The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

h3kt0r wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 11:57 am Upgraded the Acer Aspire One netbook ZG75 from 2008

I just sold my ZG5 a couple of weeks ago. Was time to let the netbook go since it wasn't being used and I didn't want to spend extra to try and upgrade the components in it. That money would be better spent on a new laptop or mini PC!

Sure, i could throw the netbook to the dumpster, buy a Rapsberry Pi 4 and run an emulation distro on top to play retro games. But a mini PC means a new monitor and these cost real money. Plus : you can't play XP games on a Pi.
I'm really pleased to run AntiX on this machine : this distro does an amazing job with old computers.
It's super fast, tightly packed and optimized. With AntiX, this netbook will work okay for a few more years. Netbooks are great, i wish they still build these little machines, i'll happily buy another one...

Last year, i picked up an LDK (landscape version) to play Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, Turbo Gfx, GBA games.

For 50 bucks, this little handheld can run almost anything you throw at it, up to PS1 (2D games, no 3D).
Great to play RPG. Battery is a little bit on the short side (1020 mAh) with 4 to 6 hours autonomy. But i grabbed a dozen cheap BL-5C Nokia batteries with a charger to be safe.
It runs RetroFW.
This is a great device.

h3kt0r wrote:Last year, i picked up an LDK (landscape version) to play Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, Turbo Gfx, GBA games.

For 50 bucks, this little handheld can run almost anything you throw at it, up to PS1 (2D games, no 3D).

Interesting. Had never heard of it before.

Another thing i like to have while i'm going on a hike is an MP3 player. The problem with smartphones or Hi-Res players is battery life. I've looked thoroughly for a player that would give me the best autonomy and found one that has 70 hours battery life. It's small, light and has 8Gb onboard flash storage and SD Card slot for added storage (up to 128Gb). It's a basic player but it has a buit-in mic and can record, has FM radio player and can play MP3 APE, WMA and FLAC. Tha battery really lasts 70 hours as long as you play lossy files only. Costs around 25$, AGPtek brand, A02 model.

h3kt0r wrote:Costs around 25$, AGPtek brand, A02 model.

Very cool. Now if it could be Rockboxed, it would be perfect...

h3kt0r wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:16 pm Another thing i like to have while i'm going on a hike is an MP3 player. The problem with smartphones or Hi-Res players is battery life. I've looked thoroughly for a player that would give me the best autonomy and found one that has 70 hours battery life. It's small, light and has 8Gb onboard flash storage and SD Card slot for added storage (up to 128Gb). It's a basic player but it has a buit-in mic and can record, has FM radio player and can play MP3 APE, WMA and FLAC. Tha battery really lasts 70 hours as long as you play lossy files only. Costs around 25$, AGPtek brand, A02 model.

i bought a couple of those off Ebay last year and even though no Rockbox they would be a hell of a lot more useful to me with just an added clip. They do seem to last 70 hours between charges

now i buy used Sansa Clip+ off Ebay for about $40-$50 per and add Rockbox and 200 GB micro SD and good to go. Battery life is only about 8-10 hours though

not sure why Sansa stopped making them because the demand is there even for used ones - any tiny MP3 player that could add Rockbox + microSD card + a clip would be a great seller

i bought a couple of those off Ebay last year

So did i.
I owned a "rockboxed" Sansa back in 2015, but it died the same year. I first thought the problem might come from the SD card. After swapping between 3 cards, i realized the problem came from the player itself.
Was disappointed because i really liked this pocket player.

Grabbed this for 10 bucks + mSATA 512 Gb Kingston SSD for 60$.



Connects like any USB key via short cable on the computer but is a lot faster.
Actual size is twice as large, more or less the same height, one third longer.

I have been salivating after one of these for quite some time... Any hiccups?

All good for now. Used it the past two months to backup my ZG5 netbook with "Macrium Reflect".
Already restored the system twice after messing up with windows XP registry.
Fast backups and restores.
I'm happy.

May I ask where you got them?

Amazon.fr

Thanks.

I picked up an Intel Compute stick a couple of weeks ago - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Compute_Stick. Got a good deal on it.

Mostly going to use it for media consumption, but it's good to have a truly portable Windows 10 set up

That's a nice thing to have in the pocket. Still, these devices seems to have limited power input (micro USB) and the outcome is the CPU and GPU can't run at full speed.
They're good to browse the web, watch videos, check mail, office work and light image edition.
Beyond that, better to have a Raspberry Pi.