best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

That. Is. NICE!

Hitachi really did make some great CRT monitors.

Are you sure it's a Trinitron tube, though? Because I have the bigger version of that: the CM814 (21"), which uses shadow mask. Nevertheless, I easily think that is my best CRT monitor - yes, I consider it even better than the 24" widescreen Sony's. It's just much sharper with deeper and more vivid color. The big Sony CRTs tend to not have good contrast/color, even on max settings (and if maxed out, their focus goes a little softer.)

Anyways, thank you for saving it!

I don't think you'll be disappointed with it.

**EDIT**
Did a search on that model. It IS a shadow mask (or "ErgoFlat", as Hitachi calls it.) Link:
http://www.hitachidisplays.com/products/19_771.htm

And you get all of the "pro" settings/menus, just like the big 21" pro monitors. That is a real gem!
Try setting the contrast fairly high, with brightness just enough to make the monitor barely visible in a completely dark room (might need to adjust the individual color temperature too, for tint-free image.) Then try watching a movie with lots of moving lights or something similar. I think you will like what you see.

You're correct, it is not a Trinitron CRT....I ASSumed when I saw the totally flat screen, before I really examined it.

Here's afew of it apart when I repaired the CRT interface. I blew the dust out as well.







I haven't had it connected to a PC yet, I dialed it in with my signal generator....which IMO I can get a more precise 'tune' than just eyeballing a PC desktop or other image from a PC. I'm saving this one for a certain retro build; albeit it's about ~2yrs too new to be truly period-specific.....but it's close enough!

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Early XMAS! (great time of year as businesses do "housecleaning!")

Fifteen, 12 drive SANs, each populated with 24T of media (i.e., 360T of rust!)

Ten 256G 2.5" SSDs.

Eight 128G 2.5" SSDs.

Thirty-two sticks of 32G PC4-17000.

Thirty-two sticks of 16G PC4-17000.

Thirty-two sticks of 16G PC3-12800.

Thirty-two sticks of 8G PC3-12800.

Looks like I'll be "busy" well into the New Year!

(@TC: I will make an effort to get your stuff to the Post Office, RSN -- lest the other half decide it needs to be "housecleaned"!)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I didn't know you were preparing another one....but I'm most appreciative that you are! If a few of those SSD's fall into the box that would be spiffy!! I need 4 ATM...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You're correct, it is not a Trinitron CRT....I ASSumed when I saw the totally flat screen, before I really examined it.

Yeah it can be tricky sometimes.

Both shadow mask and Trinitron tubes from the last gen CRTs can have a flat screen, so it can be hard to tell without either opening the monitor or powering it on. The Trinitrons will have those two horizontal tension wires visible at 1/3 from the top and bottom of the screen (best visible with a light background displaying). On the neck of the tube, Trinitrons also tend to have more and bigger deflection coils... and two "Focus" knobs on the flyback.

Here's afew of it apart when I repaired the CRT interface. I blew the dust out as well.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1576121685

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1576121685

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1576121685

Awesome!

Looks pretty well built. I imagine most (if not all) electro caps were Japanese branded.
Seems a lot easier to take apart than my CM814, which is built more like the high-end Sony's, with an intricate metal casing holding everything. I do have to take my CM814 apart, though, because it probably has bad solder joints as well. Although it works OK, the degauss has been going in and out of operation. The last time this happened, degauss cut out in the middle of degaussing and messed up / magnetized the entire screen in different hues. Had to connect the degauss coil to another CRT to fix that. And that still doesn't help much, because CRTs tend to be very sensitive to stray magnetic fields. As soon as I moved my CM814 after externally degaussing it, it went back to crazy colors. The degauss really needs to run every time the monitor is moved. It probably doesn't help that I have big 8" "bookshelf" speakers close by my monitors.

I haven't had it connected to a PC yet, I dialed it in with my signal generator....which IMO I can get a more precise 'tune' than just eyeballing a PC desktop or other image from a PC.

It depends... though there is nothing "precise" about tuning a CRT monitor.

I have a set of test images made for various resolutions that I know exactly what to look for when adjusting colors and geometry. Alternate black & white horizontal lines are particularly helpful for moire reduction tuning. And I also have some black & white crosshatch patterns that can really show areas of the screen with poor focus. The alternating black & white pixels is my favorite one, though: no CRT will ever display it right (though some CRTs are severely worse than others), and it's great for showcasing how bad CRTs are at displaying square pixels.

As for color... I think that one is a little more subjective. I tend to prefer neutral color balance (neither too cool nor too warm), so "eyeballing" my colors works better for my needs.

I'm saving this one for a certain retro build; albeit it's about ~2yrs too new to be truly period-specific.....but it's close enough!

Nice!

A CRT that is "too new", though? - now that's a funny oxymoron.

On topic of laptops - momaka, how's a HP G6065EM? I just found one at my friend's workplace - it's missing a LCD,DVD-RW, HDD etc. Do you think it's worth ressurecting? Or should I look for something else (like Acer, Packard Bell, Dell or Toshiba)

Not sure.
I can't find any specs on that model, so that laptop doesn't ring any bells for me.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

It's from the G6000 series, if that helps. Similar board to DV6000 series laptops.

On topic, scored a free Aspire 5536G from a friend. Won't post (was never opened beyond removing the keyboard) so a reflow is in order.

[linuxguru]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Not free, but cheap:

Biostar 945GZ Micro775 SE mobo: ~$2 from local E-waste recycler
Allendale Core 2 Duo E4400: ~$1.5 from another local E-waste recycler

I had to recap 5x VRM caps (2 polymers installed) and straighten out 8+ slightly bent pins in the LGA775 socket. Board now POSTs and OCs like a champ.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...2&postcount=11

Not too bad for ~$3.5 and ~45 minutes of work - I haven't had this much fun since the Tualeron era.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

One of my friends who's now in college sent me his old laptop for free - a Dell Latitude E6400.

Did I tell you this laptop LITERALLY is made like a swiss army knife? Like seriously, everything is just laid out perfectly.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Now for one of the systems....goofy ass HP 500-424 AMD based tower....

...but look closer:

Yea, mini ITX with an external PSU in this big ass case!

My candidate for most oversized case: 3U "server" with a dinky SM motherboard tucked inside. Figure that case is 5Hx17Wx24D (note that "blank" area up top houses the drive bays)...

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I didn't know you were preparing another one....but I'm most appreciative that you are! If a few of those SSD's fall into the box that would be spiffy!! I need 4 ATM...

Yeah, I've had a box packed, sitting here, for quite some time. I don't recall if it has SAS, SCSI or SCA inside so it'll be a surprise to both of us! :>

I've just never made it to the post office during daylight hours <frown> Today would have been a great day to go -- save for the obvious "problem"

Hoping to score another box so I can get the "on deck" drives out of here, too, before she complains (actually, before she complains MORE! ) I'm not sure how many others are lurking in/behind/under "stuff", here. Big push to get everything sorted out and cleaned up before the New Year...

Can't help with the SSDs; we don't have a procedure in place to ensure they are wiped (secure erase is known to be buggy on some SSDs) so I have to certify that they never leave my custody as the safeguard for their existing data. (Ultimately, they'll go to the shredder, but I can play with them until then)

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

More crap from work...

- PASO T3130BGM PA system amplifier... has bulging main cap and the whole PCB inside looks overheated and charred. But it looks good on the outside and case seems decent, so bad comes to worse, I might just rip its guts out and put something of my own inside there.

- a box of female(?) BNC connectors of several different kinds made for various LMR cable sizes. Anyone need any BCN connectors for a project?? But hurry! I have a limited supply of... too many!

- one industrial controller/embedded system of some kind. It's an x86/x64 PC with a LGA775 (I think) Pentium 4 CPU and slots for DDR2 RAM. Only PCI and ISA expansion slots, and it's not a standard ATX layout or anything like that. No built-in VGA, but two built-in network controllers (possibly gigabit?) I'll take pictures and see if anyone cares to figure out, once I get to it (I have two actually.)

- one or two Banner Mac-10 light curtain "mini" controllers.

- a box of mixed cables and crap. Haven't gone through it yet. Seems there is also some fibre jump leads / cables there. Will check specs and post back when I get through them. Don't think they are anything special or that worthwhile. But if some of you chaps here might have a use for them... better than going to our company dumpster or me trying to figure out what to do with them.

One of my friends who's now in college sent me his old laptop for free - a Dell Latitude E6400.

I don't mean to sound like a complete A-hole... and I know I will
... but finally you got a GOOD and worthwhile laptop.

Did I tell you this laptop LITERALLY is made like a swiss army knife? Like seriously, everything is just laid out perfectly.

Welcome to the Dell business line of laptops (namely Latitude and Precision.)

They are indeed built like Swiss knives.

The C series Latitudes were the first and they were... OK-ish in terms of how easy it was to take them completely apart.

Then came the D series... and those were just great. I can't remember of many people complaining about the D-series being unreliable or hard to service (save for laptops with the bumpgate nVidia GPUs.) They were well-designed.

Then came the first E series (Core 2 Duo and Quad era), and those pretty much just built on the successful design of the D series. The last E series with the i3/-5/-7 CPU didn't change that much either. I have an E6350 for work (IIRC the model number.)

Regarding your particular laptop, the E6400... I bought the same thing (but refurbished/re-certified) for my uncle 3 or 4 years ago now. It's been rock-solid. I expect yours will be as well. Put a cheap SSD with Windows 7 in it, and watch it go. That's what I did for my work laptop, and it's just a pleasure to use every time. The Symantec AV we have does slow it down a bit, but it's still pretty fast. Cold boot to a fully loaded desktop ready to work takes a few tens of seconds (maybe 20, if even that.)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Can't help with the SSDs; we don't have a procedure in place to ensure they are wiped (secure erase is known to be buggy on some SSDs) so I have to certify that they never leave my custody as the safeguard for their existing data. (Ultimately, they'll go to the shredder, but I can play with them until then)

No worries! I appreciate all the stuff that shows up.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I don't mean to sound like a complete A-hole... and I know I will
... but finally you got a GOOD and worthwhile laptop.


Welcome to the Dell business line of laptops (namely Latitude and Precision.)

They are indeed built like Swiss knives.

The C series Latitudes were the first and they were... OK-ish in terms of how easy it was to take them completely apart.

Then came the D series... and those were just great. I can't remember of many people complaining about the D-series being unreliable or hard to service (save for laptops with the bumpgate nVidia GPUs.) They were well-designed.

Then came the first E series (Core 2 Duo and Quad era), and those pretty much just built on the successful design of the D series. The last E series with the i3/-5/-7 CPU didn't change that much either. I have an E6350 for work (IIRC the model number.)

Regarding your particular laptop, the E6400... I bought the same thing (but refurbished/re-certified) for my uncle 3 or 4 years ago now. It's been rock-solid. I expect yours will be as well. Put a cheap SSD with Windows 7 in it, and watch it go. That's what I did for my work laptop, and it's just a pleasure to use every time. The Symantec AV we have does slow it down a bit, but it's still pretty fast. Cold boot to a fully loaded desktop ready to work takes a few tens of seconds (maybe 20, if even that.)

Mine runs fast with just a 500GB HGST (SATA3 6Gbps) installed. Thank god it uses a G98 GPU (Quadro NVS 160M 256MB) which doesn't dissipate as much heat as a 128MB G86 chip I have does. None can beat a MXM2 Radeon X1400 tho, that thing runs fiery hot.

As for the CPU and RAM, it came with a P8700 but no RAM. It was DDR2 though (I expected DDR3 as the GM45/PM45 chipsets support it just fine) so 2x 2GB sticks and a HDD later and I was booting Windows 7 just fine. Needs a new CMOS battery tho.

As for my other laptops - they aren't that bad! My Aspire 5536 and 5738 are pretty okay - both have HD4570 512MB, both have exchangeable parts. The only difference is the 5536 is a AMD Athlon X2 QL-64 based unit, while the 5738 is the Intel counterpart, with a C2D T9400. The others are a 5520 w/ MXM (which isn't very useful in its current state), a iGPU 7520, an ASUS X59SL with a HD3470 and two i945 based Travelmates which I really can't find a use for.

Then there's the dead i3-330M based Aspire 5740 - I need to find either a working board (JV50-CP) or a working EC chip.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Mine runs fast with just a 500GB HGST (SATA3 6Gbps) installed.

Yes, if it's a clean install with minimum startup junk (which I'm sure it is), it would indeed run fast. In my case, it's a company laptop with some junk security software on there, so the difference between SSD and regular HDD is substantial.

None can beat a MXM2 Radeon X1400 tho, that thing runs fiery hot.

Yup, right from the ATI "red flames" -themed era.

As for my other laptops - they aren't that bad!

Oh no, I wasn't implying that they are. Just saying that compared to the Dell Latitude and Precision laptops of that area, they just weren't built as well.

Hell, my next laptop looks like it's going to be that HP Pavilion DV6000 I posted about some pages ago. The Compaq Presario V6000 I found and fixed (via reflow) a few years ago still works. It just doesn't feel like a reliable laptop I want to move to, though. And my Dell Latitude C600 is... how to say it? "A little" past expiry? I would have kept using it for typing, datasheets, and some basic audio output (for testing) if its HDD didn't go corrupt. Ever since, I just haven't had time to re-install it and put all my files and configurations back onto it. I think I got it back in 2009 or 2010 and put Windows XP SP2 on it then. It served me until summer 2018... so a good 8 years, at least. I just can't ask it for more anymore.

[Curious.George]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

No worries! I appreciate all the stuff that shows up.

Well, we've got to come up with a policy/strategy for dealing with solid state storage, "eventually". It's just too damn wasteful to shred it all!

The AI in my disk sanitizer could be taught how to handle specific make/model drives so it will just be a "learning experience" for it.

[But, the tougher part will be selling folks as to how knowledgeable it will be at deciding how to process each specific make/model drive. The audit will be far more skeptical than it was for the spinning rust media!]

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Just got a Sempron 145 AM3, which I dropped into a untested Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H board I had around. Posts just fine, will make good for a HDD testing unit. I'll have to add a small HDD w/ Win7 or 8.1 with HDD tools (HDD Sentinel, PuTTY for Seagate drives) as well as adding a DVD drive for Seagate DOS Tools, just in case I need it.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yup, right from the ATI "red flames" -themed era.

Ironic, as the card PCB is green. Apparently came from an Advent laptop. I'd take a 8400MG over it any day. Heats less and has DX10 support.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Since I can't edit my previous post, I'll have to make a new one.

Hell, my next laptop looks like it's going to be that HP Pavilion DV6000 I posted about some pages ago. The Compaq Presario V6000 I found and fixed (via reflow) a few years ago still works. It just doesn't feel like a reliable laptop I want to move to, though.

DV6000? Oh boy, prepare to experiecnce LOTS of heat.

I just bought one yesterday - Turion 64 TL-58 + GF Go 7200 256MB. GPU needed a reflow, otherwise laptop did power on but wouldn't detect the GPU lol. Reflowed, repasted, and removed the stupid aluminium foil that HP placed over the GPU and CPU sections, and over copper at that. Yikes.

Right now I managed to get it to boot just fine, got a battery for it (when I got it, 'twas just the laptop without battery or charger), made a charger from a Acer 65W charger + a PS2 slim charger DC cable, replaced the tired GSA-4084N DVD-ROM with a TSST TS-L632D DVD-RW drive, and ultimately added a 80GB Hitachi HDD I had around from an long thrown away Acer Extensa.

Believe me, just after ONE minute of powering it on, the laptop is blowing hot air. I'm not sure what causes that - either GPU or CPU. Anyways, I'm planning on replacing the TL-58 CPU soon. If it supports a TL-60, that is.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

--snip--

long thrown away Acer Extensa.

--snip--

Reminds me of something from a Garret Claridge video posted years ago...

Let's see if it can take the extensa our damage!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Reminds me of something from a Garret Claridge video posted years ago...

lol

Yeah, I saved whatever was worth saving (HDD, LCD screen, DVD-RW, CPU and for no reason the front panel buttons too) and then threw the rest away. The laptop was totally dead, so not a big loss.

HDD is currently in use in my HP DV6356EU (and the HDD has at least 4-5 years since I saved it).

The LCD currently resides in a Frankenstein-built ASUS X59SL laptop (C2D T5450, 2GB RAM, ATI HD 3470 256MB) - bottom is from a X59SL I repaired, keyboard + LCD frame both come from a F5RL I gutted

DVD-RW went into another HP DV6000 I fixed a month ago.

I still have the CPU (Celeron M 440) as I couldn't find a use for it.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

DV6000? Oh boy, prepare to experiecnce LOTS of heat.

Yeah, probably.
It's the same thing internally as my Presario V6000, cooler-wise. However, the CPU and chipset are completely different. My DV6000 has Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and Intel chipset (forgot which one). NO nVidia shitset!
So I imagine it may actually run cooler... but we will see.

Gotta put an HDD in it one of these days and install Windows. Been too lazy, though. (And busy playing video games. )