This PC keyboard hides an attention-grabbing secret… – LinuxJedi’s /dev/null
I discovered this keyboard on eBay just lately, though it wasn’t fairly the one I used to be on the lookout for I nonetheless assume it’s attention-grabbing. Let me present you why.
The Keyboard
That is the keyboard, and you’ll be forgiven for considering it’s simply a normal Home windows keyboard with some accessibility stickers on it. However let’s go searching it…
There are drives and ports! In truth this keyboard is a whole Pentium 4 primarily based PC in a standard 80s/90s house laptop type issue!
It’s a Cybernet Elite-4 laptop, I’ve seen images of those earlier than however they’re all the time black. That is the primary beige one I’ve come throughout. Cybernet nonetheless exist at present, manufacturing enterprise and industrial computer systems. However I don’t assume they make something like this any extra.
Opening Up
With that, let’s look inside, the PCI enlargement cowl must be eliminated in order that 4 screws alongside the within edge on the again could be eliminated. The machine will then open up from the again finish to disclose…
A number of issues really stunned me about this. Initially I used to be anticipating to see a laptop computer motherboard with laptop computer components, particularly given the floppy and CD drive. However that is really a full customized socket 478 motherboard, the arduous drive is a desktop PC 3.5″ drive at 40GB, the IDE cable runs underneath the motherboard. I’m guessing the motherboard edge connector on the left is for a riser so a PCI card can be utilized, however there was no riser within the machine. It shouldn’t be arduous to design one for it although.
Cleansing
I used my CompuCleaner to blow out the mud from contained in the machine, eliminated the stickers from all of the keys and gave the skin a fast clear. It would positively want one other go later however it’s already beginning to look higher.
I didn’t need to spend an excessive amount of time cleansing it simply in case it didn’t operate accurately.
Powering On
The primary bootup was simply as anticipated for an everyday PC, the RTC battery nonetheless appears to operate which was a bit of shocking. This machine was manufactured in 2002 and I don’t assume anybody has opened it since. It booted straight into Home windows XP, which already had a consumer setup with no password. It had a third-party display magnification utility operating on boot, so I believe it’s secure to imagine given this and the keyboard stickers that the unique proprietor could have had a visible impairment.
The built-in audio system are just about what you’ll count on from 2002, just about no bass to them, very a lot akin to common laptop computer audio system on the time. However this isn’t designed to be a gaming machine, this was very a lot designed for the workplace.
I used the System Properties display to seek out out a bit of extra concerning the machine.
In 2002 a 2.8GHz Northwood Pentium 4 would have been about as quick as you will get. It has 512MB RAM (32MB used for video) and 40GB arduous drive, this seemingly would have been an costly machine on the time.
The one obvious concern right here, is that this machine’s arduous drive has not been cleaned out. I purchased it from a pc recycling firm so I might have anticipated the arduous drive to been erased. However a fast skim of the drive and I can discover paperwork, emails and sadly even porn.
It appears to be like prefer it was positively used up till about 2010 and perhaps a couple of instances after that. I’m guessing at that time it went into storage and was ultimately recycled.
What’s Subsequent?
I haven’t totally determined what to do with this machine but. It is going to be troublesome so as to add a superb graphics card to it to make use of it for retro gaming, however I’m positive it will be helpful for some legacy functions. I’ve an area pal who wants older {hardware} to maintain his PCB decide and place machine operating, it might properly make that simpler.
The principle purpose I bought it was that I assumed it was attention-grabbing that firms have been nonetheless invested on this type issue within the early 2000s. The machine I needed to purchase was a Schneider Euro PC, which appears to be like wonderful however is sadly fairly costly to buy at present. I’ll hold my eye out for one although.