'Simple Tricks' with Old Hardware

'Simple Tricks' with Old Hardware

I am dismantling old my computers, just to save on electricity.

I have come to the last two out of the 10 or more computers, I had with our little Network.

The last one had lightening striking through its UPS.

UPS was gone but the computer was resuscitated but its cooling (only 64 bit computer I had that was used to test Linux DVDs, boots with 500 MiB RAM, not sufficient to boot most of the modern Linux DVDs) was faulty and the alarm bell goes in half an hour of working time.

I tested it after about three months and it was not booting with its CMOSE battery dead.

I changed the little battery and tested its RAM, Graphic Card, cleaned it a bit and powered on and in seconds alarm bells went and burning smell was noted.

1. Old computers can catch fire.

2. Electric shocks are possible.

3. Hardwares with twisted wires can catch fire.

All the above, I have experienced during the last six months and I only work alone, when dismantling or repairing my computers with comfortable space around and no CHILDREN hovering nearby.

4. Lightening is a major hazard, with Telephone and Ethernet wires connected.

In fact our entire telephone system had to be re-wired recently after a major lightening episode.

Do not answer the land phone when there is lightening and one can go deaf.

So I quickly decided to rip through everything including the motherboard and removed the three fans to be donated to our bus driver (he boils himself in his driving seat) to fix them around him while driving as cooling fans.

5. I forgot to remove the DVD on the ROM.

When I was knew to hardware, I used to tear off the front door to take out a CD/DVD stuck there.

One does not need to do that.

There is a little hole in the front door.

Just shove in the needle and the door opens slightly and with the fingers one can open the door without breaking it.

I had six dismantled Roms and opened five of them but not the last one, the oldest model.

After few minutes of fiddling (it did not spring back) with the needle and my finger nails I opened it.

I found one DVD (Debian LXDE) in one of them.

The needle (one can use even a hairpin) is in all CD ROM boxes.

6. Three hard drives were my problem. I have run short of casings / enclaves for them but loaded them in plastic wrappers and put them in a plastic utility box to be erased when I Have time.

I have over 25 hard drives with no space to store.

7. So do not use your hard drives to save data.

Use them only for downloads and operating systems.

Transfer all the files to a Terra-Byte external disk or have a backup system.

I never use a back up system, simply because after using Linux I have not lost a single file for the last 15 years.

8 Booting problems.

My last computer is about to die but I will use it to its last breath.

Its boot record has gone berserk.

I use a live DVD to boot it.

In most of the Linux distribution there is option for live or from the hard drive boot.

I am using this method for the last four months since (I tried to modify the boot record but failed) any mistake from my part will kill it for good and I have to buy a new computer, which I am not inclined with my tablet and netbook still working well.

Soon I will be without a desktop but a cloud utility will take its place.

What a turnaround in my computer life.

I will have few bootable Flasdrives hanging around my neck with Multi-System booting utility.