best cheap/free scores 1.1

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If you press Alt+PrintScreen then only the window that has focus will be captured.

All these years using Windows, and I still never knew this one. Thanks, I learned something useful today. I suppose my expert cropping skills in MS Paint will no longer be needed as much.

Yea, I'm aware of the little camera thingy....I'm just old school I guess, and do things the old way, manually......

I don't blame you, I'm the same way, using old programs and utilities from 10-15 years ago that still seem to do the job today (if not better sometimes.)

More specifically, people will probably have to pry Office 2003 from my cold dead hands before I give it up.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

All these years using Windows, and I still never knew this one. Thanks, I learned something useful today. I suppose my expert cropping skills in MS Paint will no longer be needed as much.

I got curious and tried it....it took a screen shot of all 3 monitors.... The image size was 7680x1600, saved as PNG @ 3.2mb!!

I don't blame you, I'm the same way, using old programs and utilities from 10-15 years ago that still seem to do the job today (if not better sometimes.)

More specifically, people will probably have to pry Office 2003 from my cold dead hands before I give it up.

Same. PSP8 is great for basic things and its portable if you just dump a working directory to a system or run it from an external HDD/USB.

I'm still running office 2007, and the only reason I up'd from 2003 was I needed to work on some .xmls that for some reason 2003 wouldn't properly format. The way MS handles office today is retarded....they know that the OS war is over....so now it's rape for programs. I got my first taste of a Win10 laptop in "S-mode" the other day. What a crock of shit that was.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got curious and tried it....it took a screen shot of all 3 monitors.... The image size was 7680x1600, saved as PNG @ 3.2mb!!

IDK Alt-PrintScreen works fine for me - just screeshots only the active Windows I have open. But maybe across multiple monitors, it gets tripped up? I'm a single-monitor guy, so I'll probably never know.

Also 3.2 MB for 7680x1600 from PNG format can be considered very good or very bad.

Like I said, PNG is great for images with large blocks/areas of solid colors, but of limited color space (i.e. sub 256-color workspace.) Try taking a large screenshot of large window that has only text and basic 8-bit or lower graphics. Then save to PNG and JPG. The PNG should be only be a few tens of KB of data and there will be zero color compression (PNG is loseless.) The JPG will likely be at least a few hundred KB for large images, if not up to a MB or two, depending on compression quality. Now take a very colorful picture from your camera that's already saved in JPG and re-save/convert to PNG. Result: the file size will likely be much larger by a factor of 5-10x or more, depending on how colorful the picture was... though it still won't beat 24-bit BMP.

Same. PSP8 is great for basic things and its portable if you just dump a working directory to a system or run it from an external HDD/USB.

Yup, same with Photoshop 7 (i.e. pre-CS series.) That's what I use.

I'm still running office 2007, and the only reason I up'd from 2003 was I needed to work on some .xmls that for some reason 2003 wouldn't properly format.

Maybe it was saved with a newer version of Excel?
I have the FileFormatConverter patch installed, which allows my 2003 to open the newer Xlsx and Docx formats, but not save natively in them.

The way MS handles office today is retarded....they know that the OS war is over....so now it's rape for programs. I got my first taste of a Win10 laptop in "S-mode" the other day. What a crock of shit that was.

Yeah, something similar happened to me on my previous job. My laptop was Windows 7, but with Office-365 installed from the company, including Outlook. For whatever reason, the Office-365 subscription was not updated, so O365 went in safe mode and practically became useless. By the time IT was anywhere close to solving the problem, I just gave myself local admin access, installed Office 2007, and was puttering again. IT never solved it, though... which is OK - my contract expired 2 months later, after which I left. So who cares.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If you press Alt+PrintScreen then only the window that has focus will be captured.

lol i wish there was a button to thank someone for this useful post like on other forums. so thanks. didnt have this one on my list of windows keyboard shortcuts. this will save a lot of time not cropping desktop screenshot images. thanks for a more productive me now... lol!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored these yesterday:

Acorp 5VIA3P - VIA VPX chipset, Socket 7. Had slightly rusty pins (about 3, and unimportant ones at that) on the southbridge but otherwise it booted first try using P166 non-MMX, S3 ViRGE/DX PCI and a 64MB PC100 stick.

Bunch of laptop HDDs - all dead it seems

Toshiba L300-18D - bad NEC-TOKIN, scrapped the casing and board, reused the speakers and made a better L300-18D using a newer board that has GM45 chipset + WiFi Link 5100, SATA DVD-ROM and already had the NEC TOKIN replaced w/ 4x330uF caps with another casing that was in better condition. Also saved the HDD and RAM covers before scrapping the original 18D casing.

Packard Bell iPower GX-M-100FR - works fine but does not have battery, CMOS cell needs replacement (three pins, quite similar to some DELL RTC batteries) otherwise specs are quite okay - 9800M GTS (1GB I think), Bluray (not original to it tho, while the front cover states BD, the unit itself is from a HP DV7 1st gen), 320GB HDD and 4GB DDR3.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's scores:

Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li3710 - had broken DC jack, thankfully I easily fit a Acer DC jack in there and works fine. Originally had 2GB of RAM, Celeron M 900, 160GB HDD. New specs are 3GB of RAM, C2D T5800 and same HDD.

HP-Compaq 6735s - small and nice 15.4 machine. Had no RAM and HDD, a sorry excuse of a Sempron SI-40 and a bad chipset. Reflowed the chipset, replaced the already ripped thermal pad with a thicker one from a junked LCD TV, CPU is now a Athlon X2 QL-66, has 2GB RAM and a 320GB WD Black I had around.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

IBM PS/2 model 55SX - Unknown condition, PSU needs repair
IBM Proprinter X24E - Unknown condition
IBM Model M PS/2 - In dire need of a bolt mod

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Was given a HP DV6500, dual core @ 1.9GHz 4gb RAM 150gb slowass spinner. It had the typical power on then shuts off 3 seconds later. Reflowed the GPU, and now working. Wiped Vista home off it for Win7 pro....and fine now....as a matter of fact, this post created from it. Batt won't hold a charge....the only reason I messed with it at all, the case & screen are in mint condition.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Was given a HP DV6500, dual core @ 1.9GHz 4gb RAM 150gb slowass spinner. It had the typical power on then shuts off 3 seconds later. Reflowed the GPU, and now working. Wiped Vista home off it for Win7 pro....and fine now....as a matter of fact, this post created from it. Batt won't hold a charge....the only reason I messed with it at all, the case & screen are in mint condition.

Good luck. The one time I tried reflowing (similar HP) it lasted 6 weeks before having the same failure again. As much as a PITA they are to work on, I didn't bother trying again.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Good luck. The one time I tried reflowing (similar HP) it lasted 6 weeks before having the same failure again. As much as a PITA they are to work on, I didn't bother trying again.

I've done a few of them, the success rate is ~75%... I also apply a slightly thicker piece of that heatspreader stuff (not really sure what it's made of, but it feels kind of silicone-ish), which applies a little more pressure from the heatpipe. The only one I completely hosed, I got it way too hot and the GPU actually moved....yea, that one was all done.

Something like this I'll either donate or sell cheap with the gentlemen's agreement of don't bring it back!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I've done a few of them, the success rate is ~75%... I also apply a slightly thicker piece of that heatspreader stuff (not really sure what it's made of, but it feels kind of silicone-ish), which applies a little more pressure from the heatpipe. The only one I completely hosed, I got it way too hot and the GPU actually moved....yea, that one was all done.

Something like this I'll either donate or sell cheap with the gentlemen's agreement of don't bring it back!

Next time I'm in MO I might drop said laptop. I think I pulled the HDD and RAM but it's all still intact otherwise. Is a late 2000's Turion X2 if memory serves.

Issue is I/O and devices no-show... not the usual black screen/ no POST we're used to.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Turion based DV6000s are a literal plague, at least for me.
The Intels are sweet if they're the PM965 variants. I have 2 of those (one has a Pentium T4300 and the other a C2D T6500), both have 8400M GS and PM965 so I'm at least half safe on that. 460900-001 is the code if you need to find the one w/ 8400M GS, 460902-001 for the X3100 iGPU.

I guess HP didn't learn the whole Turion line up until S1G4 was a hot mess in every aspect. And the fact that the GF6100 chipset should never be paired with S1G1 CPUs, the worst heaters out there.

[lti]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I saw a Toshiba Tecra M9 run 11 years before the GPU died. It had a dedicated GPU heatsink, even though it was a low-end Quadro NVS GPU (a business model, not a workstation). It only had one fan blowing through both heatsinks, but it's better than just extending the CPU heatpipe and having it float above the GPU (which is still done today).

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a sad looking Acer 2930.

T5800, 250GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, and a Lite-On/Philips DVD-RW drive. 12.1' CCFL screen is smashed, KB has missing keys (KB should be easy to replace since it's the same as on some Travelmates) but otherwise boots fine. Chipset is GM45, so guess it's a 4500MHD for this one.

I'll have to track down a LCD from dead 2920s, since the connector is some idiotic 20pin connector that I couldn't find anywhere else.

[jayjr1105]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a PS2, Controller, Game, Memory card and Power Cord for $10 today. It's a 39001 too.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nice, you can put a loader on the memory card and fill a usb device with games
(or buy a chinese ps2>sata HD adapter for $20 and fit a drive in the back)

[jayjr1105]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

nice, you can put a loader on the memory card and fill a usb device with games
(or buy a chinese ps2>sata HD adapter for $20 and fit a drive in the back)

I'm trying to figure out which way I want to go. Apparently there is a kit to convert the oem network adapter to work with sata drives and it's more reliable. Not sure what to do yet.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Turion based DV6000s are a literal plague, at least for me.

Yea, it is a Turion.....but so far so good.... If I can donate it and never see it again, I'm good....if it gives someone service for a while, mission accomplished.

[Skunch]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

My current machine is a mix of killer deals and free stuff. I've got an asus rampage iii formula for free, and I bought a 1070 from a coworker for 200 CAD. I'm running a 980X with 24gb ddr3, and it's booting off of a samsung 950 pro nvme drive.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yea, it is a Turion.....but so far so good.... If I can donate it and never see it again, I'm good....if it gives someone service for a while, mission accomplished.

As a fair warning, the last and only Turion based DV6000 I reflowed and gave to someone worked for one more week then quietly died forever...so I'd be careful with that one...

It was a trade of sorts - I got his G86+Intel based DV6000 and gave him the Turion+Go7200. The Intel still runs to this day (and surprisingly cool for a G86 chip, though not very surprised since I have done a few small mods to the HSF that HP could care less to do)

He said he'd drop by and bring the "roadkill" one of these days, and I've talked him into replacing that DV6000 for free with something better, and am still looking for some run-of-the-mill Acer or ASUS w/ a G84, G86 or G9x GPU to throw his RAM and HDD into.

G8x chips run fairly well if cooled properly. Add a copper shim to the core if it uses thermal pad, and it runs great. I can also say I liked ASUS' initiative of making the GPU HSF on my G70S (it has 2 separate heatsinks in a sandwich - one is an big aluminium CPU HSF (though the base for the CPU itself is copper) and the one right above it which cools the SLi chip as well as the GPU, and that one is full copper.