Mastodawn

Okay okay okay so y'all

I fucked up

Sort of. It may be a win. I don't even know anymore.

So when I started teaching for SANS I realized I needed a laptop (for tax and legal reasons) just for that. Like to run lab VMs and powerpoints. So I wanted something cheap and also business class so I could cheaply upgrade with a big hdd and lots of RAM.

So I went to the goodwill and picked up a previous gen elitebook for like 150 bucks. Upgraded it. It wasn't in the best physical shape, but nothing I couldn't work around with an occasional screwdriver.

The problem is, I fell in love with it. It is the ultimate lab laptop. That tiny gen where there are ports but also USB-C power. Nice screen. Easy component access. But beat to hell.

So I decided to order another more intact chassis without drive or battery off ebay.

The problem is, it never got delivered. UPS must have delivered to the wrong house. No way to open a claim and no delivery photo.

So I weep, suck it up, and order another one after a couple days.

The thing is, it showed up today. It got delivered across town and some nice soul had mercy on me and dropped it off.

I now own three identical, $300 g5 elitebooks, two of which are missing hard drives and batteries. I have no idea what to do. I don't need a laptop for anything else. I just have a stack of identical laptops. I am also out a few hundred dollars I really could have used for something else. Do I try to ebay them back??? Build a laptop fort? Install Doom?

@hacks4pancakes Keep 'em for spares. One day something will fail and you'll be glad you did.

@marshalla99 Its seriously high in my mind, if a bit silly :)

aria_unbound Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Use one as a home server for any services you need to self host internally? Or make one into a testing rig to hammer with exploits/traffic?

@hacks4pancakes Beowulf cluster

@infosec_jcp 🐈🃏 done differently Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes

All I hear is you now have:

Production Laptop
Development Laptop*
Backup Laptop*

🤔

*SANS HDs 😆

CByte Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Build a laptop fort and then install and play doom on them.

Gödel Escher Spock🦿Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes

Now you have dedicated Red, Blue, and Purple Team hardware :-) 💻 🔴 🔵 🟣

Robert Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Laptop fort?!?! 😆😆🤣

Daniel AJ Sokolov Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Where I live, there is a laptops for schools program. They take things like that (as donations) and put together functioning devices. Maybe with a tax deductible donation receipt if you have the invoice from your purchase (I'm not sure). But of course you would make more by reselling one of them. Try Craigslist or whatever people use in your area.

@newstik there are programs like that here, but they only take functioning, complete devices.

Renaissance Man Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes
Absolutely positively keep them all. You are guaranteed to need a staging system to build out and test new work, and a spare for parts.

They will become increasingly difficult (and expensive) to find. If you love them, have spares now.

The 500 Hats of LambdaCalculus Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes One more laptop and you can have a Doom LAN party.

Altytwo Altryness, BS

@hacks4pancakes laptop fort.

K. Reid Wightman

@whereisthespai @hacks4pancakes Laptophenge, just in time for the spring equinox.

0xC0DEC0DE07EA Mar 18, 2024

@reverseics that’s only one … gate(?) of the henge, they’ll need more to do a proper one.
@whereisthespai @hacks4pancakes

Elusive Man Mar 18, 2024

@c0dec0dec0de @reverseics @whereisthespai @hacks4pancakes sounds like the idea was a little...
wait for it...
unhenged!

Play Ball and Fight Fascists Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes
I agree with keeping it for spare parts, but also - how nice for that person to bring you your package?!

@cafechatnoir I would have given them a bottle of bourbon if they had not ding dong dashed

THIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVED Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes laptop fort!

Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)

@hacks4pancakes As a selective hoarder of portable devices, I suggest saving one as a spare and selling/shuttling the other (and beat up laptops still need love!)

BöotesVoid Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes build a basic testing laptop you can loan to people you mentor who may not have the resources to have a spare computer?

@BootesVoid I do not mentor in person, but I might figure out a use for clinics...

Marcos Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes if you fell in love with it, you absolutely want to keep it around. So if it was me, I'd say spare parts + second dev/test box. But looking at my spare parts/if it breaks bins, I'd say I'm not the person to listen to. 🤣

If storage space is an issue, toss it back on Ebay for the next person who has fallen in love.

Love is infinite. Storage space is not.

🦠Toxic Flange (Gurjeet)🔬⚱️🌚Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Totes Doom LAN party..

@hacks4pancakes if you have power cords they should work ok without batteries. Get a couple really cheap disks (128gb is plenty) and now you’ve got a few systems to mess around with and its nbd when you trash the OS.

Kyle Carpenter Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes

Maybe keep two of them configured identically so you have a ready to go backup in case one gets stolen, damaged, misplaced by airline luggage, etc?

There have been a few times in life where I wish i had a secondary ready to go.

As far as the third one. Give it away as a prize for a good question or at a conference or workshop?

@kcarp someone suggested this and a terminal for clinics might be a great idea. I'll have to get components for it.

Kyle Carpenter Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes

Opps missed that on the read through.

Just be sure to try linux on it though. im sure youve *never* done that🙄

Mr Midnigh7 Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes @kcarp let me know what components you need and I might have some around. I'm pretty sure I have at least a 256 GB ssd if that would be enough. Maybe some RAM too depending on specs needed.

Dave Jacoby Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes My uncle used to get identical Chevy sedans so that he could use one as a parts source for the others. You might want to hold onto the spares/parts. Or just ebay 'em and find the next thing when you need it.

sigi714 Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes First case of separated development, testing and production confirmed.

k3ym𖺀 Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes cannibalize the parts to make a monstrosity to the likes of this:

Nils Ballmann Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes That's easy, put them in storage and be happy to have them in case you need them (if you then still remember they are in storage).

Don't ask me how I know... 🙈

Peter Dodemont Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes I'll add my vote for spares. If you really like that model, it will be good to have spares, especially considering you travel a fair amount increasing the chances of accidental damage.

Arthur Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes give them to me

Becca 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇺🇦 🇸🇩 🇵🇸Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes batocera? volumio? picture frames? 😉
P.S.: Doom lan matches?

FRANK.MCCONNEL Mar 18, 2024

@hacks4pancakes Thing that worries me about this sort of thing is batteries. They don't like to be run to flat, they don't like to be run on the charger all the time. And I get the idea that for some models of Elitebook they are stated to be not customer-replaceable.

@hairyvisionary they’re very removable and replaceable. Two screws.

Corv1s Mar 20, 2024

@hacks4pancakes With 3 laptops you have enough to have a death match on Doom’s entryway, a 1 on 1 with Bob and Alice, with Mallory spectating and joining in to screw over either side.

Mitch Impey Apr 10, 2024

@hacks4pancakes How about getting them working, then raffling them off ??

@grumpy4n6 I wish I could afford to do that