(no subject)

[tamakun]

I have been "wanting" (not needing) a laptop for quite some time now. When work had a deal, I was kicking myself for not jumping on it sooner. However, just this past week, Christine's parents have been very kind in passing along an old laptop to me. It's a Dell Inspiron 6400 which has plenty of horsepower - the only thing is that the screen has a visual problem at the bottom due to some liquid getting into the contacts. I'm not sure if this is a wiring or a LCD issue, though - I can't see it if the screen's off, and it's not a group of stuck pixels, that's for sure. (I took the screen off yesterday only to discover that it's likely the internals on the bottom half of the laptop I actually need to access.)


See, it has a pseudo-white flame sticking out of the bottom of the screen. I've actually moved the Windows Taskbar away from it since I can't see through it. I don't have a replacement screen to test it out on to see if it's the wiring or the screen, either, but the wiring appears to connect to the screen near the top, not the bottom, of the screen. Any suggestions?

(Fun fact: Since this computer uses WinXP and I needed XP or Vista to try BioShock, I tried installing the demo on the Laptop. The software crashed before booting. I then tried Portal. After walking through the first portal, the laptop bluescreened. Well, this definitely isn't a gaming machine. *laughs* I don't think the graphics card can be upgraded in this one, anyhow.)

I'm thinking of trying my hand at some DS homebrew. I asked ravenworks for some help in starting, and I have a little trouble getting the software all set-up. I'm sure I'll figure it out if I follow it to the letter, but it's still daunting. I have an old game in my head that I'd love to try to replicate, but I definitely need some help at some point to figure out how to program the thing. I love factories, it's only logical I'll make a factory-based puzzler. :)

At some point, once I've confirmed that anything on the lappy isn't needed anymore, I'll likely install Linux on it. (Unless this homebrew DS stuff doesn't work on Linux...)

Comments

[kinnonyee.livejournal.com]

Hey now... What are you trying to do to your dell? lol.
if you use a hair dryer, you might be able to dry out the water. Otherwise, if it's a water stain or something like that which is distorting the crystal display, I don't think you can do anything.

There's no point in trying to replace the screen since it'd be ridiculously expensive.

And no, you're not running bioshock. LOL. I'm sure your desktop outclasses your laptop's power. I'm not sure about homebrew, because I haven't touched it, but I don't think Linux cares. You're not running the homebrew off your computer, you're just transferring it onto the DS from a Linux computer.

BTW, what's your work schedule looking like?

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

It wasn't me! Unfortunately Christine's Dad used Windex directly on the screen awhile ago and it dripped down - though, it is less worse than it used to be. Screens run about $250 but it's not like the screen is useless anyways.

As for my work schedule, I'm on overnights this week (which means 7pm-7am on the weekend, too). I'm off next week for two weeks, though some of that will be on vacation.

[kinnonyee.livejournal.com]

lol. well, try the dryer way.
Dude, that laptop isn't even worth $250... :p

ok. dammit, I'm off of my vacation after the holiday

[liradralyn.livejournal.com]

You're still welcome to my old Toshiba U200 if you want it. I was hesitating to give it to you because it runs so slowly but I'm sure performance would improve if you wiped Vista and put in Linux. (In fact, I'm positive that Vista was what killed it in the first place.) And the screen doesn't look like a piece of pixel art :)

[liradralyn.livejournal.com]

oh, I should also mention, the graphics card is so-so, so you won't be able to play any hardcore games on it. In fact, the thing couldn't even handle the PC version of Geometry Wars.

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Erin. :) I have a feeling I won't be using this for gaming in any case as I'm looking to have a professional laptop :) Thanks for the offer! I'm sure that Linux could work on pretty much anything these days ;)