Old tech toys available

[Giles Orr]

I have several items I'd like to get rid of.  Most are essentially
computing antiques so this may create more amusement than interest but
perhaps someone can get some mileage out of them.  All are free to
anyone who wants them, contact me off list if you want to arrange a
pick up.

Compaq iPAQ

This comes with a USB cradle, a sleeve that holds a single CF card, a
16Mb CF card, a charger, and a worn but rather nice belt holster.
This is the original h3600 model from 2001, and should run Linux well.
 But: the battery is totally dead so you have to do any experimenting
with it plugged in.  I replaced a Palm battery recently, cost me about
$20 in total and an hour of work - I would hope the Compaq battery
would be as easy.  It runs well and the screen looks good.  I was
unable to flash it to Linux from the CF sleeve: this should be
possible, but didn't work for me.  Flashing can also be done with sync
software under Linux or Windows, but I have a Palm PDA I'm very happy
with so I have very little motivation to work on it further - I'm not
as driven by sheer perversity as I used to be.  One photo at
http://www.gilesorr.com/forOthers/

Palm Folding Keyboard

For an older model of Palm, I'm not sure which one.  Palm-branded.  In
good physical condition except that one of the two parts of the latch
that holds it closed is bent, not a big deal.  I can't tell you if
this works: I've never used it.  Comes in a nice neoprene case.  I
love these folding keyboards: they close up to the size of a PDA and
work fairly well, quite a mechanical marvel (although I wouldn't put
any money at all on their long-term durability).  Three photos at
http://www.gilesorr.com/forOthers/

SpaceOrb 360

This was my fascination with technology (and the Descent video game)
getting the better of me.  There's a description of this at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceOrb_360 : it's a two-hand game
controller with a sphere at the top end that can twist and wiggle in
every possible direction.  Great idea, but drivers needed to be
developed for every game individually and it never made much of a dent
in the market.  Attaches to the serial port.  There are Linux drivers
(which I never tried).

Castlewood Orb Drive

Another good idea that didn't fly.  This is a removable cartridge
drive that came out after the Zip Drive and took a 2Gb cartridge.
What sank them was a complete inability to distribute the cartridges.
Many people (myself included) managed to buy a drive, but ended up
with only the one cartridge that came in the box with the drive.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3644  I have an internal IDE drive
(not the external shown).  I think I have this somewhere ... I found
the cartridge recently, I'll dig for the drive if anyone's interested.
 All other items I can lay hands on immediately.


After I listen to a week of resounding silence, I'll toss these in the
trash.  But if you are interested, do let me know.  (I'm posting here
rather than freecycle or equivalent because the traffic on that list
scares me and I prefer to support (and entertain) Linux users.)

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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