A31p - a decade later (LONG)

[RealBlackStuff]

That would be: TP-LINK TL-WN861N 300Mbps Wireless Mini PCI Adapter...

[TRANTOR1972]

Thanks!
Can't find it with delivery!
Does not ship to Finland or Bulgaria!
Where to look?
ebay and aliexpress don't deliver it!

[RealBlackStuff]

Try a WTB (want to buy) in our Marketforum.

[friedrich-eugen]

And have a look at ebay...
See:

• https://www.ebay.de/itm/TP-LINK-TL-WN96 ... Sw61Fbs8GD

May be, judging by those Photos, I do have two very similar to these, but with a diffferent code on the atheros chip
and without labeling, coming from Taiwan, in a box of spares from my earlier A31p & T60/61P.

Print on the small board (white) says: 21514AV11C1*1A1, AV11C1 Rev. A.1, may be the version on ebay is a
later one.

[TRANTOR1972]

Thank you!
Very expensive delivery.
Are these good? https://www.ebay.de/itm/Intel-Dell-P-N- ... SwiOZcMV0p
https://www.ebay.de/itm/DELL-Intel-P-N- ... SwFs1cMV1J


https://www.ebay.de/itm/Wireless-Adapte ... Swy3VeFVNZ

[ajkula66]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Wireless-Adapte ... Swy3VeFVNZ

The one above would be my pick.

[TRANTOR1972]

I grabbed it!

[MikalE]

I have a question about the port replicator for the A31p.

I have not installed it yet as I'm working on some things right now on the system, but lining it up in the back of the A31p, it looks as though it covers the two USB ports when seated on the laptop.

Is this true? If so, why would IBM cover up two USB ports in favor of a single port on the port replicator?.

IÄm using one USB port for an external drive that I'm loading programs from, and the other for a wireless mouse.

[dr_st]

It blocks one port (and the S-Video):
viewtopic.php?p=654464#p654464

[MikalE]

Thanks Dr.

My first post from the A31p.

[ajkula66]

My first post from the A31p.

[rkawakami]

Checking in to report that my "desktop" A31p, the one which I've been leaving on 24/7/365, finally went dark a couple of weeks ago. By that I mean the backlight appears to have died. It's actually still functionally running as I use RDP to login and work. For the weeks since the light went out I was using an external ThinkVision T23d-10 display but the time has come to maybe think about retiring the hulk.

While the A31p is still running WinXPP with 2GB of RAM and no antivirus, it's gotten extremely slow. There's really only one reason why it's still useful in its current condition: I have plans to use some spare security cameras as a weather observation platform. Right now I have the A31p use a DOS batch file to launch VLC , have it grab a snapshot from an IP camera and then post the image to a web site using FTP. Coupled with Windows' Scheduled Task application, I can have these images automatically updated as often as I want. Yes, all of this can be duplicated on a more modern system but I like the thought of still using old tech.

For now to replace the A31p I've mounted my work W520 onto a docking station and extend my desktop onto the ThinkVision display. A second T23d-10 arrived today but I'm going to have to clean my desk (really my entire home office) in order to connect it up.

[ajkula66]

Checking in to report that my "desktop" A31p, the one which I've been leaving on 24/7/365, finally went dark a couple of weeks ago.

Good to see you back, even briefly.

Hope all is well, apart from a dead CCFL on the A31p.

[kfzhu1229]

There's really only one reason why it's still useful in its current condition: I have plans to use some spare security cameras as a weather observation platform.

Well I really think you should stop abusing that old thing. I think there are many ppl wanting such a machine for collection and you can certainly use much newer and cheaper equipment for that kind of purpose. Something like a T400 or T500 is gonna go for cheaper than if you sell the current A31p and it's gonna do the job much better tbh.

[rkawakami]

There's really only one reason why it's still useful in its current condition: I have plans to use some spare security cameras as a weather observation platform.

Well I really think you should stop abusing that old thing. I think there are many ppl wanting such a machine for collection and you can certainly use much newer and cheaper equipment for that kind of purpose. Something like a T400 or T500 is gonna go for cheaper than if you sell the current A31p and it's gonna do the job much better tbh.

I don't think I abused the system too much. The main purpose of leaving it on all the time was to compare its life against another A31p that was commuting with me to work for a couple of years (explained earlier in this very thread). Both of those systems died in one way or another; the work one first (backlight), then the home unit after my wife decided to shut it off (it would not power on again). The system that replaced the home unit, the one that just lost the CCFL, has been on for over three years, not including the couple of times when we lost power and the battery ran out. It is still useful, although it's headless at the moment. If and when I retire it, it will join a couple of other A31p systems that need new backlights. I don't have too many hanger queens. There are several Thinkpads which I don't/won't use too much because they are fairly special (to me) but the rest get used as needed. Sorry if you think that's abuse.

My notes say I do have a couple of T410 (maybe three) somewhere around here. Don't think I have any T5xx systems but I have several W500s and W520s. That's the most "modern" Thinkpads I have. As for the weather observation platform, I might be able to buy some IP cameras that have automatic FTP upload capability (I'm using some already for my home security system) but they are not as configurable as doing it "manually". Mostly there's a limitation on the file naming structure; you essentially cannot give it a name you want as it defaults to a date/time format and also separates the images into different folders on the FTP site. Since I have several simple analog cameras that have seen better days - they were replaced by the Amcrest units I'm now using - I looked around to see what it would take to get them on my home network. Avigilon makes a 4-port analog video encoder; the ENC-4P-H264. It converts standard video into IP addressable cameras. You connect the BNC plugs from the camera into the encoder, plug the encoder into a ethernet network and you can view streaming video via VLC. There's some settings within VLC that you can use to automatically grab a video frame and output as a .JPG. The DOS batch file runs VLC for a couple of seconds, enough time to grab the frame and then uploads the image using standard FTP commands. Scheduled Tasks automates everything.

I developed this procedure on the A31p. It can be ported to the W520 or any other system if need be. But one limitation is that I will not be able to use VLC for anything other than this weather monitoring system. It would grab an image from ALL sources it plays. Unless I can find a way around that, I'll need a dedicated system for this one project.

[friedrich-eugen]

Kfzhu1229 wrote:

Well I really think you should stop abusing that old thing. I think there are many ppl wanting such a machine for collection and you can certainly use much newer and cheaper equipment for that kind of purpose.

Well ; I would be glad, if there were someone, that does still want to use a A31P:

I do have one as kind of historic device (Windows XP, Pentium IV M 2,6Ghz, 2GB Memory, 100GB Traveltar HDD, Dock, SSD-Caddy and Floppy (externally), Two Batteries). PM welcome.

I do have two other A31(P), one would be working as far as I know, and really lots of spare parts, included several Pentium IVM 2,6 and 2,5G, 2,0... CPU. If anyone wants the systems and spares, I would take the time to make 1 or 2 parcels of it.
But It could well be expensive (large & heavy) to post them to the US. let me know, via PM.

i have given up on the other ones and I was glad to have one machine up and running again. I would have been glad to use it with a different (younger) OS, but I did not manage to install it. WIndows XP ist slow, and that is result of it being an structurally inconsistent (via Updates) system. I doubt, that my daughters value the progress that has been made since Windows 3.11/Dos via Windows NT/Windows 2000. So the IBM masterpiece sits on a table in our guests room ... RIP

SIncerely

[MikalE]

My A31p sits here on my desk, asleep, next to a couple of other systems in regular use including a T500 in excellent condition. I don't use it much, but I had to have one as I always wanted one since they were introduced. In 2002/3 I couldn't afford the nearly $5K price tag though.

[atagunov]

I had to have one as I always wanted one since they were introduced. In 2002/3 I couldn't afford the nearly $5K price tag though

He he almost exactly how I got my X220

[600X]

My A31p is definitely a hangar queen. It still had the clear sticker cover on the keyboard when I bought it, but I did use it for a brief period (a month or two) as a retro gaming device. It has provided the best NFS IV experience I've ever had. It also worked well as a machine for background music. I eventually decided that I wanted to install an IDE SSD because the HDD was a clear bottleneck, but I never got around to it after throwing out the hard drive and it's just been sitting untouched in my drawer since 2015. I feel like I got to experience the magic of the A31p, so my plan is to just keep it as a collector's item.