I got my z50 in the mail! z50 questions...

Hi all,
  I got my z50 in the mail! cool. So, I have a few questions
for all of 
you who are using hpcmips w/ a workpad z50 out there.

1. Where can I buy a brand new battery? How much do they
cost? How long 
will it last when it's a brand new battery (under netbsd
obviously) ?

2. What wireless cards would z50 owners recommend?

3. Does anyone happen to know if the old zip drive pcmcia
scsi adapter 
is really a re-badged adaptec 1460? (I got a free iomega
pcmcia card 
that is apparently a pcmcia -> scsi adapter, and it says
1460a on the 
back in small letters...)

Thanks for any and all z50 info,

Nick

"All unix, all the time."

http://npt.ath.cx

On 8/10/06, nick thompson wrote:
>
>   I got my z50 in the mail! cool. So, I have a few
questions for all of
> you who are using hpcmips w/ a workpad z50 out there.
>
> 1. Where can I buy a brand new battery? How much do
they cost? How long
> will it last when it's a brand new battery (under
netbsd obviously) ?

You could check eBay.  I have seen a few for sale there.

> 2. What wireless cards would z50 owners recommend?

I have a SMC EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b (SMC2532W-B) which
works with
NetBSD 3.0.1.

> 3. Does anyone happen to know if the old zip drive
pcmcia scsi adapter
> is really a re-badged adaptec 1460? (I got a free
iomega pcmcia card
> that is apparently a pcmcia -> scsi adapter, and it
says 1460a on the
> back in small letters...)

The PCMCIA Zip SCSI adaptor I have is a rebadged 1460.  It
works fine
with NetBSD.

> > 1. Where can I buy a brand new battery? How much
do they cost? How long
> > will it last when it's a brand new battery (under
netbsd obviously) ?
>
> You could check eBay.  I have seen a few for sale
there.

Keep in mind the fact that any original batteries have been
sitting in
a warehouse for a few years, and that LiIons don't like
that sort of
thing.  I know some people who've had good experience with
batteryrefill.com for other laptops (they just replace the
cells,
leaving the old electronics and plastic).  Since they use
newly-manufactured cells, you'll probably get significantly
better
performance than what an original battery would provide. 
That said,
when my battery was new (3 or 4 years ago?), I could get
about 6-7
hours without a wireless card.  The extended battery doubles
that, but
mine's worn down to the point that the extended battery
runs it for 5
or 6 hours.

As for the wireless card, I've been using a Sony-rebranded
Orinico.
(One of the really old ones.  I think the Orinoco name has
been
applied to more recent cards as well.)  I know I've used a
couple
other cards, but I can't recall which ones.

Brian

On 8/10/06, nick thompson wrote:
>
> How long will it last when it's a brand new battery
(under netbsd obviously) ?

I just tested the battery life on my Z50 with a 512 MB CF
card and a
PCMCIA ethernet card.  The extended battery lasted 7.5
hours.  The
battery came with the Z50, which was used, and I don't know
it's age.