Dec 24

Project 50/50 Part 2: Examining The Goods

In our introduction to Project 50/50, we talked about the basic specifications of the laptop, and about some upgrades that could happen in the future. Before all that happens though, we’ve got to be sure we’re starting with a solid foundation. Let’s face it: If the laptop is a piece of junk, the project will fail no matter what.

Before I purchased the v5000 laptop, I did some googling around and found reviews online that were done in 2006 when the laptop was new. It got overall good reviews, and was available in several configurations. The screen was noted for being a bit dim (I disagree) but otherwise looked to be solid. But that was 2006. This is almost 8 years later! A lot can happen in 8 years. So a full inspection of the laptop was in order.

Checking The Hardware

 

Dear Reader,

If this article series and this blog only serve to entrust you with a single bit of wisdom, may it be this: Never Trust Used Hardware! This specifically includes Hard Drives and Memory. Fortunately, there are many ways you can test both the Memory and Hard Drive. They are neither difficult or time consuming.

Most Linux distributions these days come with MemTest86+ installed as a boot option. I used this to test the memory. It only took half an hour, and the memory passed 100% with no failures. With that out of the way, I checked the Hard Drive.

This took a bit more work and detail but was worth it. I prefer to use http://gparted.org/‘s live CD. It works beautifully for everything from hard drive testing to copying data from dying hard drives to live ones.

I used the gparted live CD to run “dd” which is a Linux command for dumping data from one device or file to another device or file. In this case, I used it to read data from the laptop’s hard drive, (/dev/sda) and dump it into the bit bucket (nowhere, /dev/null) simply to see how quickly it was read and if there were any errors.

The hard drive read at a reasonable-but-not-great rate of 49MB/sec, and with no errors. I specifically checked the first 20GB of the disk. For the Linux nerds, the command I used was this:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/null bs=1024k count=20000

That’s “input file” of the hard drive, “output file” of /dev/null, block size of 1024k (1MB) and 20,000 of them (20GB). Here’s how it looks while it is running:

These two windows show the command and a script I use to give me a status every 10 seconds

These two windows show the command and a script I use to give me a status every 10 seconds. The speeds shown are on the 320GB drive I installed.

 

Unfortunately, I was none too happy with the results. 49MB/sec is not a great speed, but it is not horrible either. What bothered me more was the number of reallocated sectors on the disk. This indicates that certain spots on the disk have failed and have been moved for safety. Too many of those, and there are bound to be more.

In my cabinet though, was a Western Digital 320GB SATA 2.5″ hard drive. I installed it and re-ran the tests. There were also reallocated sectors, but fewer. One thing I found when replacing the disk though made me *very* glad I did. The 120GB drive is a Toshiba, and it is Referbished. Friends don’t let friends use refurbished hard drives!

The screen is in good shape, with a couple of minor scratches, and not really anything to be concerned with. My wife even commented that it was easy to look at.

Next up: Installing CrunchBang Linux from a USB Flash Drive.

Dec 23

Tech Tool Tidbit: Zim Desktop Wiki

wrenchIntroducing Ryan’s Tech Tool Tidbits. I’ve found some cool tools over time and I’ll share them here. If you have suggestions, please leave them in a comment or on our Facebook page.

I’d like to share with you a program I use for work and even for personal things: Zim Desktop Wiki. It’s a great tool because it is a small program to install, it works easily, and it has everything you’d want in a wiki. The best part: It’s free!

Once you install it, it starts with a blank notebook. A “notebook” is just a folder with a collection of files in it. You can have multiple notebooks, and each one is a separate wiki. To add content to a wiki, you just start typing. If you want to add another page, all you have to do is put a + in front of a word and press enter after it, and it becomes a hyperlink. Then you can click on it and add content to the new page you just made. It takes a little getting used to especially if you’ve never used a wiki before.

For me, my Zim Wiki is my memory. I have a terrible memory and at work, there are a ton of things to remember- everything from links to other sites, to complete bash scripts and everything in between. I also use it on my personal computer for remembering phone numbers and todo lists and the like.

What though, if you want to use it on multiple computers? The solution is easy. If you use Dropbox.com’s service, you can move the notebook to Dropbox and then open it from there. It works seamlessly and reliably.

There are version for Windows and Linux, and it’s possible to run it on a Mac as well.  Overall, it’s a tool I use every day and it works great for its purpose. I highly recommend it! 🙂

Download: http://zim-wiki.org/downloads.html

A fresh wiki, waiting for you to populate it.

A fresh wiki, waiting for you to populate it.

Dec 18

Project 50/50 – A Low Budget Linux Laptop Rebuild

For a long time, Linux advocates have said that Linux is great for reviving older computers, turning a slow obsolete computer into something worthwhile. Having been a Linux user for over 10 years, I have done this several times myself. Usually though, I have done it simply because I could. Maybe turning an old desktop into an ersatz server, such as the one I use in my home for DNS, Minecraft and more. Especially for older machines, I prefer Debian since it is lightweight and has all the packages I could possibly need.

Recently though, the need came up for a backup computer that I can use for work. My original plan was to get a 14″ or 15″ laptop with 2GB ram and a dual core processor that I could use Windows 7 or even Vista on. Most viable used laptops were in the $150-200 range.

I was discussing this with one of my work mates, and he reminded me of CrunchBang Linux– a lightweight distribution based on Debian. He ran it for some time on an Atom powered netbook with 1GB ram with great success. We talked about it some more and I picked his brain. It’s compatible with the VPN setup my employer uses, and there’s support from the company to get it running if need be. Even better, I could lower my requirements for hardware and thus spend less of my hard earned cash!

Thus began Project 50/50. The goal is to acquire a suitable laptop for $50 or less, and make the necessary upgrades for another $50 or less.

The first thing I had to do was set some basic requirements. After a bit of research, I settled on the following:

  • 15″ Screen, wide format if possible
  • 1GB RAM
  • SATA Hard Drive
  • Undamaged (no basket cases!)
Dog at my keyboard!

Works great as long as you only use some letters.

I started searching on Craigslist. It took a lot of searching to find what I was looking for. The range of available computers was astounding. For $60 I could get a Windows 98 laptop: “Works good as new!” “Perfect for college students”…. right. If that college student were to be graduating in 1999! Other laptops were missing hard drives, had destroyed screens, keyboards that had had the keys eaten off by puppies, the whole nine yards. But one low priced laptop popped up, met my requirements, and was priced right.

  • Compaq v5000
  • 15″ Wide format Screen 1280×800
  • 120GB SATA HDD
  • 1.5GB RAM
  • $40+15 shipping
A stock photo of the Compaq Presario v5000.

A stock photo of the Compaq Presario v5000.

With shipping, it busted my budget by $5. Given that the same model sells online for more than twice the price, and I’d have had to spend $20 in fuel to go get it, I thought it was a great deal.

Now, there’s one detail that I’ve left out so far, and you might be wondering why I haven’t mentioned the processor. I aim to prove a point with this project, and that’s that I can make this project work with any processor within the range of the other specifications I need. The Celeron 1.46ghz in the laptop will test this out for sure!

I also mentioned “necessary upgrades” that I allotted $50 for. Pretty much any used laptop (especially one a few years old) is going to have a dead battery and I will need a new one. I intend to get a 8800mah battery. They can be had on Amazon for under $40. I also don’t trust the wifi on the laptop to keep a good signal in all situations, so I will spend some money on an external USB wireless adapter with some real horsepower.

For the next installment of Project 50/50, we’re going to examine the goods, make some changes, and get Linux going.  Continue to Project 50/50 Part 2: Examining The Goods