5 ms·

Wow, this just inspired me to pull my old Palm IIIe out from the drawer. My first thought was it was hopeless because the battery is probably dead and no one s

Wow, this just inspired me to pull my old Palm IIIe out from the drawer. My first thought was it was hopeless because the battery is probably dead and no one still makes that battery. But I was wrong, it refreshingly uses two AAA batteries. I put them in and it turned on and seems to be working great! My old iPhones will probably never boot up again.

mnahkies 5y ago
I tried to get my zire 71 working a while back but sadly it wouldn't come to life, presume the battery gave out. It was a wonderful piece of technology though, especially in the pre smart phone days
zyamada 5y ago
I don't know much about electronics or iPhone hardware. Does anyone know if it would be possible to get old devices with dead batteries to boot when connected to a proper power supply? I don't mean a cell phone charger, but connecting the positive and ground (and whatever else?) from a bench power supply to the appropriate solder points on the phones mainboard itself?
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  I don't think you can just pretend your PSU is a battery, since real battery has a data connection to give it health and charge information, although I have no idea how hard it would be to just mimic that interface
- techrat 5y ago
  almost all apple idevices will not run plugged in if the battery is dead. thought I could do this on an old click wheel iPod but nope, had to replace the battery before i could use it. it did not use to be common, i had no issues keeping other devices like my xperia play powered on when removing the battery, but that is also a device where the battery is meant to be user replaceable.
  - wtallis 5y ago
    Lots of battery-powered gadgets cannot run off the charger alone, because they rely on the battery as a massive capacitor to handle transient current spikes that are beyond the capacity of any cheap, compact charger. But that's entirely different from replacing the battery itself with an expensive bench power supply. That can definitely work, especially if it's a high-end source/measure unit capable of being programmed to emulate the discharge curve of a real battery.
    - techrat 5y ago
      "Lots," eh? Every laptop I've ever owned will run with the battery disconnected. Except the Macbook, of course. The simple fact of the matter is that Apple routinely makes design decisions that are not only questionable, but compromise the usable life of the device in the process. And keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 Having reduced or nonexistent performance after removing the battery was never normal. It's bad design. Period. https://www.engadget.com/2008-11-22-macbook-and-macbookpro-suffer-performance-anxiety-once-the-batt.html https://www.engadget.com/2008-11-22-macbook-and-macbookpro-s...
      - wtallis 5y ago
        You said "almost all apple idevices", which pretty clearly indicated you were talking about more than just laptops. I replied in that context.
        techrat 5y ago
        Your argument is that iDevices like the iPod and iPhone require more stringent 'massive capacitor' power delivery with an inline battery over... more power demanding/complex devices like laptops? And other phones that had removable batteries? Sounds like an attempt to handwave away bad design principles.
        5y ago
- sloshnmosh 5y ago
  One of the people I follow on Twitter collects old electronics and I’ve seen him do some pretty interesting hacks to boot his vintage devices without using the long-dead original battery. I’ve seen him use 2 different rechargeable battery packs used for development boards attached to the battery terminals of an older laptop and even seen him using a screwdriver tip with leads attached to fit inside the female power port of an older device. I don’t know his exact Twitter handle but you can find him under “foone”
  - vineyardmike 5y ago
    https://twitter.com/Foone https://twitter.com/Foone I follow him too. He's a treat and always so interesting. Happy to give him a bit of extra publicity. His links always show up on HN.
- numpad0 5y ago
  Yes, feed 3.3V to + and - pins. Exact voltages may vary.
int_19h 5y ago
My favorite part from an Amazon review of Palm m125: "Another negative feature with this specific model is the poor battery life. The m125 requires 2 AAA batteries (included), however they only last aprox. 2.5 weeks under normal use (compared to the 1-2 months of the m105 and most other PDA's)."

mnahkies 5y ago

I tried to get my zire 71 working a while back but sadly it wouldn't come to life, presume the battery gave out. It was a wonderful piece of technology though, especially in the pre smart phone days

zyamada 5y ago

I don't know much about electronics or iPhone hardware. Does anyone know if it would be possible to get old devices with dead batteries to boot when connected to a proper power supply? I don't mean a cell phone charger, but connecting the positive and ground (and whatever else?) from a bench power supply to the appropriate solder points on the phones mainboard itself?

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
I don't think you can just pretend your PSU is a battery, since real battery has a data connection to give it health and charge information, although I have no idea how hard it would be to just mimic that interface
techrat 5y ago
almost all apple idevices will not run plugged in if the battery is dead. thought I could do this on an old click wheel iPod but nope, had to replace the battery before i could use it. it did not use to be common, i had no issues keeping other devices like my xperia play powered on when removing the battery, but that is also a device where the battery is meant to be user replaceable.
- wtallis 5y ago
  Lots of battery-powered gadgets cannot run off the charger alone, because they rely on the battery as a massive capacitor to handle transient current spikes that are beyond the capacity of any cheap, compact charger. But that's entirely different from replacing the battery itself with an expensive bench power supply. That can definitely work, especially if it's a high-end source/measure unit capable of being programmed to emulate the discharge curve of a real battery.
  - techrat 5y ago
    "Lots," eh? Every laptop I've ever owned will run with the battery disconnected. Except the Macbook, of course. The simple fact of the matter is that Apple routinely makes design decisions that are not only questionable, but compromise the usable life of the device in the process. And keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8 Having reduced or nonexistent performance after removing the battery was never normal. It's bad design. Period. https://www.engadget.com/2008-11-22-macbook-and-macbookpro-suffer-performance-anxiety-once-the-batt.html https://www.engadget.com/2008-11-22-macbook-and-macbookpro-s...
    - wtallis 5y ago
      You said "almost all apple idevices", which pretty clearly indicated you were talking about more than just laptops. I replied in that context.
      - techrat 5y ago
        Your argument is that iDevices like the iPod and iPhone require more stringent 'massive capacitor' power delivery with an inline battery over... more power demanding/complex devices like laptops? And other phones that had removable batteries? Sounds like an attempt to handwave away bad design principles.
        5y ago
sloshnmosh 5y ago
One of the people I follow on Twitter collects old electronics and I’ve seen him do some pretty interesting hacks to boot his vintage devices without using the long-dead original battery. I’ve seen him use 2 different rechargeable battery packs used for development boards attached to the battery terminals of an older laptop and even seen him using a screwdriver tip with leads attached to fit inside the female power port of an older device. I don’t know his exact Twitter handle but you can find him under “foone”
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  https://twitter.com/Foone https://twitter.com/Foone I follow him too. He's a treat and always so interesting. Happy to give him a bit of extra publicity. His links always show up on HN.
numpad0 5y ago
Yes, feed 3.3V to + and - pins. Exact voltages may vary.

int_19h 5y ago

My favorite part from an Amazon review of Palm m125: "Another negative feature with this specific model is the poor battery life. The m125 requires 2 AAA batteries (included), however they only last aprox. 2.5 weeks under normal use (compared to the 1-2 months of the m105 and most other PDA's)."