The Powerbook Story
I have an affinity for old technology. And as I read an article on the, most recent, failures of the US Government I remembered my 13 year old Powerbook.
After reading the article I remembered what great fun that computer was when I was younger. I began to wonder what I could mod it into today. Since every part in the notebook was working except the keyboard (more on that later) and I needed a, really, fancy alarm clock. So, I concluded that that would be it's purpose in life. The older line of Powerbook computers are not only durable but can startup and shutdown at a given time and through the use of startup items, like say a song in Quicktime, you could make a spiffy alarm clock!
About a year ago the keyboard in my Powerbook ceased to work and I found a more practical music playing device, an iPod, so I stashed it away. I even had a replacement keyboard lying around but never got up the courage to install it. It was much easier than I thought. And after three screws and two plugs it had a new keyboard. I thought that the new keyboard would fix the problem, so I eagerly booted up the book, started up SimpleText, and began to type. Just as before nothing happened but an endless stream of 4s poured into the document. My first reaction was to swear because there was only one other option, that the problem was buried deeper within the hardware, lurking like a child molester.
I flipped the computer over. I unscrewed the three screws, feeling like Chris Hansen, I took out the keyboard, then I took out the bezel which contained two speakers and a few switches, which like the keyboard did not work. Under the bezel was a battery, presumably for the clock and maybe the BIOS, and there was a small puncture on it and it looked corroded. GASP! There was the problem. The 13 year old Ni-MH battery had burst open, leaking fluids on the part of the motherboard that controlled the input devices. The spill was only millimeters from the RAM module, which would have been horrific. After finding this out I knew that the notebooks courier as a clock was cut short because of it's lack of time keeping abilities.
Sigh. The only other project that I can think of, being rather common on the interwebs, is a picture frame. There is nothing quite as ugly as a giant, 12.1", dim picture frame. The Powerbook and it's incredible build quality will probably last another 5 years or more in storage without anymore nickel-metal hydride batteries blowing up inside.
There are several morals to this story. 1) Revisit old junk with new knowledge, you may think of something fun or useful! 2) Do not use Ni-MH (nickel-metal hydride) batteries, they will fuck with your life. Go with a good lithium ion instead!