Bring an old laptop back to life

steve s.

steve s.

New Member
Ok, I have the crew on one of the linux forums working on this, but I wanted to find out from all of you. Especially since you will have a better overview of how I might be able to get Win95 back, or get some other OS on there.

I have this old laptop (actually, I have two, for some reason). Its a VESA NEC. The one I'm speaking of will boot, but it blinks Win95, then goes to DOS prompt.

It only has floppy drive access, no cd drive. It is not hooked up to the internet, mostly 'cause I don't know how to do it with laptop (I deal with pc stuff mostly).

How can I get an OS on this thing? It would be fun to bring it back to life.

Edit: actually, its a Versa Ultralite NEC.
 
Last edited:
...Kinda sad I never got a response to this one. Figured this would be the forum for it...

I did however find something interesting on this laptop: Windows 3.1.

Yes, it works, office and everything on there...crazy!

But I have an identical laptop I would like to put an os on there...anyone have a good suggestion?
 
Sorry...I tend to overlook threads ^^;

But, I can't really suggest what OS would be good without knowing the processor. But from the looks of it, it's probably a 286 or 386 ^^; My guess would be anything below 95 if you want windows(which you couldn't use 95 with a 286...)
 
The_Other_One said:
Sorry...I tend to overlook threads ^^;

But, I can't really suggest what OS would be good without knowing the processor. But from the looks of it, it's probably a 286 or 386 ^^; My guess would be anything below 95 if you want windows(which you couldn't use 95 with a 286...)
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't care whether it is Windows or not...I'm usually a Linux guy, but I don't have a Linux that will work with only 8 meg's ram...

I thought MenuetOS, but I couldn't get it to work...it would be fun if I could get online with this thing...
 
Ah... Hmm, I'm not too familar with Linux, honestly. I should load it up on some of my machines and get more practice with the non-gui versions :P
 
Try Damn Small Linux, it uses very few resources, but you'll need some form of storage with at least 50MB.
 
steve s. said:
...Kinda sad I never got a response to this one. Figured this would be the forum for it...

I did however find something interesting on this laptop: Windows 3.1.

Yes, it works, office and everything on there...crazy!

But I have an identical laptop I would like to put an os on there...anyone have a good suggestion?
Click to expand...

Hey Steve-

If the notebook's hard drive is removable... take it out and put it onto a USB enclosure or a converter adapter. (One I bought last week does the job). If you attach the USB notebook (2.5") enclosure to an existing Windows or PC machine, you can take the Windows 95/98/98SE CD and copy the CAB files onto the notebook drive through the USB enclosure. Once that's done, remove the drive, put it back into the notebook and install the OS from there. As long as you have a bootable drive, it should work!

Good luck!
 
Buy-it PC said:
Hey Steve-

If the notebook's hard drive is removable... take it out and put it onto a USB enclosure or a converter adapter. (One I bought last week does the job). If you attach the USB notebook (2.5") enclosure to an existing Windows or PC machine, you can take the Windows 95/98/98SE CD and copy the CAB files onto the notebook drive through the USB enclosure. Once that's done, remove the drive, put it back into the notebook and install the OS from there. As long as you have a bootable drive, it should work!

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Would you explain this further...I don't know how to do the usb thingy...I'm much more familiar with Linux stuff that specifically which files to use. Sounds like a possibility, though...

Try Damn Small Linux, it uses very few resources, but you'll need some form of storage with at least 50MB.
Click to expand...
I like DSL, but I only have a floppy drive in this thing...no network right now either.

Ideas on how to install DSL with only a floppy? Links? I'm in mid-search right now, but haven't found any great leads, only how to boot with a floppy then have a cd rom take over...that I know how to do IF I had a cd drive...
 
steve s. said:
Would you explain this further...I don't know how to do the usb thingy...I'm much more familiar with Linux stuff that specifically which files to use. Sounds like a possibility, though...

I like DSL, but I only have a floppy drive in this thing...no network right now either.

Ideas on how to install DSL with only a floppy? Links? I'm in mid-search right now, but haven't found any great leads, only how to boot with a floppy then have a cd rom take over...that I know how to do IF I had a cd drive...
Click to expand...

Well, first... can you pull the drive out of the notebook easily?

You know, like unscrewing the bolts, etc. The screws????

If you can, then I have what you call an 2.5" (even a 3.5") hard drive enclosure. This will work with another existing machine that is working, and a copy of your windows 95/98/98SE disk (CD's).

Answer those questions with me and I can help you.
 
GCR said:
Try Damn Small Linux, it uses very few resources, but you'll need some form of storage with at least 50MB.
Click to expand...

theres a type of linux named that? strange. i have yet to hear of it, but i guess it s well known enough for you to have
 
Ah yes, I have it sitting on a Live CD downstairs in the dining room, or as I've named it at the moment, the hub. There are 2 PC's in there atm.
 
i hate to say it but that laptop is probably not worth the trouble. Even the embedded distros of Linux (like DSL, Knoppix, etc) will use things like OpenGL and such and run a GUI environment at 24bit color. All of that is probably not possible with that laptop. In fact the only Linux you'd really be able to run would probably be some sort of terminal version of linux with a very limited gui. Or a legacy version from way back. I know that when I was running SuSe 6.5 it required a PII processor and that was not quite 10 years ago.
 
tlarkin said:
i hate to say it but that laptop is probably not worth the trouble. Even the embedded distros of Linux (like DSL, Knoppix, etc) will use things like OpenGL and such and run a GUI environment at 24bit color. All of that is probably not possible with that laptop. In fact the only Linux you'd really be able to run would probably be some sort of terminal version of linux with a very limited gui. Or a legacy version from way back. I know that when I was running SuSe 6.5 it required a PII processor and that was not quite 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

That's what it's lookin' like...I have Win3.1 running on it's clone, but that's about the extent of it...unless I come up with a copy of 3.1...even MenuetOS comes up with vesa errors...

Oh, well...I may keep the 3.1 just for fun and let his brother go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top