What would you use a good Pentium iii laptop for?

[otacon14112]

I have a 1.0 GHz Pentium iii Compaq Evo N600 laptop that works perfectly. It has 1 GB of RAM and a DVD-ROM. The battery still charges, but only lasts for about 30 - 45 minutes before it runs out. I love this thing. It just keeps working and working. I have a new gaming computer I built, and a first-gen i3 laptop, so obviously it doesn't get used. But I don't want to get rid of it because I know it's good for something; I just don't know what.

My gaming computer runs Windows 10 (for gaming only!) and Mint Linux, with Windows XP Pro in Virtualbox (which runs absolutely perfectly). I use XP on my gaming computer to program my ROMs and micros, but before I built it, I used the P3 Compaq laptop to program my chips. Since even that functionality is now obsolete, I really don't know what else to use it for, but I want to keep it since it still works perfectly.

I've thought about using it as a server, but I don't have any use for a server of my own. So, I'm curious what ideas you guys have.

 

[Stone]

I use one to produce pink noise in the bedroom while I'm sleeping.

 

[commodorejohn]

One thing I've used older machines for in the past is to set one up with a fairly minimal install of something lightweight (Windows 2000 being my go-to for P3-era hardware) and install a nice text editor, then use it as a distraction-free writing machine.

 

[Malc]

I have one that i keep for running my old Prom programmers and doing my home accounts, I have one that i can hook up to my Car's ecu and run diagnostics, I have a few old laptops i can use, They never go on the net but still very useful.

 

[Chuck(G)]

A laptop, for me, not so much. I'm interested in things such as ISA and PCI expansion slots, real parallel and serial ports. Laptops tend to be rather limited in terms of I/O capabilities.

Still, XP or Win98SE should run on a laptop of this era with a gig/gig setup just fine, as well as many versions of Linux/BSD.

 

[vwestlife]

With my ThinkPad T20 (700 MHz PIII) I decided I'd rather have an old laptop that runs Windows 98 really well than an old laptop that runs Windows XP or Linux slowly.

 

[tingo]

I tend to use old laptops (but not Pentium cpu old) as serial port servers for accessing other machines; most of them have a serial port or two. As long as they have a network card, I'm in business.

 

[otacon14112]

I tend to use old laptops (but not Pentium cpu old) as serial port servers for accessing other machines; most of them have a serial port or two. As long as they have a network card, I'm in business.

That's a good point, and one that I had forgot about. Serial ports are awesome, and have definitely come in handy for me in the past for emergencies. One time I needed to hook up a laptop to an old computer in order to fix xorg.conf.

With my ThinkPad T20 (700 MHz PIII) I decided I'd rather have an old laptop that runs Windows 98 really well than an old laptop that runs Windows XP or Linux slowly.

That's true. I really do like Windows 98SE. In fact, I bought two brand new, unopened, factory sealed Windows 98 SE full version packages, because I believe in paying for stuff I use instead of pirating it. And with a genuine CD, I would have no fear of third-party root kits installed in it.

One thing I've used older machines for in the past is to set one up with a fairly minimal install of something lightweight (Windows 2000 being my go-to for P3-era hardware) and install a nice text editor, then use it as a distraction-free writing machine.

That's what I think of the most about this, putting a lightweight Linux on it.

I have one that i keep for running my old Prom programmers and doing my home accounts, I have one that i can hook up to my Car's ecu and run diagnostics, I have a few old laptops i can use, They never go on the net but still very useful.

That's a good idea. I hadn't thought of using it for vehicles.

A laptop, for me, not so much. I'm interested in things such as ISA and PCI expansion slots, real parallel and serial ports. Laptops tend to be rather limited in terms of I/O capabilities.

Still, XP or Win98SE should run on a laptop of this era with a gig/gig setup just fine, as well as many versions of Linux/BSD.

Yeah, it runs Windows XP. It originally came with Windows 98, since it has the sticker on the bottom. And I agree, ISA is more interesting. Forgot to mention that this has PCMCIA slot.

 

[Stone]

Don't be so quick to dis Pink Noise.

 

[Trixter]

Don't be so quick to dis Pink Noise.

That was a sample of 13 adults, half of which were the control group. I found 4 other studies with similarly small groups; I'd say more research, especially pink vs. white noise vs. whatever, is needed.