creepingnet
Veteran Member
So while working on the truck I remembered sniffing the motherboard and smelling that wacko "butter shellfish" smell when I pulled it out - and I have something else that smells like that - an NEC Ultralite Versa 25C motherboard that's got a rusty (now removed) oscillator and possibly bad electrolytic caps in the power section......do you see where were going with this?
But that's not my only choice - I also have a NEC Versa M/75 board that works perfectly but needs a graphics controller board/chip.......and I did look up the datasheets for the Crystal Semiconductor CS4231 chips - including a pin compatible variant called the CS4231A that has some form of FM capabilities on-board (!!).
So I'd been watching Bithead1000 - yeah yeah, I know, he's a bit, uh, not-PC - but he's funny as heck. Anyway, he's been building all these consoles out of Acrylic....so that has me thinking, why not build a "Glass" NEC Versa laptop out of some leftover parts - I may even have a fully workable screen available out of my pile of boards and wires and whatnot that I can piece together. This also would allow me to relocate some components, graft in some unusual features, and build a case that can actually take some fairly heavy abuse without crumbling like a dry cookie. Maybe even toss in a trackpad instead of the Versa Trac, or even wire in a PS/2 Trackball on the Ultralite where the PS/2 port I never use is - or wire in a BMC and a set of Lithium Ion cells for 8hrs battery life standard? Gotek? I mean the skies the limit. An M/75TC with a trackpad that's dockable like my other M/75 - KILLER! Replace the entire HDD setup with a CF to IDE adapter with it's own externally accessable slot.....
Maybe I'll never do this, but it's a cool idea nonetheless. It's also a cool idea for a lot of those busted up old Laptops on e-bay that have such severe case damage repairing the case is out of the question, but replacing the case with something neato is a viable option.
Sometimes I think my mind is an endless fountain of ideas.
But that's not my only choice - I also have a NEC Versa M/75 board that works perfectly but needs a graphics controller board/chip.......and I did look up the datasheets for the Crystal Semiconductor CS4231 chips - including a pin compatible variant called the CS4231A that has some form of FM capabilities on-board (!!).
So I'd been watching Bithead1000 - yeah yeah, I know, he's a bit, uh, not-PC - but he's funny as heck. Anyway, he's been building all these consoles out of Acrylic....so that has me thinking, why not build a "Glass" NEC Versa laptop out of some leftover parts - I may even have a fully workable screen available out of my pile of boards and wires and whatnot that I can piece together. This also would allow me to relocate some components, graft in some unusual features, and build a case that can actually take some fairly heavy abuse without crumbling like a dry cookie. Maybe even toss in a trackpad instead of the Versa Trac, or even wire in a PS/2 Trackball on the Ultralite where the PS/2 port I never use is - or wire in a BMC and a set of Lithium Ion cells for 8hrs battery life standard? Gotek? I mean the skies the limit. An M/75TC with a trackpad that's dockable like my other M/75 - KILLER! Replace the entire HDD setup with a CF to IDE adapter with it's own externally accessable slot.....
Maybe I'll never do this, but it's a cool idea nonetheless. It's also a cool idea for a lot of those busted up old Laptops on e-bay that have such severe case damage repairing the case is out of the question, but replacing the case with something neato is a viable option.
Sometimes I think my mind is an endless fountain of ideas.
