[HN Gopher] The MIPS ThinkPad, kind of (2022)
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The MIPS ThinkPad, kind of (2022)
Author : rbanffy
Score : 70 points
Date : 2024-10-27 18:18 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (oldvcr.blogspot.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (oldvcr.blogspot.com)
| mistyvales wrote:
| Related topic: Is there any way to save a laptop with horrible
| plastic off gassing smell? I can't even be around it (Pentium 2
| ThinkPad) for 10 mins without feeling nauseous
| Palomides wrote:
| might be leaky capacitors or batteries, in which case you'll
| have to clean the goop off and replace them
| chasil wrote:
| When you say "save a laptop," do you mean extract the data or
| revive the hardware?
|
| If the latter, is it worth saving?
| userbinator wrote:
| All the volatiles from the plastic will have long evaporated on
| something that old; as the other comment suggests, it's likely
| to be capacitor electrolyte (a distinctive "fishy" smell) or
| something else. Disassemble it and find where the smell is
| coming from.
| bluedino wrote:
| Some of them have a weird smell from the adhesive that held
| some things together. I'm thinking of G4 PowerBooks for one.
| neilv wrote:
| Also, if someone tried to "touch up" the paint/coating, it
| could be that.
|
| I recently bought a rare model variant that someone tried to
| make look better, maybe with a black marker/paint that was a
| solvent for the original paint/coating. It was pretty much
| ruined for office use, unless you transplanted it to a
| different shell, or you sandblasted off the sticky mess.
|
| Also, the most common _Unfortunate eBay Trick_ in the last
| few years seems to be to spray out the insides of electronics
| with Febreeze and related products. (Source: majority of a
| dozen used ThinkPads in the last few years, as well as a
| 3090, and a high-end PSU.) One of the recent ThinkPads, I
| think they might 've used insecticide spray or bug repellent
| instead.
|
| (ProTip: Never tell an eBay seller, "Don't worry, I already
| left positive feedback, but can you please just tell me what
| spray product that odor is from, so that I can use the right
| method to clean it out?" You will never hear back from that
| seller, like they have no incentive once positive feedback is
| left, or they are exercising their right to remain silent on
| the advice of their attorney.)
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| why would anyone use febreeze over regular canned air?
| Groxx wrote:
| you must be new to People.
|
| don't worry, the shock wears off eventually.
| neilv wrote:
| Don't think I'm not screaming this question to the
| heavens, between sobs, for approx. every other received
| eBay package of used electronics.
|
| I suspect it's a more common household item the seller
| happens to have on hand, and/or they're trying to
| mask/neutralize an odor (marijuana, tobacco, pets,
| garage/basement odors, etc.).
|
| For professional resellers _not_ operating out of their
| home, they might still be trying to get rid of odors in
| items they source, and maybe it 's a lot worse since
| Covid WFH. (Also, I've heard of e-cyclers needing to use
| precautions for roaches and bed bugs.)
| genter wrote:
| It's one of the eBay/Poshmark "tips" spreading on social
| media to spray the items you're selling with Febreeze, so
| they smell "nice" and "clean". I particularly love buying
| shirts that are sprayed with it, because I definitely
| want to have that against my skin.
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Because the Thinkpad (or similar) was used in an office
| where people smoked indoors. I find this common with
| parts imported from Indonesia, India, and other countries
| with high rates of smoking.
| dfox wrote:
| ThinkPads of that era used some kind of rubbery coating
| material, that over the time absorbed something from the
| environment that caused it to became this weird goo. I would
| not be that surprised that this weird icky goo also emits
| some kind of vapors that some people find repulsive. I would
| recommend just washing that off with 1:1 mix of acetone and
| isopropyl alcohol (but well, if you find the smell coming
| from the goo repulsive, get an FFP3 mask when you do that, as
| the vapors coming from that mixture are in completely
| different ball park)
| kragen wrote:
| That's true of any solvents initially trapped in the plastic,
| but different plastics go through different degradation
| processes, many of which create fresh volatiles. Celluloid
| and [cellulose] acetate are especially notorious because
| their degradation processes are autocatalytic and produce
| fairly aggressive volatiles that catalyze not only further
| degradation of the plastic but also of things like paper and
| lungs. I don't think you'd identify that as a "plastic smell"
| though.
|
| Separately, plasticizers incorporated in many plastics ("new
| car smell") often continue evaporating at smellable levels
| for decades.
| saltcured wrote:
| Yes, I came here to say something similar but anecdotal.
| I've seen multiple old electronics items where the plastic
| parts become sticky and give off smells that remind me a
| bit of vinegar, vinyl, and horrible pesticides.
|
| I've sometimes wondered if it is just the chemicals
| breaking down as you describe, or even something like
| fungal metabolites.
| gorgoiler wrote:
| Not that it helps you but the vomit smell is the butyric acid
| coming from the smooth, soft-touch plastic coating. I've seen
| the same problem with Kindle bodies and power tool handles.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| Somehow the comparison with Journada reminded me of Moto Lapdock
| - designed as a mix of laptop and mobile world and utterly bad at
| everything.
|
| [0] https://www.slashgear.com/motorola-
| lapdock-100-review-311918...
| KeplerBoy wrote:
| I miss those days of questionable innovation in the Smartphone
| space.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| (2022)
|
| Some discussion then:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32969413
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