Exploring This Tiny Libretto Laptop With Windows 95

[@mima85]

The hard drive click this time may actually not be a problem. A lot of 2.5 inch laptop hard drives parked the heads as soon as there were no more read/write requests to perform, as a crude mean of protection against head crash on the patters' data area in the event of a physical shock. Of course you could still have a head crash if the drive or the computer took a hit, but most likely it would happen on the platters' landing zone, where no data is present, as tipically in a PC the hard drive is sitting idle for most of the time, just keeping its platters spinning and waiting for commands from the OS. A severe crash could still damage the heads and kill the drive preventing you to access your files though, but in less severe cases this simple prevention mechanism could have meant the difference between loosing some of your files or still being able to access them. Another thing, do to your Libretto a big favour and take away that little green battery pack that's inside it (it's the BIOS/RTC backup battery). Those are prone to leak and wreak havoc, all Toshiba laptops from the 90ies employed them. You'll have to manually confirm the BIOS settings and update the date and time every time you start the machine, but at least you'll prevent the guts of the computer being corroded by the battery fluids.

[@JanusCycle]

Thanks for letting me know about this odd hard drive behaviour. I've heard many drives over the years and this one sounds so strange. Thank you for the battery removal tip. You motivated me today to finally get this done :) I don't mind having to reset the time and date as this is not a daily use machine. It's something I want to enjoy at different times for a long time to come.

[@mima85]

@@JanusCycle You're welcome :-)

[@Michael18751]

@@JanusCycle You should probably mention that the parking is normal in a pinned comment.

[@JanusCycle]

@@Michael18751 Thanks for the suggestion. I have pinned the comment now. The way that drive clicks still really upsets me for some reason.

[@Michael18751]

@@JanusCycle If it makes you feel any better, I have an old Hard Drive that is just as noisy when parking. I don't know about this hard drive through because I never owned it. I don't know of this drive has S.M.A.R.T. Maybe that could help. If it does, then you can run the drive through lots of testing and see if there are errors in S.M.A.R.T. If you already see them though, then that may be a sign of the Hard Drive dying.

[@brewdium]

There's something so distinct about the portable computers from this era with the screen in the middle with giant side bezels for speakers etc. I love it.

[@raven4k998]

well part of it is that now they are rare as well as unique

[@SilverXTikal]

Nintendo DS lol

[@alanreplicant8615]

It is those imperfection that make it perfect.

[@raven4k998]

@@alanreplicant8615 can you imagine if they made a 3d printer that could print out pentium cpu's ram and chipsets so you could build an old laptop like that with new made parts that would be so cool and fun😃

[@SockyNoob]

At least it's actually centered. Some laptops had asymmetrical bezels and logos.

[@DevirothS]

this toshiba looks absolutely fantastic, a brilliant piece of engineering genius

[@Yliannyx]

This was one of those palmtops I always wanted when I was younger after seeing my father use one for work. Lovely form factor, decent keyboard and you could actually get work done on it without some at the time clunky PDA with awful soft keys. Nice performance considering it’s size. Pity the plastic has gone so brittle like so many machines from this era. Also, great use of Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch!

[@JanusCycle]

Nice spotting the sound stretching software! It's really great.

[@rayr1444]

Very nice video. I have a 50CT I bought used in 2000. I upgraded it to Windows 98SE, using floppies! Have full expansion base, floppy drive and Ethernet dongle. Used to have wifi back in the day with a PCMCIA Symphony wireless card. Mine never suffered from brittle plastic and has no breaks or cracks. Pristine. Have original black faux leather case and manual too. My little Libretto still works great today. I just dug it out and tried it.

[@JanusCycle]

I'm glad you kept it. I really enjoy my 50CT.

[@_xwtk]

That was so creative to put slowed down boot sound over the installation process, I immediately thought of that.

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you! the stretched sound was exactly how I was feeling while installing Windows 95.

[@_xwtk]

@@JanusCycle Hahaha

[@mickeythompson9537]

Nice to see this little Libretto featured. A little jewel indeed! When I put a CF in as HD on mine, I cut a sheet of stiff plastic sheet to a rectangle the size of the HD, plus a fold-over 'handle', and attached the adaptor to it - so I could insert and remove the adaptor without opening the whole unit. Thanks for showing the insides, and reminding me I need to change that internal battery on my 50! And thanks for the CF adaptor test, it was something I wondered about.

[@JanusCycle]

That is a great tip. I'm going to find the right piece of plastic and do this. Thanks!

[@amrkoptan4041]

that was amazing, i was simply mesmerized with how u directed this video

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you, this was really fun to get this working solid state with Windows 95.

[@Raptor50aus]

I remember repairing these back in the day. I still have a Toshiba 310CDT from 1996 working great with 98SE and lots of retro games.

[@raven4k998]

yeah and they were crap due to the 75mhz cpu a 90 would have performed much better for gaming

[@enantiodromia]

Considering that my hp49g+ pocket calculator runs at 70 Mhz...

[@rodak_]

Thank you for mentioning Brain Eno. I didn't know about him, but I love ambient music and his creations are just wonderful.

[@falafell]

After hearing about this machine, No way I could pass up clicking on the video, I'm glad I did, every one of these has a distinct feeling associated with it, like it's taking me back to a time I never experienced. Retro tech like this hardly ever disappoints.

[@safetinspector2]

In the 90's I was an IT guy who worked for a VAR (predecessor to MSP conceptually) and I always wanted one of these as well as one of the li'l docking stations. I was always on the road and using my laptop in server rooms that were little more than closets. I never got one, but it was fun seeing you play with yours. Cheers!

[@JanusCycle]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this, thanks.

[@bluebull399]

That Libretto is doing a pretty good job at running descent. I used to love that game. This reminds me of my first IT job in the late 90's, working for a blue chip company. We handled all the latest and greatest computer hardware. It was common to see 20 Librettos all laid out on the bench whilst we deployed software builds onto them. I was a hardware support engineer, responsible for fixing or failing systems. I got to take apart a number of laptops, desktops and servers. Unfortunately, we wasn't allowed to bring any of our own software on the premises. If we was, I would have put Descent on a Libretto. So thanks for doing something I used to dream about!

[@JanusCycle]

That sounds really awesome for your first IT job, thanks sharing. I'm glad you enjoyed seeing Descent on here.

[@Ventrux]

I was watching your video and I remember after your grey Libretto came out a Toshiba black Libretto so tiny and elegant, it has a dock station with a dvd on it and a dvd is almost the size of the computer, I can't find the model in Google, but it was so beautiful.

[@vmos8270]

All your videos are pure gold

[@JanusCycle]

I really appreciate heating that. I sure some videos are better than others. But I'm very pleased you are enjoying the channel. Thank you.

[@mattsadventureswithart5764]

That startup sound! I disabled it on my own machine within the first month of having it, but remember it so strongly from all the times I was asked to help out friends and neighbours.

[@TMracer73]

Love these videos. Thanks for the work you putting int this. It almost seems like you must be ready to open museum

[@JanusCycle]

I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. This seems to be snowballing with more people giving me their old tech. (I also buy stuff off eBay, which can be a bad habit sometimes.)

[@tobsuremans5369]

I just LOVE your calming and highly interesting videos. Thank you!

[@JanusCycle]

I'm really glad you are enjoying the channel :)

[@ringaddict]

I had one in 1998… was actually quite useable… I had the Pcmcia external floppy and port dock… the win95 startup jingle made me smile..😁

[@clownbooface2624]

i saw the vid today and went hunting, found one with both those for cheap and 32mb ram a 100 ct , lowballed guy and he accepted! 50 usd shipped, janus making me poor😅

[@clawpicker]

Hi!! I thought I was alone until I found your channel tonight :-) I have several Librettos (Libretti?) One of which a 110CT with 4GB of RAM, 1024 x 768 and runs Windows 10. Original from the outside, but looks like a magpie's nest on the inside. Works great, but I never bring it to an airport... Strange that some of these Librettos seem to hold up well whereas others crack like biscuits. This is my kind of TouTube channel!

[@JanusCycle]

Hey thanks, I’m glad you’re here. You arrived at a good time. I’m releasing a new video tomorrow. I hope you continue to enjoy the channel. I’m keen to hear more about the things you are into.

[@ScottSpeed95]

How in the world did you add 3,936MB of RAM to a device that only ships with 32MB and a max of 64MB??? Also the internal display can only display a maximum resolution of 800x480 unless you enable the panning option which lets you view a higher resolution screen but still the display is only capable of outputting 800x480 I'm curious though what you have done to it however.

[@clawpicker]

@@ScottSpeed95 Hello Lincoln! I seached all regions in China and found a LCD panel that would fit inside the orignal bezel / lid. It had wires instead of the usual ribbon LVDS which I could feed through the hinge as per original.The computer itself is a MeeGoPad which I connected to the LCD's stripped controller board. The keyboard is converted from PS/2 to USB via a brakoutboard to a Teensy. The "mouse" proved to be a more complicated story. I had to make a new PCB to fit on the right hand side of the LCD with new LEDs, left/right/on-off etc. Other than that you're absolutely right with the original limits of the original hardware on the Libretto, but you can have 96MB of RAM with a modified Portege chip. Best regards, Tor

[@DavidGreen_au]

Wow! Memories. I remember seeing one of these at the time, back when Win95 was "hot" and "new", such a departure from Win3.11 (Workgroups). Such an amazing small platform. And I remember a function that you didn't touch on, being a virtual 1024×768 display, which you could pan over to display, a mode that you would only use when you *really* needed to.

[@km-xr5im]

Excellent and very informative video!

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you :)

[@MarcosGarcia-kx4rb]

I love how you did EXACTLY what the manual said NOT to do when pulling out the hdd lol.

[@JanusCycle]

My desk, my rules :)

[@dankanemitsu3336]

I know this is old news, but all you need to do is type "CHEV US" at the command prompt and DOS would go into English mode. To return to Japanese DOS, you type "CHEV JP" at the command prompt.

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you. I didn't know about this command. This is really useful to know.

[@dankanemitsu3336]

@@JanusCycle I'm glad you found this useful. As I understand, MS-DOS had numerous versions prior to MS-DOS, where NEC, Toshiba and other companies ported DOS to be functional with their proprietary systems. NEC PC-88/98 and Toshiba J-3100 originally ran their own version of DOS. Toshiba shifted toward going IBM compatible by the 1989 while NEC didn't budge. IBM Japan and other companies eventually agreed on the DOS/V standard where V stands for VGA, not 5. VGA was needed to display Japanese character sets without hardware support. IBM DOS 4J was the first implementation of DOS/V standard, and later the MS-DOS 5J was the first fully cross-platform version, as I understand. A lot of Japanese DOS programs only run in JP mode, while many English programs look funny in JP mode, so learning the CHEV US/JP command is very useful. If you are more interested in this topic, I suggest you look up an article on DOS/V. It's very easy to find.

[@TDGalea]

God I miss the sound of old laptop drives. I would absolutely love a laptop from this era.

[@christoffermedc]

that was a beautiful drone tune made from the 95 boot melody

[@JanusCycle]

Yes, that was fun to do.

[@lyleesjones]

Those boot and post sounds make me unreasonably happy and nostalgic. Clearly an instance of bit-rot on my part. Third paradigm-shift and low level format : processing.....

[@ko83na]

that ambient win95 startup remix did it for me... well done good sir

[@JanusCycle]

Glad you enjoyed that :)

[@MasterH2005]

Now that’s a pretty laptop. I have a HP Pavilion DV 6500, but I’m looking for something older. That laptop is like the Grandfather to mini computers. I like Windows95 more than Windows10, because it’s simple, relaxing, and it’s a retro paradise to me.

[@nine7295]

I owned a Libretto 50CT way back, had the extra 16GB ram upgrade, 20GB HDD upgrade, the overclock (selectable to 100 or 133, but 133 very unstable due to heat, even 100 can crash sometimes from heat) hack, and even used a PCMCIA CDPD cellular data card with it (but battery life is terrible with that taking up power) and also lots more heat. Used it for street nav running Streets and Trips then, that's before the prevalence of GPS nav devices. Also had the FDD and bought the expansion port replicator as well , and an extra extended capacity battery. Sold it to a friend years later. Who also bought a similar but later model from another common friend.

[@JanusCycle]

Impressive use of the system in the early days, great stuff. I want to try overclocking and experience the performance and heat issues for my self now :)

[@nine7295]

@@JanusCycle if you don't need to use the PCMCIA slot, see if you can pump some air into that area to assist in heat dissipation, by DIY some tiny fan? Another way is to have the O/C to select between 75 and 100 and give up the 133 (which is really unstable), but I forgot if the hack can be set up like that (internal soldering required, I used wire wrap wires.) My friend bought this same model before I did, so he paid a lot more at the time, yet not the original full price (over $2400 USD original retail price here in Canada, after conversion). He also had to pay for the FDD separately while mine was bundled in the deal. Then I met someone online in the US who has had a website webpage dedicated to this model, and we became friends later on as we both were into mini portable computers. My friend tried to use an early BT PCMCIA card to send audio into a BT speakers, but the quality was terrible . He returned the card to Best Buy for a refund. Both of us tried many unusual connections, including cellular modem on PCMCIA to connect to my Motorola AMPS flip phone, to make Internet connection, WiFi etc. I also used a Panasonic CD-ROM drive with its own PCMCIA card .

[@abderrahimaourir]

WHAT AN AMAZING PIECE OF TECH, I would totally buy one if I ever find it. Reminded me of one I saw on the anime Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). Try contacting restorers of ancient books & paintings, vintage & retro machines, and wood. I bet you they have some sort of spray or resin formula to keep that plastic tight :)). Personally, and given the poor resources in my disposition, I would of improvised some technique like pouring a transparent soft glue mixture directely on the shell to strength it XD, or use an even softer glue (like UHU) to stick a transparent plastic to the shell to avoid in tje case of a break losing bits & pieces and their placement onto the shell. Sounds harsh, but what's even harsher is my laptop turning into legos at the slightest slips LOL.

[@JanusCycle]

Some interesting suggestions for plastic restore thanks. May people suffer from this model specifically and the plastic decay problem.

[@ptonpc]

I used my Libretto 100CT for a long time. I still have it. The first time I saw a Libretto was in 1999, it was running NT4.0 and was being used as a small file server.

[@sidcom001]

Hi we still use one of these laptop for program VM Telco kit. The best thing is the size is small and it is very easy to use out side in the cabinets.

[@kurosan9712]

I just love these very small notes They're really cool and it sucks we dont have anything similar these days

[@JanusCycle]

We kind of do, check out the micro PCs GPD have been making.

[@kurosan9712]

@@JanusCycle nah, they're way less cool than librettos and uxs

[@athemalive]

With the compact flah it really depends on the DMA settings of the card itself. You need to find the one that it will be supported. I tend to skip UDMA.

[@TattiePeeler]

This was what I lusted after at the time. Gorgeous design. Pentium in your hands..

[@JanusCycle]

I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging this little machine is. Thanks for your comment!

[@TattiePeeler]

@@JanusCycle, I could never play Descent at the time. Induces nausea that takes hours to recover from! Thanks for your output.

[@RetroTechorDie]

I really need to get my hands on one of these Librettos, neat little computers!

[@prla5400]

Nice editing with the windows 98 bootup.

[@amezonian]

charming! thank you, man

[@vinylcabasse]

this is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. i too have always loved the 95 startup sound - did you create that long version? i remember looking at ebay in the mid 2000's for these, always wanting one. (or one of the later widescreen ones with the same form factor)

[@vasquezitosanchezito]

As a kid of the 90s, you're doing great content on this channel! Top notch music choices too and a big fan of Eno as well. Loving this stretched out Windows 90 logon music!

[@JanusCycle]

It's great to hear when someone enjoys the music. Thank you.

[@ycsham06]

great video ! great quality !

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you :)

[@JessicaFEREM]

industrial CF cards are less likely to have issues. they are designed to show up as a hard drive rather than a removable disc, less likely to screw with becoming a PC HDD but ofc the best way to find a working card is to buy all sorts of brands and trial and error. I heard there's a brand still making or at least selling industrial models.

[@JanusCycle]

I have these Swissbit industrial CF cards, but I have not been able to make them bootable. I though they would support ATA mode easily and show up as a hard drive. I will need to learn more about them.

[@nevarDeathEHW]

Wow you blew my mind again! I LOVED Descent, it was so UNDERRATED! Did you try using the thumbstick with descent? Seems like that would be superior for controlling your ship and leave you entire other hand free for shooting, accelerating, etc.

[@JanusCycle]

While I think Doom is great to try out on these old machines, Descent is one of those special games that is much less known from that era, yet deserves much more attention. I don't remember getting the thumb-stick working, it may have been because it was running in DOS, I'm not sure.

[@nevarDeathEHW]

@@JanusCycle yes I wholeheartedly agree! I never got very far in Doom, it just got boring and repetitive. I played all the way through Descent! The only thing repetitive about Descent is getting lost LOL. Too bad about the thumbstick, it could have been fun to use that for moving, then one mouse button for acceleration and one for backing up. Then your other hand can use the keyboard for firing. Anyway, you should feature Descent or Descent 2 more often on these old machines, such a delight!

[@RowanHawkins]

The thing you were missing in Descent was it is a true weightless 3d environment. You were initially being shot from above. To be really good at it, flying around with a 45° or 90° off axis rotation meant most shots miss you or you only get hit by one beam. It had much tighter hit-boxes than Doom did as well. To be fair it did make some people motion sick, and others couldn't handle the full free rotation with no reference point.

[@edgarwalk5637]

I remember installing Windows 95 vividly, because I had to re-install it at least a dozen times!

[@JanusCycle]

Windows 95 only really worked well when re-installed periodically. Welcome back to seeing it installed again in modern times :)

[@raspbean716]

I have a libretto w100 with dual touchscreens. Libretto line is full of futuristic touches

[@SockyNoob]

This thing has a lovely form factor honestly. You could probably 3D print a sled for that CF to HDD adapter.

[@JanusCycle]

Good idea. That would be extremely handy.

[@ManMadeOfGold]

I had no idea that CF card IDE compatibility varied so much. That might explain why I could never properly boot DOS on one of my old laptops.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

I'm really surprised you didn't Ghost that faulty drive ASAP. Really disappointing your 4Gb microdrive didn't work, but the size would have been overkill anyway. I came so close to buying one of these in 2000 off a guy in Norwood. The only reason I didn't, is I wanted it for media. It couldn't play my South Park Real Media files and even struggled with MP3's. Oh and the battery life was about 75 mins ! lol Toshiba made beautiful machines, always excellent quality, great design and easy to repair. Factory 32mb module !! 😲 Watching this brought back memories of similar moments on Tuesday nights in the late 90's 😉.

[@JanusCycle]

I did backup the windows folder from the dodgy hard drive but didn't mention that. I also like to live dangerously :)

[@gentuxable]

Did you check if the non-bootable CF cards were partitioned with a table and not as superfloppy and had an active flag on the partition? Because I had a lot of CF cards as boot media for old laptops like these and they normally worked if they had been in the right format.

[@andrasszabo7386]

WD has a tool to use(needs original PCMCIA FDD for that) larger cards or hard drives than 8 GB.

[@RobertPendell]

I remember Descent. That was my jam back then.

[@JanusCycle]

A pivotal game for it's time, that's for sure.

[@lukasjuszczak1664]

I've used mine with a CF card in my uni years. Really cool machine and still best mobile keyboard experience. Damn, i was so stupid for selling it.

[@JanusCycle]

There's nothing wrong with buying something for just nostalgia if you find a really good deal :)

[@blakegriplingph]

You should get your hands on one of them Compaq LTE ELITE 4/XX laptops.

[@rayoflight62]

Forgot about the hours spent playing Descent (and Wing Commander before) Btw In 1995, a machine with 32 MB of RAM was an exception. Greetings

[@JanusCycle]

Great games :)

[@BilisNegra]

The machine is from late 96 or 97 and a single year or two meant a lot more in computing than it does now... But 32 MB was still pretty hefty back then in general, and in particular, on such a thing as a mini laptop like this it's pretty crazy!

[@llSuperSnivyll]

Honestly, that this stupidly tiny laptop can run a Windows version released only the previous year, as well as some 3D games, is insane. I would have found it believable if you told me it's a retro micro PC released only a few years ago.

[@JanusCycle]

Considering how big laptops were in the 90s, this is impressively small.

[@prla5400]

That Win 95 game was amazing.

[@graealex]

Why don't you get one of those PATA-to-USB-adapters? They're cheap, and you can easily image dying HDDs on a proper computer without risking any more damage. You probably shouldn't run ScanDisk on a dying disk anyway.

[@andrewkadar]

Are usually have a short attention span but I watched this whole video fully present and it was very relaxing

[@JanusCycle]

That's an amazing compliment, thank you. I love making these videos and I'm honoured when someone finds the experience worthwhile.

[@Microwave414]

Rather shocking how well it is running descent there, I was expecting under 5 frames a second but that looks to be about as playable as the PlayStation version of this game, if not even more so.

[@JanusCycle]

Descent was a very early 3D game, they must have done lot's to optimize it for PC back then.

[@vvti18]

Win95 had the best start-up sound

[@silversonic1]

I don't know what was going on with laptop plastic of the era. I had 2 laptops that deteriorated and essentially fell apart.

[@bedrich2]

I had one at the time and the CD-ROM for it - PCMCIA interface Adaptec I believe

[@JohnSmith-iu8cj]

95 was the future

[@HonestAuntyElle]

That HDD caddy is tiny!! Edit: I may have been getting confused with the expansion slot. On rewatch it's definitely the HDD caddy, but quick question, why does the laptop still make HDD noises when the CF cards installed?

[@RowanHawkins]

Its a 7mm drive. They were only common on subcompact models like this. They do make. Parallel IDE SSD Drives and as long as you make a 4gb start partion you can use any remaining space as file storage. The bus is probably 33mhz with a 2.5x multiplier. It could also be 50mhz at 1.5x.

[@lindvallpaul9861]

i really miss theese kind of computers and phones. today they all looks so same.. just a brick of glas

[@Raptor50aus]

Hopefully my libretto has the memory expansion too. Will let you know when it arrives. :)

[@_CrescentMoon]

Does it arrived? and does it have the expansion?

[@Raptor50aus]

@@_CrescentMoon yes and yes

[@Askar_Birmuhammedov]

your English is very clear

[@JanusCycle]

thanks

[@Askar_Birmuhammedov]

@@JanusCycle subscribed to you, your videos also awesome.

[@Raptor50aus]

Just bought this same model with dock from japan too :) Great price too.

[@ThatOne5]

Hello Janus, how are you? I was wondering if you can mesure that display's sizer X and Y, height and with... I'm doing a little research on TV resolutions

[@JanusCycle]

I'm doing ok, thanks for your question. The measured dimensions are 93mm x 124mm

[@PRH123]

It was an awesome piece of hardware. Was thinking of getting one at the time, but the Win95 killed the idea for me, 95 was so horrible, I couldn’t stand it on my 7000 usd corporate laptop, running it on the libretto would have been I imagined something worse. Have always wondered what the libretto would be like running something more lightweight and fast, like just DOS applications, or GEOS or something. But I suppose there would be some kind of nightmare with drivers for the various ports and interfaces, as there often was with notebooks in that time.

[@requiemcollectiblesgaming]

3D-print a new cassis.

[@damian9303]

I’m about to list one of the domestic variants of these for sale at my local marketplace, wish me luck

[@JanusCycle]

Good Luck!

[@damian9303]

@@JanusCycleI tried listing around $150 but people only seem interested if it includes the additional I/O replicator and external floppy drive which I don’t have unfortunately.

[@duplicake4054]

You should 3d print a new casing to repair the cracks.

[@southernflatland]

Bruh, it can actually play Descent? Awesome!

[@ayanned]

i hope someone could create 3d print design of these so you could replace your old chassis.

[@Dtr146]

Jesus toshiba's been using the same plug for decades

[@cptcrogge]

Only some CF cards, especially industrial ones, support all ATA commands properly.

[@damianisel3598]

No se consigue más no...????? Soy de Argentina 🇦🇷 🇦🇷🇦🇷👏👏👏👏👏

[@JanusCycle]

Thank you :)

[@nickf.2871]

That looks like a Nintendo ds if it was a laptop instead thats crazy.

[@Colt45hatchback]

How did you manage to get the windows 95 installer to let you install it from the drive the install files were on? Did you partition the card? In the past ive tried, possibly incorrectly, to do the same, with no luck, the installer said that it cant install to the same drive the installation files are located

[@JanusCycle]

My understanding is that it's normal to be able to run the Windows 95 installer from from c: drive and install Windows to the same c: drive. It sounds like your situation is the odd one out. Get a photo if you can so others can see this error. Also the Vogons forum is a great place for these questions. I get so much of what I need just reading the posts on there.

[@Colt45hatchback]

@@JanusCycle oh right, nice! im glad its probably user error in that case, at least that has an easy solution haha thanks i will check it out. And yes ill grab a pic next time i get a chance to make an attempt. I will sus out those Mrobes tomorrow too

[@azzayedensanchezsosa5519]

Buen hallazgo,se soluciona con impresora 3D🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@JanusCycle]

Good suggestion, thanks.

[@maldyfish]

i fear those green leaky batteries they just kill so many old laptops

[@tomaszk2242]

Sorry, Sir, but disapproval from me on the hdd swap to anything silent. '90s rattling drive is a must in such appliance. There's no excuse.

[@JanusCycle]

I appreciate this perspective. I have a Palm LifeDrive that I won't be swapping the internal drive to a CF. I also really enjoyed hearing the drive going in the iPod I explored recently. Though the way the drive in this Libretto sounded was freaking me out with it's weird clicks. That's no excuse though. I'll try and do better :)

[@safetinspector2]

I wonder if it could have taken Win98 SE?

[@JanusCycle]

Yep, I think 98 would run fine. But this is my 95 machine :) I have another machine for 98.

[@safetinspector2]

@@JanusCycle did the Win95 driver for the display pull off 16bit color? Also, out of curiousity, which OSR of Win95 did you load on that li’l dude?

[@andrasszabo7386]

I have a laptop just like that. I even have the original PCMCIA floppy for it.I have shoved in a homemade 10 GB IDE SSD, WD has a tool for this laptop to use bigger HDDs. I use Win98 and DOS on it. The 2 issues are: the case is breaking to crumbs, and the internal speaker has very low volume. I can't hear anything, unless I put its speaker right next to my ear.Is there any chemical solution to treat the plastic?? And what about the speaker? Anyone has any ideas?? Works fine on the headphlne jack. And also the backlight is really dim, I don't know why.

[@JanusCycle]

I don't know much about these plastics. They are the worst on any device I have ever seen. The speaker needs to be looked into, because this computer has such a good sound chip. I wonder why the WD tool requires a floppy drive to work, that's interesting.

[@andrasszabo7386]

@@JanusCycle is your backlight dim so that you cannot use that screen in daylight?? Mine is only usable at night or after sundown.

[@JanusCycle]

@@andrasszabo7386 it’s brighter than I expected. But not enough for daytime use. Older displays were just not that bright.

[@KaterKomPuter]

Missing mine alot 😪

[@samicrossfusionxben-dhiab5441]

is CF faster than HDDs in this era?

[@TyTytheCat2004]

I wonder how far you can push the computer.

[@TyTytheCat2004]

Since it's a Pentium I wanna say you could try installing Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs on it!

[@TyTytheCat2004]

The copy I usually use is from VHD Vault.

[@JanusCycle]

I always really appreciate your suggestions. This version of Windows would be really interesting to try on here.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

The deck flex on that keyboard though ... yikes!

[@geometrikselfelsefesi]

Why do you do love tiny computers

[@JanusCycle]

That is a really good question. I could sidestep the question and say it's easier to collect, ship and store smaller devices. It's easier to handle and make videos with something small on the desk. These things are true but the real meaning is probably much deeper. It might be related to the monolith from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and what that represents. And the way that as computers have become the phones in our pockets they have come to look like a tiny monolith. There is something about having a very powerful talisman in your pocket that needs to be respected.

[@gilbertokoxx3559]

@@JanusCycle I guess a good challenge for you is to fit all the software possibilities available today into these tiny machines, right? Like watching KZbin or talking via Twitter/Tik Tok in microcomputers with Windows 95?

[@JanusCycle]

@@gilbertokoxx3559 Yes, this all sounds great. I really enjoy when technology breaks free from our pre-conceptions and does something unexpected. Technology is a manifestation of our thoughts, and the devices we carry reflect not only the thoughts of the people that made them, but become an extension of our own thoughts as we use them. When we do something unexpected we take that technology beyond the thoughts of even the original designers.

[@gilbertokoxx3559]

@@JanusCycle my God your a philosopher!!!

[@gilbertokoxx3559]

@@JanusCycle do you try to do this kind of thing or you just accept this thing's limitations? I think this will be a huge thing in the future. Many people like this machine's outlook, but know they're barely usable. If they could watch KZbin on this, for instance, I'm sure they'd pay big money for it.

[@meh3247]

No anti static wristband?

[@JanusCycle]

I keep myself grounded, just not via the wrist.

[@Raptor50aus]

Do you have a link to the IDE to compact flash adapter and USB to compact flash adapter you are using?

[@JanusCycle]

I got this from ebay with a search for 'compact flash 44 pin ide'

[@Raptor50aus]

@@JanusCycle yep thanks found the same as yours

[@Raptor50aus]

@@JanusCycle I finally received the Libretto 50CT. It would turn on but no video or post due to corrosion damage but the hdd was 4GB and worked great and had the memory upgrade board. I bought 2 x Libretto 60CT units, the first one arrived this week and needed a new hdd and a dock. After a clean install of windows 95 and the correct drivers it runs the retro games great :) but the plastic is very brittle.

[@JanusCycle]

@@Raptor50aus Great to hear you received your Libretto and also have some spares. And the bonus memory that really adds to the experience. I knew they were brittle but I was shocked by how much. The plastic is like cardboard. I'm also so impressed by Windows 95. These machines are great additions to our collections.

[@Raptor50aus]

@@JanusCycle My second 60CT arrives this week and it has the PCMCIA FDD and cd drive and some floppy discs with drivers. Might install the flash card in it

[@johndoe122able]

We could revive JFK with whatever was keeping that hard drive alive...😂

[@prulcan]

i would like to have this baby for dos gaming... so like this computer

[@prla5400]

Amazing vid. I've suggested before but you should get a used PSVITA and then jailbreak and explore it. It's an awesome device. Mine works since 10 years and on.

[@PepeuHARDT]

Sempre usei SONY (até hoje). A única vez que não tive, foi um desses.

[@vicettitv]

Are this signs on the screen japanese?

[@JanusCycle]

yes

[@24kwarlord]

Will this work for modern windows os files?

[@JanusCycle]

Do you mean installing modern Windows on a CF card? Yes, but these cards will wear out if used too much.

[@24kwarlord]

@@JanusCycle thanks for the info

[@lyleesjones]

But can it play ~~Crysis~~ Myst?

[@JanusCycle]

I love Myst, I want to play this game again one day!