Just bagged myself a free comp - Now what to do with it!

[Desmo]

Bumped in to my mate at the weekend as he was walking out of Comet. He'd just smashed the screen on his old laptop and had bought a new one. He asked me to recover some files off it so I popped his HDD in to my laptop and copied the files on the a USB drive. Asked him what he wanted to do with the old laptop and he said bin it so I asked to keep it as I could nab some parts.

I don't know the full spec yet but do know it's got 2GB ram and 250GB HDD. My current laptop only has a 120GB hard drive.

I'm thinking of using it as a silent HTPC of sorts. Can plug it straight in to the TV and go from there, controlling it via VNC/RDP with Win7 maybe?

Was also thinking of putting the 250GB HDD in my laptop and dual booting Ubuntu/Windows properly. Whilst virtualising Windows does work, I think dual booting is better overall. This means the 120GB HDD from mine can go in to the HTPC. Not masses of space, but enough to drop a few films on as and when.

Anything else I should or could do?

[Mark]

Sounds like a plan. I'd treat the 250GB disk with caution though. If it's taken enough of a knock to smash the screen, has that had any impact on the HDD? Obviously, knowing how the screen got smashed in the first place should give you a good idea.

[Desmo]

HDD seems fine. I'll give it a good going over with a decent scan of sorts, but I had no problems grabbing the data off it and it booted absolutely fine in my laptop.

Another thought....what would happen if I removed the current screen? Would the laptop fail to boot? Would something in the firmware or software say "there is no screen" and just stop it from working? I'd quite like to just remove the cracked screen totally.

[Desmo]

Just seen it's an Intel Pentium Dual 1.86GHz with Mobile Intel 965 video built in. Should be enough to run 720p mkv's OK?

[Mark]

Not sure about the CPU requirements of MKVs, but it seems the graphics chipset is probably GMA X3100. The older GMA 950 can just about handle 720p so yes, it should be fine there.

[Burble]

Another thought....what would happen if I removed the current screen? Would the laptop fail to boot? Would something in the firmware or software say "there is no screen" and just stop it from working? I'd quite like to just remove the cracked screen totally.

It can vary from laptop to laptop. I've got a Dell something-or-other here that has no screen but boots and runs fine. I've also got an HP something-or-other that won't boot without the screen attached. In theory as long as the graphics card is still attached (and that's gonna be on the motherboard) it should work.

[iCraig]

Will it blend?

[Desmo]

Looks like it already has been ;D

It's a Toshiba Satellite l350 btw.

[Psymonkee]

Destroy it Mythbusters style! :D

[Desmo]

Battery is dead :( Can't do a thing until I get the charger off him now, although I could start partitioning the HDD and installing some OS's. Am I best doing Windows first and then Linux? Think that's the easier way isn't it as Linux installs grub and sets it all up.

[Mohinder]

MAME CABINET MAME CABINET MAME CABINET

[Desmo]

;D

Maybe I'll find room for that :p

[Mohinder]

I've recently returned to the idea of building a pac-mac style 'cocktail cabinet' MAME machine to use as a coffee table. I was set on it before but stuff got in the way. I've got a perfectly adequate set of components to use, Dad's properly handy with wood and stuff (and could actually get me it made up in lovely quality from a factory), and it'd be an awesome conversation starter.

Come on, you know I'm right :D

[Daz]

Battery is dead :( Can't do a thing until I get the charger off him now, although I could start partitioning the HDD and installing some OS's. Am I best doing Windows first and then Linux? Think that's the easier way isn't it as Linux installs grub and sets it all up.
Aye :) Windows boot loader wont pay attention to the other OS's without you fiddling, Ubuntu's installer will configure grub to boot everything it can find.

[Mark]

Won't pay attention? That's rather polite. It trashes it - plain and simple. :p

I use gparted (Ubuntu CD) to do the partitioning, then install Windows, then Linux.

[Desmo]

Yep, that's what I'd do. Would that cause any problems in the future? What about if I install XP now but then pop Win7 on later? Would I need to muck about in grub? Or will it work fine assuming I install to the same partition?

Was also thinking of a 50GB linux / 50GB windows / 150GB data split. Sound OK for each OS? Should be more than plenty I would have thought.

[Desmo]

Started to format the large drive the other night and it got stuck on one part so it might not be good to use. Also the other day I got OSX to see if I could run it in virtualbox. Got bored tonight, combined the two and am now installing OSX on the new drive in my laptop to see if it runs OK :D If it does, I might stick with it full time as it would make sense for me. Would go back to my reliable but smaller drive though.

[Mark]

If you decide you want to go back to a Windows/Linux split, let me know. I have a disk partitioned up right and can tell you what I did. :)

[Desmo]

Can't get OSX to install :( Well, it installs but it wont boot. Starts to load, get to a blue screen and then just goes blank so thing I'll have to do a little reading up on this OSx86 stuff.