Well what do you know – The Electronics Flea Market (EFM) has moved back to Saturday mornings and if you park in lot 2 it is free. Looks as we get to share the campus with the farmer’s market, so I get to peruse fruit & veg for the week and get my nerd on. Hopefully I will find another security appliance from a vendor I do not have yet for my test rack in the garage.

The first date is Saturday March 14, 2026 at West Valley College in Saratoga, CA (south bay area): http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com/

See you there!

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Electronics Flea Market

@wavesculptor @warmsignull granted, I like #Thinkpadnium and #Nokianite and if you ever had a #ThinkPad #X230 or an #Iridium 9505 or 9555 you'll know that #plastic's #feel...

  • It just screams: "I'M DOING SERIOUS BUSINESS!"
Iridium 9555 Satellite Phone

Download this video: http://bit.ly/iipXBmThe Iridium 9555 satellite phone is compact, light, and easy to use but with industrial-grade ruggedness—and the Iri...

YouTube

Grabbed a #Lenovo #Ideapad C330 (#Chromebook) from my local #ewaste facility, looking to log into certain #Google Workspace accounts without providing a footprint on an actual #PC. And in the future when no longer supported install #Debian on it.
Also: this Chromebook folds to a tablet.

Unfortunately, the battery never fully charges: solid red for a few hours, then blinking red LED. I can get it to boot, but it will stay on for just a few minutes and then dies. Leaving it charging overnight, I was able to get logged in and started the upgrade for #ChromeOS 105.0.5195.134 (32 Bit), got the reboot and then it died. Left it unplugged, and there is no juice at all.
I found replacement batteries for $5 and up on #ebay, $10 plus shipping on gotlaptopparts.com, and stupid prices elsewhere. My concern is that it is not the battery but the circuits that managing charging the battery (which I would consider beyond repair and take back to eddies).

Via https://cros.tech/device/maple/ it looks as this Chromebook will support ChromeOS 143.0.7499.46, so there should still be some life in this device if the power issue is addressed.

Anything I’m missing here/not considering? Worth getting that cheap assed ebay battery and giving it a try?

#siliconValley #SillyValley
#vintagecomputing
#vintagecomputing #vintagecomputint #vintagecomputer #vintagecomputers #vintagecomputalk
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#upcycle #restore #TechnologyRepair #ThinkPadRepair #WasteNotWantNot #Thinkpadnium

maple - Chrome OS Updates

@vkc I acquired an #Iridium 9505 recently!

  • Can't go 'dumber' except PSTN/POTS touch-/tone dial or rotary impulse dial…

For reference: It's this #chonker made by #Motorola with some high-quality #Thinkpadnium & #Nokianite!

  • Now I need to find out how to disable "Two-Stage Dialing" and I'll never get #Robocalls and #SpamCalls on a +8816 number...
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

Attached: 3 images Also if you guys wounder: Yes the #Iridium9505 is the [*the Satellite Phone*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxwHQ05GLRQ&t=92s) from #LordOfWar... (Tho obviously not the exact one I have!) - Obviously they didn't set it up properly for dramatic purposes since without an external antenna connected, it won't work inside a plane, as #Iridium requires direct line-of-sight to the used satellites, necessitating an unobstructed horizon of 8,2° elevation. And yes details like this do annoy me...

Infosec.Space

Dam, spoke too soon. This #thinkpad #P70 running #Win11 #LTSC decided to shit the bed overnight. I was using it last night to organize #ROMs, closed lid should have hibernated. Tried to start it up today, get #BIOS test screen and then a quick flash of text, then a black screen. Tried booting into advanced recovery mode, unable to get it to work with the holding the power button 3x, so I try to boot with my win11 LTSC install USB and get the same black screen....

I picked this up a few months back. Intel xeon i7 2.66 with 64 GB RAM, primary storage is a Samsung M2 which is showing up in the boot BIOS and as a boot-able device in the BIOS.

As posted previously, I was having some weird USB issues over the weekend when I was moving ROM collection file to external SSDs for archiving, but I had attributed to the #SSD in the external #USB sleds that was/has now failed. Man, it would bite of the controller chips on this #motherboard are failing.
Thankfully I had already moved all my job hunting notes & stuff to a different laptop, but all the ROM and #hakchi2 stuff is on this #laptop

Just in case, I started the #Lenovo diag mode to confirm hardware was ok when the battery died (I swear I had it plugged in). Now this POS will not even go into Diag mode.

Any thoughts on next steps for getting this Thinkpad booting again?

Any chance I can take the storage out of this and put it in a comparable P70 I have? and it will boot & let me log in?

#vintagecomputing #vintagecomputer #vintagecomputers #vintagecomputalk
#vintagehardware
#computerHistory
#retro #retrocomputing #retroComputers
#WallOfRetro #retroTech #retroTechnology
#nerdsOfVintage #happyNerding
#computer #tech #computerHardware
#IBM #thinkpad #thinkpads #VintageThinkPad #X86 #IBMhardware #lenovoHardware #upcycle #restore #TechnologyRepair #ThinkPadRepair #WasteNotWantNot #Thinkpadnium
#makeShitMonday #showmewhatyougot
#reuse #RepairReuseRecycle #IT #ITsupport #hardwaresupport #computerrepair

@felyashono I still think that the extra weight and thickness is justified for a longer product lifespan, as #RepairableTech will always be cheaper for the #consumer and better for the #envoirment.

  • So even if you don't give a shit about the rest of the world, paying like €50 for a #battery that takes mere seconds to replace vs. €200+ on an iPhone that takes about a quarter hour depending on how busy a store is and how diligent the technicians are, that'll certainly impact you 1-2 years down the line unless you are the kind of "rich asshole consumer" who threats $1k+ devices as disposable electronics.

#Apple could make shit even lighter if they set it in aerogel or resin or used "#Thinkpadnium" plastics, but then they couldn't even overcharge people on displays which - like batteries - they #DRM'd the shit out of.

  • Would it make Apple's devices heavier if they didn't glue the shit out of everything? Propably not as they are able to shove two dozen different screws inside just to complicate repairs and maximize personnel hours needed for swapping parts like charging port, battery, camera and screen...

Talking with the folks in the local #vintage / #retrocomputing community, they clued me in that the #ThinkPad #RAID is a steaming pile of 💩 and not worth the trouble.

🤷 Oh well. Thanks for cluing me in

So I swapped out the two testing #NVMe drives I was using and reinstalled the original sticks - to have #windoz10 demanding for the #bitlocker recovery key. 🤦‍♂️

Well, time to wipe & install #windoz11 then.

Install went fine, only 4 rando #drivers to find for all #devices to be recognized and working.

Using my #CTT scripts to install the majority of applications, then to remove the #spyware #bloatware and other garbage #micro$oft added to #windows11

Then migrate my #data from my other ThinkPad. Welcome to my #sunday #funday

#siliconValley #SillyValley #sanfrancisco #sanfran #sanfranciscocomputers #sanfrancomputers #sanfranciscovintagecomputers #sanfranvintagecomputers #sanfranciscovintagehardware #sanfranvin-tagehardware
#vintagecomputing #vintagecomputint #vintagecomputer #vintagecomputers #vintagecomputalk
#vintagehardware #computerHistory #retro #VCF #vintageComputerFestival
#retrocomputing #retroComputers #WallOfRetro #retroTech #retroTechnology
#nerdsOfVintage #happyNerding
#computer #tech #computerHardware #laptop #laptops
#IBM #thinkpad #thinkpads #VintageThinkPad #X86 #WindowsVista #IBMhardware #lenovoHard-ware #Thinkpadnium
#upcycle #restore #TechnologyRepair #ThinkPadRepair #WasteNotWantNot #Thinkpadnium
#makeShitMonday #showmewhatyougot

@arichtman @discontinued people still #mod the shit out of #iPod|s to this day...

Personally, I want some device like that again...

Maybe make it the #ThinkPod with a #UltraNav-Style #Trackpoint instead and out of #Thinkpadnium or #Nokiante plastic, coz #ThinkPad and #Nokia are the most durable materials once known!

Source: https://hexbear.net/post/182319 , not @NanoRaptor