Making Use of Old Netbooks

In todays video i will be taking 2 old Netbooks (remember those?) and i ill be trying to find some use for them. I always felt netbooks were unique because they pretty much used the same components as standard laptops just on a smaller scale. Tablets and smartphones may have phased these things out pretty quickly but they're still neat little machines.
I installed Batocera on one and Lubuntu on the other and i must say i was happy with the overall result. Hope you guys enjoy.
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[@lmaoroflcopter]

That batocera idea is brilliant. So many projects out there making portable raspberry pi gaming machines when a netbook does it all with screen, battery and even acts as a stand and portable case. Really nice.

[@balkangames2302]

well for the most part if the netbooks were used extensivelly the battery is already degrated soo battery replacement for them are necesarry

[@randomguydoes2901]

​@@balkangames2302 my atom n570 still gets 6 hours of battery life at light use, but it was afaik always running with the oem provided battery life extender tool, that is: it stopped charging at once at 80%. Every laptop needs that shit

[@balkangames2302]

@@randomguydoes2901 youre right

[@bluestreak711]

Yes, but be careful. A lot of netbooks only have 1G of ram in them. My particular one I picked up cheap is upgradable to 2G. I haven't gotten the replacement power adapter yet, but even with 2G, I suspect I would be very limited to 8 - 16 bit gaming. That is still great if the price is right, but Anbernic have similar spec dedicated handhelds used on ebay for about $40.

[@taacccoos1618]

going to a pawn shop, getting an old dirt cheap netbook, and installing lubuntu is an amazing idea. i can have a working laptop for the price of mcdonalds

[@nate6045]

You're honestly better off ripping the motherboard out and throwing in a raspberry pi. That's honestly what I'm looking to do with my old netbook.

[@tadeuszmarin5704]

Good luck finding documentation to build a display/keyboard/touchpad controller for one of these... Unless you want to just use the chassis and try to source a display and keyboard that are the right size and can interface with the Raspberry Pi...​@@nate6045

[@Michael-Archonaeus]

Netbooks are extremely underrated imo.

[@PopoRamos]

Perfect! I have about 2 netbooks and 2 other older laptops that I'm going to try and install botacera on and play with my kids!

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

Upgrade the ram and chuck in an ssd they run so much better.

[@Tamay.]

It only goes up to 2GB RAM

[@DoubtingThomas333]

@@Tamay. 2GB is plenty with a decent swap partition/file on an ssd.

[@thegoldenwolf274]

I'd love me a netbook with a current gen i3. I love the look and feel of these. They're thick and built right at least the Acer machines

[@nikolavukcevic8066]

True. Even the newer asus eee pcs from 2011 were retty stinkin gopd

[@redberdz5061]

Man gamehead's vids are always soothing to watch

[@MuhammadGervino]

I Love Gamehead Vid's. My Old Crappy Laptop Is Now Functioning SMOOTHLY

[@philby1]

I still have the acer one myself. i added an ssd and I actually run the latest version of windows 10 on it (20H2 as of this post) and it works OK for basic stuff. I also use a Wi-Fi dongle as the built in Wi-Fi was not very good. I would still preferer and updated netbook to a Chromebook my self.

[@tristen14robloxoffical]

My grandma give me her Samsung n210 netbook that’s rocking a intel atom and windows 7 starter and Linux.Thank you for giving me ideas on what to use it for. Since I already have a more powerful laptop and newer laptop.

[@natr0n]

great video. I have an eeepc I mess with sometimes a lot. Nice to see what I can do with it now.

[@dontekburneyjr339]

Cool

[@soknightsam]

Take out the internal wifi card and install a broadcom crystal hd accelerator

[@IcoKirov]

what models are those, with what processors? I have an EeePC 901, I think it's smaller than those. it has the N270 Atom processors. I have put Batocera on it, but it struggles to run SNES games, it runs them at about 50-55 fps (unless i turn on the threaded video option in the settings). I haven't even tried N64.

[@Takemeback2the90s]

Great job looks super cool bro

[@GameHeadNes]

Thanks bro!

[@thecapitalg]

Where did you get those luigi and mario controllers? Please let me know.

[@comixof2morrow]

eBay

[@UnLugubreEquivoco]

I have one and really would like to use it just for writing, shouldnt be hard!

[@geoman1420]

I installed Q4OS on my Samsung NC10 netbook so it is useful again! I also installed Retroarch so it can play a lot of arcade games, NES, SNES, PC Engine, Atari 2600/5200/7800, ...

[@Cyko..]

Very informative video! I have an old 15-year old Acer Aspire One Netbook with the Atom processor and I was on Windows 7. I dusted it off and installed Windows 10 because it was free and my anti virus and other apps would not update anymore because it was outdated. It ran like crap. Took a couple minutes for the start menu to load so I could shut down, then took 5 minutes or so doing that. I installed Lubuntu after watching this video and it runs like a dream. Everything you said in this video is true. Just a little sad that v18.04 is the last supported version for these old 32-bit systems.

[@mattglad]

there are still a few 32 bit builds for linux that will keep your netbook going! mxlinux or q4OS are two that have used on my Aspire One

[@macinjosh2223]

one of these would be great for a kids first laptop

[@knockbitzhd]

i got this laptop when i was kid and i still have it, its not good but not bad is not fast but slow it barely can watch videos at 480p

[@exynoschipset9444]

....maybe back in 2010. Some kids from nowadays would go "cAn iT plAy FoRtNiTE?" when they see this thing

[@exynoschipset9444]

And it probably wouldn't be ideal for Zoom

[@haseenabadshah5381]

@@exynoschipset9444 Fortnite is cringe.

[@SneakyGreninja]

@@haseenabadshah5381 Fortnite is fine, it's the fandom that's cringe

[@RebTheRebel2000]

Still have mine, runs fine on Windows 10, if you don't mind the slow start up. Does an SSD really make much of a difference in these though? Obviously in modern systems there is a massive difference, but is there really much performance difference on something this old running on the Atom?

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

The acer aspire is the very one I have. The end of the month this is the very thing I'll be doing with it I'll be keeping the windows 7 starter on mine (Gotta have my Dark Forces Jedi knight series) plus DosBox and some retro console emulators

[@GameHeadNes]

Nice!

[@randomguydoes2901]

my samsung n110 has a ton of OS rot and I can't get it reset with all the apps intact, some of which are essential despite all the other bloat. I did figure out however that batocera, batocera is king for these machines. Just might need an older version of it, intel dropped the driver support on gma 3150 so fucking fast, it'd be a much more usable machine if it wasn't so limited from driver support.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@randomguydoes2901 That sucks, have you checked Samsung's website tomsee if they still have them? My Netbook has Acer software to make restore media to backup and restore the drivers,Acer software, and even the OS, Did Samesung include something like that, or a recovery partition on tne drive? I got super lucky Acer still had all the downlaods for mine, so between them, the two recover flashdrives I made, and the recovery partition no matter what happens (even if the SSD died) I could recover my netbook to a useable state. I even have my sisters identical and much less used one as a backup if mine suffrage a hardware failure.

[@user-ed2tx6mm4y]

I'm trying to recovery some old hardwares and use them as retroconsole, just for really old games. But I'm in trouble installing batocera. Which vrelase have you used here?

[@miguelangeldelriosales4980]

Hi friend Wich version Batocera install thanks!

[@coding_sin5981]

Which version of batocera did you use?

[@SHINOBHS]

I have n2600, windows7, 4gb ram. Installed emulation station with NES classic mini theme, retroarch, wireless gamepad, plug on a spare 1080p 24" TV, it can run everything up to PS1 with external emulator called psxfin (retroarch ps1 is too slow) NES, SNES, Ms, MD, PC engine, mame2000, Neo Geo, CPS1, Amiga (winuae 1.3.0)... all run perfect. Ofc all handhelds too like GBA

I bet it can run n64 with newton drivers

[@SHINOBHS]

@ it runs so so with project 64

[@Abdullrahman_Dawaliby]

My sister has the same Asus EEE PC 1005HA and I installed win7 32bit recently and really good on to me, I wanna install debian on it as dual boot but can't as I don't have usb, any ideas?

[@amigoads7986]

My cousin has a netbook like the black one

[@Jimmycozad1980]

I have Windows for legacy pcs on my Toshiba NB306 netbook. that came with 7 starter. I run all the emulators including psx and n64. the only issue with batorcer/ recalbox is the lack of a Jaguar emulator to run all jag games other then that I love batocera . Thankfully I use an emulator called Project tempest that came out during windows 98 and it runs all the games. They have a new emulator for Jag on PC called Phoenix Emulator however it way to resource intensive and will not run good on low to mid hardware.

[@rapneverdie21]

where do you buy the controller sir?

[@DaiAtlus79]

theres better specced ones now for cheap like the Dall Inspiron 3180, they can do stuff like Vulkan.

[@2la84me]

Youre awesome.

[@GameHeadNes]

You're more awesome!!

[@ArcadeCabNBud]

@@GameHeadNes you two need a room

[@haseenabadshah5381]

You're*

[@haseenabadshah5381]

You're*

[@SalveMonesvol]

Did they have the old N450 or the atom n2600? Because I'd love to know if the later one can handle Dreamcast emulation.

[@GameHeadNes]

Unfortunately It has the old N450 no way it could of handled Dreamcast

[@SalveMonesvol]

@@GameHeadNes oof, I'd re-sell those, or gift them to 4 year old children if I had them. I'll try loading that OS on the old n2600 once I get it some compatible 4gb ram. Also, you should try your luck with SetFSBto get some more juice out of them, I'll do it too.

[@GameHeadNes]

I gave them away in a giveaway I held about a year ago. They work pretty well.

[@dlittlester]

Mine's and HP Mini I've had since new. Came with Windows 7 Light, and I could hardly get it to do anything. I bought an 2GB Memory card for it, and I run Linux Mint. It's now very usable, and great to travel with. I live in Canada and it's been with me twice on trips to England. I don't play games much, but KZbin videos are watchable as long as you let them spool up a bit first. I wonder if I could put more Ram in it. I've been told it won't recognize any more than 2 gigs.

[@randomreviews9016]

You should try potplayer for youtube content :) there is also a Firefox addon that can send the youtube link to potplayer, it reads 720p fine on my 1005 px (2Gb and SSD upgraded)

[@dlittlester]

@@randomreviews9016 Thanks for the hint.

[@yutuniopati]

I installed an SSD on an Acer Aspire One. It run XP super smoothly. These computer (except the crappy hard drive) are super durable 👍

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

Same here, ive got an n150 plus samsung and its a great little portable entertainment thingy. I love it. 1tb dirt cheap ssd cruicial brand i think and yeah its still easily usable.

[@user-lz1wr4uq6f]

Have a n270 aspire one Acer laptop and decided to bring it back to life. Downloaded Debian 10 and use palemoon for browser. This thing can run games from 90s-00s really smoothly

[@rayhanrizvi334]

i have an aspire 1 zg5 its slow but works still lmaoo

[@DoubtingThomas333]

@@user-lz1wr4uq6f time for bookworm.

[@Diwash1]

Get one with the amd apus. Those are great and have better graphics.

[@skathappenz]

Where can I get them Mario and Luigi controllers?

[@janwitkowsky8787]

A former roommate of mine used to play Spore on his Asus EEE

[@GameHeadNes]

Nice!

[@Takemeback2the90s]

Would you have a extra one you would like to sale?they look awesome and I love all the old school game.

[@lostintime8651]

I do. $25

[@madeinchinabro420]

running standalone emulators in xp on this eepc with the modded gma drivers they run much better

[@jensputzlocher8345]

Because of Ubuntu does not support 32bit any more, I installed fluxbox flavored MX Linux on my Netbook (Dell Mini 10v, Atom N270, 2GB, SSD). After booting the OS uses about 300mb RAM. Slow in 2024, but not unuseable.

[@ukaszpietrzykowski1081]

I think the open gl can not open some games. I have similar netbook with atom 2x1.6. I will try to install on my acer win xp and maximus arcade with emulators. I want to check, maybe on old xp drivers will be warking better on this laptop.

[@cielazul713]

YES! Windows XP is best! I use Intel gma driver 6.14.10.5260 with this system detects 246 MB VRAM. Windows 7 only detect 64MB VRAM. For ePSXe use Pete's D3D Driver 1.77 I have 1280x720p@60 fps all games. For N64 use Project64 2.3 with Mudlord's Rice Video 6.1.4 video plugin and Azimer HLE Audio version 0.56 WIP 2 audio plugin. This will enable use of Hi-Res texture packs and give very best emulation speed. I play at 1280x720p resolution no problem. Only games by Rare (Goldeneye/Conker) have slowdown fps like original N64. For HD video install QO Labs PixelFusion WMP plug-in v3.0 and K-Lite Codec Pack. Enjoy!! 👍

[@oscrane5096]

1:42 Couldn't you just boot from a live Linux USB stick and install it from there?

[@GameHeadNes]

Yes you could. I chose to install it on the Hard Drive because the system only had 2 USB ports and I wanted them both to be used with controllers. This could be fixed with a USB hub but the low power output from the USB 2.0 ports made the hub hit or miss and not always work correctly.

[@asriazmi]

i have the asus netbook and upgraded to 4g. can even play dreamcast and gamecube

[@GameHeadNes]

Nice!

[@fishmanloveslinux7978]

My netbook is an ASUS Eee PC 900HD with a Celeron-M Processor and 2 Gb of RAM. Still trying to find something (OS-wise) that will work on it.

[@Enniix81]

Dou you have Windows XP? I have the 900HA model and recently installed Linux Mint and runs fine

[@erriezzanslounge1380]

below windows 10 is ok i guess.

[@DoubtingThomas333]

Antix and Peppermint. Use the 32bit iso's.

[@jhowlett1264]

that netbook running batocera is pretty decent.... but that Aspire one is trash. i have one myself. it won't run shit when it comes to emulators

[@doe2218]

You could use them as like the gaming pcs at esports events, except the game is made for potatoes like the ones in the video

[@mizifih]

Have you ever tried Batocera on a Atom Z3735F + 2GB?

[@DoubtingThomas333]

Antix and Peppermint. Work straight up.

[@E3E3E3E3E3]

I still have one I originally bought in 2009 it served me well in the 10 years I owned it even though it's gonna longer do anything that it was intended for browsing the internet is hit or Miss what will load and work. But it's surprisingly capable of actually gaming if you throw the right type of games on it on Windows 7. Age of Empires 2 cd rom version runs flawlessly rise of Nations no problem War of the Worlds rts 1998 no problem Quake 2 no problem classic battlefield 1942 it can run on it but it's not playable. Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2 no problem but don't run Grand Theft Auto 3 In short terms it can run anything that was produced in the late 90s but anything that was released in 2002 and beyond forget it.

[@madeinchinabro420]

did you use the modded gma drivers games will run a little better gta 3 on mine ran at 30fps on lowest settings

[@E3E3E3E3E3]

@@madeinchinabro420 nope I didn't use modified drivers I might try that in the future.

[@randomguydoes2901]

@@madeinchinabro420 I tried them but reverted because that dropped some game, which - I have forgotten, and gta 3 was a no go on n570 anyways. for some reason it ran better in vice city.

[@Jeycoff]

alpine?

[@atemizkaya]

Raspberry Pi Desktop is good on my netbook acer one d255e. Pi is better and lighter than linux mint.

[@atemizkaya]

Also chrome os is good for my 13 years old netbook

[@joelsteve8883]

download link

[@Redmage913]

Heyyyy, when did you steal my Eee PC?!? Love netbooks. I always found it amusing that the mass of the hard drive is vital to my netbook’s balance, especially with a chonker of an extended battery changing the default angle of the base. 9-10 hours on XP, to this day! Netbooks of this generation perform far better with 2GB RAM, which downclocks to DDR2-666MHz. Still single channel only, but it gives the machine far more room to work, especially when using a browser. Sadly, these machines simply aren’t very viable anymore. The GMA 3150 isn’t supported in modern mesa, reducing the machine’s usefulness with anything graphical to the level of an essentially VESA-only display adapter with no acceleration. Sad, but honestly, other than retro use, these machines don’t have what today’s Internet needs anyways, even with 64-bit Linux and sufficient RAM.

[@Redmage913]

I still use my Dell Mini 9 as a PiHole, though - it needs essentially no resources, which the Mini is perfect for.

[@mukisaelijah12]

🙌

[@Nele_BiH]

i tried bunch of linux distros still to slow to run ytube even on 480p

[@DoubtingThomas333]

Dropped frames? Yeah I know what you mean. I've been playing with old atoms lately. Most hilarious was getting the latest peppermint to work on the z3735f I'm actually impressed with its performance for how old it is. But yeah, it'll drop frames all day. They can handle 720p, tops (with 10% dropped frames).

[@DoubtingThomas333]

My particular atom mini pc was able to accept an sd card. So I used an A2 sd card of several gb and dedicated the whole thing as a swap partition.

[@Nele_BiH]

@@DoubtingThomas333 couldnt you use swap on system disk also or it helps to have seperate storage as swap

[@peterparker6584]

Unfortunately can't find these cheap anywheres here and on eBay they're insane. I actually find them handy I got one at a yard sale got lucky and patched it back together presently missing a battery. I have it running Windows 7 if I remember correctly but might have it running XP hard to remember ironically use the thing quite a bit and can't remember which operating system I put in it LOL. I use it for small jobs. Here's the thing idiots don't know the difference between a netbook and a laptop so the term that book gets thrown around willy-nilly for laptops which makes them hard to find that Acer Aspire One on eBay they're selling them 50 and 100 American plus shipping which is more than they cost new if my math is right on the exchange rate. Got one in the trash the other day that I haven't really looked at yet See if it's salvageable or if it's going to be parts for the one that I've had set up and running. Only the second time I've gotten one in all these years Other than a real outlier that I'm having trouble finding an operating system for it's a Windows XP model I wipe the hard drive and tried to reinstall Windows XP it won't let you put Windows 7 on it and apparently runs some weird custom version of Windows XP which I haven't had the luck of finding yet. It's like trying to find a Windows Surface around here used is actually quite difficult got my hands on one about a week ago where somebody tossed it been trying to find one used for over a year. Found out you have to have a Microsoft account to get into Windows 10 isn't that ridiculous once the machines factory reset just to turn the damn thing on you've got to have a Microsoft account LOL. Dear God I hate Windows 10.

[@kamellevels1571]

i play old mario game and old games

[@blot671]

Ubuntu ... a lightweight distro 👀🤔

[@MrDVDfanatic]

Lubuntu

[@DoubtingThomas333]

Bunsenlabs...antix....peppermint Xfce is okay, but openbox or the desktops antix use are screamers on these old chipsets

[@sajtcraft3473]

these are 40,46$ for me

[@leo-mp1vf]

i have the ugly one and its the only laptop i have and i made the mistake of installing windows 10 on it an its bad but it does the job

[@leo-mp1vf]

idk how to install ubantu helo

[@haseenabadshah5381]

@@leo-mp1vf Ubuntu*

[@haseenabadshah5381]

it's*

[@leo-mp1vf]

@@haseenabadshah5381 huh

[@SSR_RedDevil]

Whats oddosarah?

[@GameHeadNes]

I dunno, sounds Scandinavian.

[@cobaltdev]

see..the drivers for the d270 don't work on lubuntu at ALL. no games will play properly, not even cs1.6, which goes 1 frame per 3 seconds.

[@SHINOBHS]

Netbooks with N2600 aren't compatible with linux, there is no driver for the graphics card. Windows 7 only.

[@DoubtingThomas333]

Lol what? It works fine with Linux.

[@ASTR0TALKSPHILOSOPHY]

Who plays sonic 2 using a snes controller