Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I got close to http://bash.org/?5273 recently.

My work at one point had an OS X specific piece. So I got a wreck of a Macbook Air 2011 around 2013 or 2014, can't quite remember, the original owner tried to replace the LCD and failed spectacularly (I think replacing the screen now would require replacing the motherboard) and sold it screenless for cheap, perfect for my purposes. I added a Thunderbolt-Ethernet dongle to it, chucked it in the parts cupboard (it has slats so it airs well) and forgot about it when I changed primary clients in 2015 and I no longer needed it. A couple weeks ago I needed a Mac again and thought hey, I have a wreck. I checked LuCI and hey, there is wreck in the DHCP leases, that thing is still alive, I ran VNC against it, but what's my password? I haven't logged in for more than four years, let's reset the password. So I go to the cabinet, pull it out and https://i.imgur.com/SQbISmB.jpg URGH



E have an esp8266 device on a battery pack in deep sleep mode that still attaches to my WiFi network occasionally enough to appear in my unifi dashboard. I have no idea where it is; it's been like that for months now.


That is terrifying. How do you plan to handle/dispose of that battery? I guess I'd unplug the Mac from AC and run the battery all the way down, but then you probably should have a fireproof bag to transport it to someplace that will accept it for disposal/recycling.

edit: ifixit instructions:

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/What_to_do_with_a_swollen_batter...


I had someone to come and replace the battery and take the old one away. Not my problem any more.


I had this recently with my phone. It was on silent, so ringing wouldn't help. Still connected though.

I then looked at the signal values in my AP. Kicked the phone from one AP, so it would connect to the next. The signal strength was almost the same so I figuered it must be in a room with somewhat equal distance to the APs. I went to that room, no lights on, called and the display turned on.


I found a Raspberry pihole that I forgot existed when I moved out of my last place.


I see your Macbook Air put on its floaties!


I feel I have read an entire story with the same starting line as the above. Can anyone else recall something similar?



"Attempts to follow network cabling to find the missing box led to the discovery that maintenance workers had sealed the server behind a wall."

Ha ha


The missing part in that story is that the system was an IBM PS/2 Model 9595. They were a complete tank.

Here is 3 random pages with info:

http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/ps2_95t3/ http://kentie.net/article/ps2/index.htm http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/ps2_95t4_586/

I had one running as a fileserver for years (OS/2). There was even a hack for the type 4 CPU complex that allowed you to put in a Pentium MMX Overdrive processor (you had to do some soldering). Worked like a charm. I think I had a 233MHz running on it.


What is going on in that picture?


Batteries are damaged. This can happen through normal use. There is some risk of fire or the release of toxic gasses. Check out /r/spicypillows:

https://www.reddit.com/r/spicypillows/



Bloated batteries real bad.


You got it cheap but that idle computer must have costed you about an extra hundred buck in electricity over 4 years...


The last 29 days, I just checked, I am paying 19 CAD for 143kWh. https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/screen-shot-2016-10... shows 4W but perhaps it's 4.6W because of the brick efficiency. Since this thing was running 24-7, that's 29*24=696 hours so we are looking at 3171 Wh or 3kWh. At the end, (4/.878 x 696/1000)/143 x 19 x 4 x 365/29=21.210 so we that's 21 bucks and change.

4/.878 watts

696 hours

1000 convert to kilowatt

per current monthly kilowatt to get to the fraction of consumption

times the cost of monthly consumption

the replacement battery and the guy doing the replacement, yeah that was a hundred alas. Oh well.

times four years

times the fraction of a year that monthly consumption comes to




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: