Thinkpads Forum

Surprisingly, I still have occasional productivity out of my 760ED (104Mb)

I have all the bells and whistles - max RAM (104Mb), 2nd HDD adapter, CDRom, 2xFDD including the 2.88Mb floppy and an external FDD caddy, numerous HDD adapters and the in-car DC adapter... I sold the ultraport though and the batteries are all past rejuvenating which I did for several years.

So it gets used Thus: Older data stored on several old Hard Drives gets transfered off the 760 via the PCMCIA/USB adater<>USB thumb drives or a PCMCIA <>CF card adapter...

I am able to connect to Boradband via WiFi with my PCMCIA WiFi card...slooow under W98SE though.

I have an installation of W2K but the PC Card drivers are not supported and thus limits usefulness...

But mostly it is great to run older apps/games that W7 64 Bit won't but that I still need access too and also I have a straight DOS 6.22 install on a small HDD that I boot from so as to interchange files with my ATARI STf - either via a dual (ST&PC) format floppy or via hot wired using GHOSTLINK.

I wanted to make use of the MIDI port on the back for running CUBASE VST but I never got that working sadly - weeks of effort went into this...

Is so sad that modern Laptops are all about online connectivity only and have no regard for legacy usage - I have a past life that I still need access to occasionally!

I have a couple of spare 16mb sticks and some old board parts and caddy shells second keyboard that I hang onto - 'just in case'!

Indeed, older computers are awesome for older programs.
I have a P3 desktop that I am keeping around just incase I ever want to play some old old games that won't work under a virtual xp/98 install, though lack of a LCD really hinders any plans I have for it. Also I've never tried to put 98 on it.

Though, I do plan on using my 600x for old games that will NOT work under xp or higher, virtualized or not. Theme Hospital, Command and Conquer, and a few others. External monitor + usb kb/m... Yes!
Though... again I have yet to find time to do that! I did try the 600x dock I have and it worked all right.

Oh and of course I neglected to mention one crucial thing - it has both SERIAL and PARALLEL Ports!!! So crucial if you want to print something quickly and fuss-free, like on an old 9pin Dot Matrix that ALWAYS prints - no matter how long it has been unused... unlike 2 week old only but still dried-out inkjets...!

Pfff. I have a couple of D900Ts that would be perfect for anyone who still gets good use of the Parallel and Serial inputs. Pentium 4 HT machines with enthusiast-grade graphics hardware... and loads and loads of legacy equipment. CardBus, fer cryin' out loud.

I absolutely love the Thinkpad 760 though. I had a 760E as my *first* laptop, I got it when I was really little... I did have to tinker a bit to get it going, but it was a neat little thing once I did. The battery held a charge, so I could take it places and people would go, "what the heck is that?"

And I mostly use VMware(yeay for student licenses!) for all my legacy OS needs, but I recently refurbished a G41 to put XP on, so I can play all my DOS games again!

hiero wrote:Oh and of course I neglected to mention one crucial thing - it has both SERIAL and PARALLEL Ports!!! So crucial if you want to print something quickly and fuss-free, like on an old 9pin Dot Matrix that ALWAYS prints - no matter how long it has been unused... unlike 2 week old only but still dried-out inkjets...!

Don't forget the T60/61 and R60/61 with the bay adapter.

True... true. That does require you to have the adapter though.

I really want to see if I can get an Advanced dock. Those things turn a lot of Thinkpads into just epic desk machines.

Medessec wrote:True... true. That does require you to have the adapter though.

I really want to see if I can get an Advanced dock. Those things turn a lot of Thinkpads into just epic desk machines.

Tuus has advanced docks. They fit T42/43 or T60/61 series. Older T series use the Dock 2 (or II). I dragged my dock II out here to the desert.

If only the batteries were still good, the 760x models would still be great on-the-go word processors. I'm sure some version of Open Office (also Linux) would run great on one.

IIRC, there were some other third-party UB options too, like Superdisk, Zip, and I believe the previous series' TV module might also have been compatible.

Some are, I have 5 or so working 76x batteries.

Are they original, recelled, or aftermarket? I don't have even one Ni-Mh or Li-Ion that survived since the 90s.

The T30 was the last Thinkpad to have both parallel and serial ports. Somewhat surprisingly, the 15" G41 (which was a full-sized desktop replacement of the Pentium 4 era) had just a parallel port but not a serial port.

Radioguy wrote:Are they original, recelled, or aftermarket? I don't have even one Ni-Mh or Li-Ion that survived since
the 90s.

Not sure to be honest if they are aftermarket, they don't look recelled since that would mean the case was cracked.

I also have a few working 770 series batteries. It seems like anything pre LION doesn't work anymore.

I'm running a 760EL that's in pretty good shape. Only real issue with it is that it has trouble with suspend/wake with Win98SE. Anyone know how to correct?

I'd like to get a PCMCIA/USB adapter for it, too. This would be to transfer files and also to see if I can get wireless going with my USB wireless device. Any suggestions on which adapter I should look for?

hiero wrote:
So it gets used Thus: Older data stored on several old Hard Drives gets transfered off the 760 via the PCMCIA/USB adater<>USB thumb drives or a PCMCIA <>CF card adapter...

I am able to connect to Boradband via W

More 760 fun! I got the InfraRed Wireless Link working between my 760EL running Win98 and my T60 running XP.

I was able to transfer a file! So, this is very handy, as the 760 has no USB ports and I don't have it online, yet (still need to get a PCMCIA to USB adapter to use my USB wireless dongle).

Next move is to transfer CCleaner over to it and see if I can free up any disk space, as it's only a 1GB HD, or I might just reinstall Win98 as it's full of junk programs.

Good luck finding a compatible Cardbus USB card.

From what I remember, the Texas Instruments PCI-1130 Cardbus Controller used in the 760 series had some sort of hardware limitation (something about usable memory or I/O addresses I think) that caused a lot of USB 2.0 controllers to not be configured/enabled (exclamation point with yellow background on Device Manager).

I had a 760XD long ago, you see.

So, no way to get USB support on such on old machine, you are saying (at least with a card)?

axur-delmeria wrote:Good luck finding a compatible Cardbus USB card.

From what I remember, the Texas Instruments PCI-1130 Cardbus Controller used in the 760 series had some sort of hardware limitation (something about usable memory or I/O addresses I think) that caused a lot of USB 2.0 controllers to not be configured/enabled (exclamation point with yellow background on Device Manager).

I had a 760XD long ago, you see.

From what I remember, USB 1.1 cards have a decent chance of success.

Just tried a google google search for thinkpad 760xd usb, there's a video in youtube showing a 760xd with wifi and usb 1.1.

USB 2.0 is where the problems crop up.

Thanks! The person who made that video has a site: http://ibmtp760.blogspot.ca

I have a PCMCIA USB adapter in my 760 EL and can read 2Gb USB with it albeit it slowly - into W98se. I can also log into my TALK TALK BBand with a PCMCIA WiFi also but limited by a compatible Browser as constantly nagged to upgrade as all developers think we can just add new OSs at the drop of a hat!

hiero wrote:I have a PCMCIA USB adapter in my 760 EL and can read 2Gb USB with it albeit it slowly - into W98se. I can also log into my TALK TALK BBand with a PCMCIA WiFi also but limited by a compatible Browser as constantly nagged to upgrade as all developers think we can just add new OSs at the drop of a hat!

I may give that a try if I ever feel like getting my 760ED online.

Something is wrong with the keyboard on mine, the keys seem to "stick" together when pressed, making for a really clunky experience. I don't think there was anything spilled on it before I got it, as there is nothing sticky to the touch. It's just that the keys don't depress smoothly, like they are catching on each other.

Someone just gave me a 760ED a while ago, currently has a half-assed OS/2 install on it (no drivers) and the battery surprisingly still holds a charge. I love that the LCD on the keyboard shows charge progress, it's something new machines need.

I fired this machine up tonight (760EL) and it booted to Win98 just fine. I leave it plugged in when not in use, which may or may not extend the CMOS battery, (I believe it does, but on some ThinkPads this didn't seem to hold true). But the CMOS battery is still fine in any case.

Still have the issue with the keyboard being stiff, which prevents me from using it as a typing machine. Anyone have any ideas to fix the keys that stick (mostly all of them), besides a keyboard replacement? Is this a known issue on these units as they age? I've never seen anything like it.

Dos3.1 wrote: Something is wrong with the keyboard on mine, the keys seem to "stick" together when pressed, making for a really clunky experience. I don't think there was anything spilled on it before I got it, as there is nothing sticky to the touch. It's just that the keys don't depress smoothly, like they are catching on each other.

cadillacmike68 wrote:Tuus has advanced docks. They fit T42/43 or T60/61 series. Older T series use the Dock 2 (or II). I dragged my dock II out here to the desert.

This is really late, but the T40 series also use the Dock II. Advanced Dock is for T/R/Z60/61 and T/R/W400/500. I might be wrong on the Z60 though as it uses the same platform as the T40/R50 series.

Anyway, I did notice that the keyboard on my 760ED (Which now has W98 on it) was a bit dull feeling, it might be a change in the later keyboards or something.