best cheap/free scores 1.1

[mockingbird]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I tried the latest DD-WRT on an Asus RT-N12B. I wasn't impressed. I switched to a very new custom release of TomatoUSB and it worked great.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

the last router i ran ddwrt on did it well till it died... and a recap didn't save it.

granted, it was ddwrt lite

for now I have the Belkin N hooked up, DHCP off, N only. the netgear is doing all the routing since other in the house are using the internet and I can't take the system offline at the moment...

debating with myself on whether to dd-wrt the linksys or not...

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i successfully dd-wrt'd the linksys... dd-wrt lite that is.

edit- so far, so good!

[ncovert]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

poor thing would have gotten destroyed because that thrift store loves to destroy things so people won't want them

Jeez, why would that thrift store do something like that?
Thats stupid!

[dood]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Currently typing on a Dell Studio 1735 that I got for free. Hard drive and memory had been stripped. Had a note on it that the motherboard was bad, but I decided to check it out. Found that it would not detect a known good HD. I suspect that the goofy proprietary sata adaptor is bad.

So, this laptop is so beastly, it has a spot for a second hard drive (which uses a different kind of goofy SATA adaptor). I moved the drive over to there, and hey presto, a working laptop. I'm going to order a replacement primary adaptor, as well as the real secondary drive mounting kit, so that I have both.

Not a bad machine for free.... C2D 2.0ghz, Intel 965 graphics... runs Windows 7 just fine. I'll have to pick up some DDR2 to put in it, since I'm borrowing some for now just to test.





(And yes, I have the drive Scotch-taped into its spot, since Dell saw fit to use two different drive cages, as well as two different connectors...)

[ratdude747]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Currently typing on a Dell Studio 1735 that I got for free. Hard drive and memory had been stripped. Had a note on it that the motherboard was bad, but I decided to check it out. Found that it would not detect a known good HD. I suspect that the goofy proprietary sata adaptor is bad.

So, this laptop is so beastly, it has a spot for a second hard drive (which uses a different kind of goofy SATA adaptor). I moved the drive over to there, and hey presto, a working laptop. I'm going to order a replacement primary adaptor, as well as the real secondary drive mounting kit, so that I have both.

Not a bad machine for free.... C2D 2.0ghz, Intel 965 graphics... runs Windows 7 just fine. I'll have to pick up some DDR2 to put in it, since I'm borrowing some for now just to test.





(And yes, I have the drive Scotch-taped into its spot, since Dell saw fit to use two different drive cages, as well as two different connectors...)

nice.

Spec wise, similar to a D830 minus the multiple hdd locations.

nice.

looks cool to me.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Currently typing on a Dell Studio 1735 that I got for free. Hard drive and memory had been stripped. Had a note on it that the motherboard was bad, but I decided to check it out. Found that it would not detect a known good HD. I suspect that the goofy proprietary sata adaptor is bad.

So, this laptop is so beastly, it has a spot for a second hard drive (which uses a different kind of goofy SATA adaptor). I moved the drive over to there, and hey presto, a working laptop. I'm going to order a replacement primary adaptor, as well as the real secondary drive mounting kit, so that I have both.

Not a bad machine for free.... C2D 2.0ghz, Intel 965 graphics... runs Windows 7 just fine. I'll have to pick up some DDR2 to put in it, since I'm borrowing some for now just to test.

(And yes, I have the drive Scotch-taped into its spot, since Dell saw fit to use two different drive cages, as well as two different connectors...)

~Finally~, a laptop with 2x HDDs stock.

So tell me,,,, Does the BIOS let you put them in RAID 1?
.

[dood]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Pretty much the same specs as my d620 that I use at work, as well. You can use a second hard drive with that machine, but only with the special media bay adaptor. The Studio has a slot-load DVD drive, so no media bay.

Also, the battery is shot... I dunno if I feel like replacing it right now, though. For the most part, this machine is just going to sit on my desk and be used as a 2nd PC when I'm gaming on my primary.

[dood]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

~Finally~, a laptop with 2x HDDs stock.

So tell me,,,, Does the BIOS let you put them in RAID 1?
.

Sadly, no. I've seen Dell laptops with RAID capability, but this one doesn't have it.

I also got an HP DV9000 for free that has two hard drive bays, but that one doesn't POST. I think it's got a dead nVidia chipset...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I'd love to know the model numbers of any laptops with BIOS supported RAID.
Looked for that for a while [years ago] but gave up and haven't thought about it since.
.
I have several old Gateway 1GHz P3 laptops that support up to 3 drives with bay swap adapters but none with system based RAID.
.

[mockingbird]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

965 is ICH8M which allows AHCI capability, but not RAID. ICH7R does both.

[dood]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I'd love to know the model numbers of any laptops with BIOS supported RAID.
Looked for that for a while [years ago] but gave up and haven't thought about it since.
.
I have several old Gateway 1GHz P3 laptops that support up to 3 drives with bay swap adapters but none with system based RAID.
.

I know there's some Sony Vaios that support RAID. I'm not sure if it's 0, or 1, though. I could set up this Dell with software RAID if I wanted to, but I'm not going to...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

When they come up with a software RAID that supports multi-boot I'll be in there...
.
Until then I need a BIOS supported RAID to do what I want.
.

[kc8adu]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

last week i got a 6 month old #27 deep cycle battery and a new in box 2x4 troffer out of my own dumpster.i forgot to lock it.maybe i should stop?my luck next time it will be junk tires or nuclear waste!
the battery just needed to be charged.the troffer had 1 busted bulb.
were not dumpstered but still free are 2 55" plasma tv's.
y buffer issues.already sold as soon as the boards come in.

[Koda]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Never ever found or got anything for free Only can hope to get a lappy or an LCD TV.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

more scores today:

$10- logitech momo wheel. complete unit, in box, with all the goodies. works great. I twas originally $20 but it had sat so long that it was qualfied to be 50% off... it must have been hid behind a dorm fridge or something.

$6- netgear WGR614 v1. if I can, I will linux it up, if not, I'll do something cool with it.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

not much out there on this router... from the FCC ID of the radio module, it uses an internal mini-PCI B/G card for the wireless part...

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/repor...c_id='P27-LA10'

I guess I will have to open it up and look inside when I get home...

[ncovert]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Okay, I made some good scores about a week ago. These are from craigslist:
Dell Dimension 4700 (has bad caps, no ram or hard drive, I put in a 120Gb drive) for $20
Compaq Presario SR1710NX(no ram, bad caps, I put a different mobo in temporarily) for $15
Dell Optiplex 170L (no cpu fan or shroud, no ram, 40Gb HD) I put in 1Gb of RAM and a 80Gb SATA Hard drive and a new cpu shroud. Now delighting one of my relatives. for $5
IBM Aptiva 2176-C33 (Pentium 133Mhz, 48Mb RAM, someone upgraded to a 40Gb Hard drive that was dead) for FREE
Gateway FLEXATXSTC Bro Essential 700c (Complete system with 60Gb Maxtor HD) also for FREE
Gateway model "450" (Intel P3 450Mhz, no ram, 20Gb HD) for FREE
A really cool fan controller/USB Card reader for $10
A Western Digital 500Gb hard drive for $25
A Western Digital 320Gb hard drive for $15
2 Maxtor 120Gb hard drives for $5 each
Some custom built computer (Intel Celeron 566Mhz, 128Mb RAM, 15.3Gb HD) for free

That concludes the craigslist finds.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

found a brand new (still in retail packaging) targus chillmat for $8 at a thrift store...

[Scenic]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ I didn't know Targus was available over there.
Then again.. the only Targus thing I've got is a headphone. A pretty darn good sounding one too, especially for free
It's a Targus AEH01 (or AEH-01)

http://www.targus.com/us/productdetail.aspx?sku=AEH01US
(I'm not using the "Talk-Through" blob thingie..)

The total lack of any kind of specifications on that thing anywhere on the web still confuses me..