Debian Linux on an old Netbook

Briefly, an old Toshiba NB205 netbook made its way to me.

I was about to donate it to the local thrift store as it was missing a keytop and the Windows version installed had trouble with the WiFi hardware - but I decided to give Linux a go.

I won't repeat that procedure here - check my older postings "Adventures with a 'Thin Client' – a HP t5740" and "Dual Booting Debian and Windows XP" for some hints on dual-booting Debian.

I was pleasantly surprised when the new OS was able to handle WiFi nicely.  Now the only blemish on this old machine was the missing key.

Sure enough, eBay had several dealers who had keys.  After some careful reading and research, I ordered a CTRL keytop from a dealer in Canada.

The keytop arrived in a few days along with some abbreviated instructions.  As I did not want to break anything, I looked for further information and - sure enough - there were a lot of YouTube videos on how to remove and replace keytops.

Success!

Now it's back in the stable of 'spares' and occasionally useful tools.  An old, but working, netbook (dual boot) with working WiFi for about $3.50.

cln - Nick
WB5BKL

Adventures with a 'Thin Client' – a HP t5740

Recently I got interested in 'thin clients'. Small PCs with no moving parts. Here is a really good resource:

Thin Clients

I like having a spare small profile computer to do my Amateur Radio logging function. The only real requirement (besides a little storage space) was an RS-232 port (the logging program receives data from my transceiver via RS-232).

I found a HP t5740W on eBay for $24 shipped, with power supply, 4G of ram and 4G of flash memory.

HP Compaq ThinClient t5730w

The thin client arrived (as expected) with no OS. I looked online for advice about the best small footprint Linux and found that my personal choice, Debian, was one of the top ten. I loaded a Debian Jessie “Net Install” iso on a USB stick and gave it a try just to see what would happen with the 4G flash memory. It fit!

But just barely - there was very little space left, maybe 11% or so after installing the logging program, XLog. That's a little tight, even for my tiny ham radio app.  I decided to attempt the installation of a disc drive, as mentioned in the “Mods” section of the 'Thin Clients' website above.  Here's the SATA connector on the motherboard.

That's an odd connector.  I am very lucky to have a Goodwill Computer Store fairly close. The knowledgeable folks there helped me pick out some potential 'donor' cables and the smallest 2.5” SATA drive they had (160Gb). Another $10 invested. Cheap works for me.

I followed the guide in the mods section for the HP t5740 (drill down: Home – Details – HP, etc). The big gotcha is the SATA data and power cables. Both must be modified to fit the connector on the mother board. Here is an image of a before and after mod for the data cable. The power cable will need a similar mod.

Click to enlarge the image.  All the Xacto wounds have now healed.  Note:  Band-Aids are remarkably difficult to apply if the cut is on your thumb...

Photos in the mods section mentioned above show the installation of the drive better than I can.  I did move the RAM memory as suggested.  

Success!  I now have two installations of Debian Jessie on the t5740, one on the 160Gb hard drive and one on the 4Gb flash memory. Via Grub, I can boot to either. 

Had fun.

cln – Nick

WB5BKL