lappy in quite some time. I gave my last one away about 3 years ago. I don't really care for them... too small, don't like the keyboards, etc. Be nice to have a backup for this main system, though. Just in case of any further urges to wrestle with or dance any Irish jigs any time soon. ;)

 

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securitybreach
55 minutes ago, abarbarian said:

Neat gift. It will  certainly run like the wind with a ssd installed. 🤣

 

Well we have to get him to finally open it up and install the SSD that he has had for years ;)

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1 hour ago, securitybreach said:

 

Well we have to get him to finally open it up and install the SSD that he has had for years ;)

 

He has already committed to opening up the laptop😲

 

16 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

I'm going to pull this little guy apart

 

At that point swapping the drive would be almost automatic even for a Slackware user. 🫣

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securitybreach
3 minutes ago, abarbarian said:

 

He has already committed to opening up the laptop😲

 

 

At that point swapping the drive would be almost automatic even for a Slackware user. 🫣

 

Well we did try to convince him how much faster the SSD would be but you know Eric... :hysterical:

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securitybreach
6 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

If he's got  the laptop apart he absolutely should replace the HDD with his SSD. I've done that on a number of older laptops with good results.

 

Agreed. It will run at least 3x as fast, actually more as that one comes with a 5200rpm drive.

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V.T. Eric Layton
6 hours ago, abarbarian said:

run like the wind with a ssd installed. 🤣

 

Sadly, I can't fit that SSD into the laptop case. 

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securitybreach
2 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

Sadly, I can't fit that SSD into the laptop case. 

 

What do you mean? They are 2.5" drives just like a laptop drive.

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V.T. Eric Layton
7 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

What do you mean? They are 2.5" drives just like a laptop drive.

 

Oh, COOL! I hadn't realized that. Goes to show you how long ago this thing was put into the drawer. I have it in front of me right now... 250Gig 2.5" SSD. It's only half the capacity of the 500Gig mechanical that's in there already, but it might be worth the trade-off.

 

We'll see. I'm a bit burned out on 'putering and techie carp at the moment. I'll be taking a short break before I attempt anything with that lappy.

 

Thanks for alerting me to the SSD idea.

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securitybreach

Oh it very much worth the tradeoff

5 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

So, educate me... how do you set partitions and format SSDs? The same way as a mechanical drive?

 

Exactly the same way.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, that'll make it easy then, huh?

 

I wonder if this HP has any UEFI do-do on it. I've never dealt with that before.

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1 hour ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

So, educate me

 

Fdisk Command in Linux (Create Disk Partitions)

 

You can use gparted too. Personally I would go with GPT as opposed to MBR for the partitioning scheme. 😎

 

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs as I know you are a terminal ninja, just some info on the newer stuff you might not be so familiar with. 🫣

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V.T. Eric Layton

Didn't look useful to me; just confusing. I just want to start up my slackware iso and install it. Is that going to be a BIG AFFAIR because of the this UEFI carp?

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securitybreach
4 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Didn't look useful to me; just confusing. I just want to start up my slackware iso and install it. Is that going to be a BIG AFFAIR because of the this UEFI carp?

 

No as you can turn it off in the bios and boot legacy.

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https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:slackware_admin:installing_on_uefi_hardware

I would go into the BIOS and enable legacy support if possible. For sure you have UEFI if you have Windows. Many of these laptops have combined legacy / UEFI support. Also format your SSD as MBR. No need for GPT on a smaller disk.

I just checked the setup on my old HP and it does support legacy.

Edited by raymac46
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It looks as if wifi won't be much of a problem as this lappy has a Realtek chipset. Hopefully the old Slackware kernel works with it. At least it ain't Broadcom.

Chipset appears to be RTL8188EE.

Edited by raymac46
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V.T. Eric Layton
On 12/30/2023 at 9:53 AM, raymac46 said:

At least it ain't Broadcom.

 

Ah... but I had finally learned how to whip that Broadcom into shape in Slackware. I had to do it enough times back when I had three of for lappies here at my house. ;)

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V.T. Eric Layton

I'm really NOT in the mood for any more techie  carp with computers. I've had my fill this past week or so. It may be a while before I get energetic enough to piddle around with this laptop. Thanks for all the info, though. :)

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2 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

Ah... but I had finally learned how to whip that Broadcom into shape in Slackware. I had to do it enough times back when I had three of for lappies here at my house. ;)

Well the old school Broadcom drivers probably wouldn't work with the more modern Broadcom chipsets. You need to use this one or maybe this one.

 

https://www.slackwiki.com/Broadcom_Wireless

Edited by raymac46
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V.T. Eric Layton

Ruh-Roh! The little HP was ooogly inside. It had some burnt streaks on some of the pc boards and some thick gooey stuff here and there inside the unit. Looks as though  it had wine or soda or something like that spelled in it at some time. It's toast. I tried to get it to come on before I disassembled it, but it would just come on for a few seconds and then shut off. Me thinks it will be a leading candidate for the big blue garbage bin soon. I might pull the RAM (4GB PC3) and the hdd out of it first, though.

 

 

 

.

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securitybreach
11 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Ruh-Roh! The little HP was ooogly inside. It had some burnt streaks on some of the pc boards and some thick gooey stuff here and there inside the unit. Looks as though  it had wine or soda or something like that spelled in it at some time. It's toast. I tried to get it to come on before I disassembled it, but it would just come on for a few seconds and then shut off. Me thinks it will be a leading candidate for the big blue garbage bin soon. I might pull the RAM (4GB PC3) and the hdd out of it first, though.

 

The new to you laptop?? Damn

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V.T. Eric Layton

Yeah, well... she warned me that it had been screwed up since she had given it to her sister a year or so ago. I don't think she realized just how screwed up it was, though. That's OK, I didn't need a laptop, anyway. What I need is a new roof on my house... and SOON!

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securitybreach
18 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Yeah, well... she warned me that it had been screwed up since she had given it to her sister a year or so ago. I don't think she realized just how screwed up it was, though. That's OK, I didn't need a laptop, anyway. What I need is a new roof on my house... and SOON!

 

I assume you have another machine that you are using?

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V.T. Eric Layton

Yes, the revived undead ericsbane06. Have you not been reading my entertaining posts about getting that machine back up and running?

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securitybreach
9 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Yes, the revived undead ericsbane06. Have you not been reading my entertaining posts about getting that machine back up and running?

 

Ah yeah, I remember now. I already had a few drinks last night when I responded. ;)

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