On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:07:23 -0500, BillW50 wrote:

But the Palm IIIc cost over 300 bucks. And if I remember right, it was
the first color PDA.

That IIIc color screen is a bit grainy at 160x160 resolution (My Droid
is 480x800). Also it was impossible to see in direct sunlight. Later
color models had the transreflective 320x320 screens which was a big
improvement.

At the time, I
thought the xe was the black and white version and the c was the color
version.

That was basically true.

I learned there was more differences too. It only had 2MB of memory

The IIIxe had 8 Meg of memory just like the IIIc. Maybe you're
thinking of the III which had 2 Meg.

Another advantage of the B&W Palms was that you could easily read them
in direct sunlight.

and ran off of two AAA batteries.

I had an aftermarket rechargeable battery pack that fit into the
battery compartment and sported a charging jack for the wall wart. It
was kind of a waste though since I got around 25 to 35 hours on a set
of plain old AAA alkalines.

And I gave up on the GPS

Another clip on device I had was the dialup modem. Course using the
thing in those things was like watching grass grow. I'm not sure which
was slower, AOL or the Palm...

"BillW50" wrote in message
...
On 8/20/2011 5:37 PM, dennis@home wrote:

"AJL" wrote in message
...

I do keep all my music (6G), all my ebooks (2G), and all my photos
(11G) on my phone and it's always with me. It's nice to have access to
the *whole* library and it also serves as my off site backup.

Unless it remains off site all the time its not really going to serve as
off site.
You can be sure that the fire/flood/lightning strike will happen while
they are together if the data is valuable.

That is so true Dennis. And while I keep some stuff off site (not as much
as I should). My data really doesn't have a lot of monetary value. As
heaven forbid that my house burns right into the ground someday. And all
of my devices and data are no more. Yes that would be heartbreaking and
all, but that is nothing compared that I don't have a house anymore. I
dunno, but I think most would feel the same.

They probably would at first, then the insurance would replace the house and
they would regret the loss of all their memories.

"AJL" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:37:49 +0100, "dennis@home"
wrote:

"AJL" wrote in message
. ..


I do keep all my music (6G), all my ebooks (2G), and all my photos
(11G) on my phone and it's always with me. It's nice to have access to
the *whole* library and it also serves as my off site backup.

Unless it remains off site all the time its not really going to serve as
off
site.

When I'm off site my data is off site (unless I forget my phone).

You can be sure that the fire/flood/lightning strike will happen while
they
are together if the data is valuable.

My music, ebooks, and photos are important to me but not valuable.

Their value is not always monetary.
I would rather lose the house and have the insurance rebuild it than to lose
the pictures of my family/friends.
Likewise music collections (other than what my daughter plays) are of no
value as they can be replaced by the insurance the same as the house.

On 8/14/2011 1:49 PM, Roger Mills wrote:
My 8-year-old HP/Compaq nx9005 laptop has got a completely flat battery
- or, rather, *two* completely flat batteries, because I bought a new
one a few years ago and they are now both the same.

The power arrangements for this laptop are as follows:

The battery is lithium-ion, 14.8v, 4400mAH (type F4809). It has a row of
LEDs on the side to indicate the state of charge.

The mains power supply delivers 18.5vDC through a cylindrical connector,
which powers the laptop when on mains, and charges the battery via
circuitry built into the laptop. There is a light on the front of the
laptop which is amber when the battery is charging, and turns green when
it is fully charged.

Well, that's what's *supposed* to happen. What *actually* happens is this:

If I 'charge' the battery for (say) 24 hours, the lamp is amber for the
whole time and never turns green. If I remove the battery immediately
after 'charging', it is stone cold and none of the charge indicator LEDs
light when the test button is pressed.

Even after a long charging period, the battery won't start the laptop if
mains power is not present. If when the laptop is running, mains power
is removed, it stops dead.

If I run the laptop without a battery present, the charge lamp flashes
amber (but is solid amber if a battery is present).

I have tried putting one of the batteries in the freezer for 2 days, and
then thawing it and attempting to charge it - all to no avail.

Sorry for the long pre-amble! My question is this:

How can I tell whether the problem lies with the battery or with the
internal charger? Are there any clues in what I have written above? I
don't mind buying another new battery but, if the charger is duff, I
will have wasted my money.

I usually run it on mains anyway, so it's not a total disaster if I
can't make the battery work - but one does tend to expect a laptop to
have its own built-in UPS!

TIA.

I just got a new used laptop and the battery doesn't last too long. Some
places I read says to let it uncharge all the way a few times to restore
it to full capacity. Would that work? I like to leave the laptop plugged
in all the time but now what I read here is that's a bad think to do.

digger wrote:

I just got a new used laptop and the battery doesn't last too long. Some
places I read says to let it uncharge all the way a few times to restore
it to full capacity. Would that work?

What technology is the battery? Lithium based ones don't like that, you
just eat an extra cycle from the lifetime.

On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:41:37 -0700, digger
wrote:

I just got a new used laptop and the battery doesn't last too long.

Used? Probably 80% chance it's a bad battery. But what do you use it
for? Video really sucks the juice. And anything running in the
background? These types of things can really shorten the battery life.

Some
places I read says to let it uncharge all the way a few times to restore
it to full capacity. Would that work?

If it's an Li-ion battery some laptops manuals say to discharge the
battery down to automatic turnoff once every few months to recalibrate
the battery's microprocessor. Others are 'precalibrated' and have no
such instructions. What does your manual say (if you have or can find
one)? Probably wouldn't hurt to try it once just to see if it helps.

I like to leave the laptop plugged
in all the time but now what I read here is that's a bad think to do.

Mainly because the laptop heat reportedly reduces battery longevity.
Personally I find it a hassle to always go hunting up the battery
which may or may not be fully charged when I want to go mobile so I
just leave mine laptops plugged in all the time. I've yet to have to
buy a replacement. The one I'm using tonight (Acer 4315) is 4 years
old and has been plugged in its whole life (whenever it's not mobile).
I'm sure the battery has lost some capacity over the years but it is
still quite serviceable.

replying to Roger Mills, tahrey wrote:
If you've got four years use out of each battery, you've done extremely well.
I've not known laptop lithium batteries to last longer than that. Three years
is more par for the course, and their usable capacity is already on the slide
by the end of the second. The laptop I'm typing on is entering its sixth year,
and has its second battery in place, which is already down to about 20% of
original capacity. As the system is set to shut down into hibernation at 15%
(a seemingly vain attempt to prevent over-discharge and the lifespan reduction
that causes), that essentially means the machine is completely tied to the
mains and the battery is only really useful to keep it alive for a couple of
minutes when moving it between rooms (or sockets in the same room) without
shutting down, or as a safety "parachute" if there's a sudden power cut.

That doesn't mean the power supply is behaving itself however - I've had to
get an HP-Compaq laptop PSU replaced before as it failed in such a way that it
had just enough power to run the laptop in light usage conditions, or charge
the battery in a slightly sluggish fashion when the machine was turned off,
but not both at the same time (and high power use would gradually drain a full
battery). Whilst the battery is almost certainly dead, its death might have
been hastened by a dicky supply. Sadly the only way you can really test it is
by installing a working battery and observing the power-on charging behaviour,
maybe with a third party battery / power use monitor utility (or an OEM one if
they bothered to supply such). With the battery fully drained, it should be
able to charge at a rate representing 0 to 100% in under two hours (or just
one hour for some models), which then tapers off above 80~85%, with the
machine turned on but idling or only working lightly. With the processor,
graphics and disk working hard, that rate shouldn't drop to less than half and
there should still be a taper-down noticeable above maybe 90%. Alternatively
you can plug it into a power meter and see how much the PSU draws. At full
tilt it should be somewhere around the rating printed on the body; if it's
significantly less (below 75% or so, and particularly under 50%) even with the
cooling fan howling and your lap being thoroughly cooked then it's probably
defective.

An eight year old laptop, though, that's very much prime for replacement. I
keep my computers running as long as reasonably possible, and then a little
more, and I've not yet managed to keep a machine operating in a satisfactory
manner with contemporary software much beyond its 7th year. At least not for
those of middling to slightly above average performance, which tend to be the
best value (not "cheapest"). If it was originally a top-of-the-range model I
guess you may get an extra couple of years (I've seen Core 2 Duo/Quad desktops
stretch well into their 8th year whilst still being just about usable), but
even then I'd suggest you'd be better off resigning to the idea that it's had
its day, and the failed battery and potentially iffy power supply are good
reasons to replace the entire machine. You've definitely had your money's
worth out of it, and even the cheapest, nastiest machine you can buy now will
significantly outstrip a high end machine of 8 years ago in terms of
performance. I'd be looking to replace this one already (the generational
shift to 64-bit operating systems is increasingly leaving me disappointed when
looking at the minimum specs of otherwise attractive software, as it only has
32-bit Windows and there's no point spending money on an OS upgrade for a
machine that may only have another 12~18 months of service left in it), if
only I wasn't out of work and increasingly short of cash right now.

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