The i5, a HDD and me - time for coffee

Lounge Hello
1

This post is not for asking something, just a few thoughts while everything is okay and the weather is fine. Want a cup of coffee too, or a glass of water?

A few weeks ago, I received a defective HP laptop. The battery could no longer be charged, some keys on the keyboard were not working, the CD drive and the hinges for the display were mechanically damaged due to a fall. The SSD (and the data) should be saved and the rest disposed of or kept for spare parts. The laptop has an i5, 4GB RAM and an HDMI output, so it is actually quite usable.

[omig@crashieGalileo-Neo24 ~]$ inxi
CPU: dual core Intel Core i5-3210M (-MT MCP-)
speed/min/max: 1675/1200/3100 MHz Kernel: 6.6.34-1-lts x86_64 Up: 56m
Mem: 2.3/3.72 GiB (61.9%) Storage: 465.76 GiB (4.2% used) Procs: 181
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.34
[omig@crashieGalileo-Neo24 ~]$

SSD, display, camera, microphone and speakers removed, processor and fan cleaned. I had to reconnect the internal display, the laptop doesn’t like to start without it, but I can go on with that. I put in a used HDD, connected an external keyboard and mouse and installed Endeavoros. The system boot takes between 43 and 47 seconds, then KDE Plasma is available for all activities.

There are a total of 9 partitions on the 500GB hard disk, which not only encourages data backup and network storage, but also allows the installation of additional operating systems. So I also installed a Debian 12 with lightdm and Enlightenement, and a Linux Mint 21.3 with lightdm and Cinnamon. All three operating systems have Firefox for the Internet, LibreOffice for office work and a printer installed, only Debian has the sources for Mozilla and AnyDesk in addition to the standard installation.

The respective startup time is interesting. Spoiled by a fast SSD, some brakes go unnoticed at first. My next rainy weekend can come. :wink:

  • Debian starts the fastest with 27 seconds,
  • EndeavourOS needs 45 seconds, maybe the systemd-mount needs a bit longer?
  • Linux Mint 21.3 needs 1 minute and 24 seconds to start on the same computer.

Since all systems are fresh installations (with updated software) on well-supported hardware, this is quite astonishing. I don’t have to work on Debian and EndeavourOS, the times are perfectly fine. The boot time for Mint is not normal. Perhaps more hardware was damaged in the crash than is apparent at first glance, and Mint wants to use it, who knows.

In any case, an HDD in the computer brings the time back. The hectic pace goes, not everything happens immediately, you have time for a sip of coffee again. I should use more old hardware. Cheers! :coffee: :milk_glass:

4 Likes
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YES.

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You’re welcome!

4

Sound like a good workstation also is the ram is ddr3?

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Yes, 2x2GB of ddr3. It’s really nice, only the internal display has to be connected to get video-output from hdmi. If the display is connected, you can see bios/uefi-output on external monitor, pull of the internal cable, and the external monitor shows “no signal”. So it stays connected and fixed as closed display. Oh, and the fan-speed can’t be read by “sensors”, it’s controlled by hp. Conky shows “no fans?” :wink:

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i could give you 4x4GB

7

Thank you, but but for me the 4 GB are okay. If you don’t live next to me the mail could be a little bit expensive. A few month ago I had to pay taxes for chocolate which was send to me from a friend who live in switzerland (it’s not in the EU). The tax was more than the cost of the chocolate. Even if I said I don’t want that packet I had to pay the tax.

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