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[BigD145]

If Malay sold them they'd likely be used for the same purpose in the same illegal way. Someone would do it even just to spite that gov't.

[LordBaal]

Educational donations could have been reasonable.

Even disassembling and recycling the components seems better than rolling them over to make a point.

[Naturegirl1999]

Educational donations could have been reasonable.

Even disassembling and recycling the components seems better than rolling them over to make a point.

A big yes to both of these. Disassembly and recycling in the event of education not being able to use them sounds much less of a waste

[BigD145]

Educational donations could have been reasonable.

Even disassembling and recycling the components seems better than rolling them over to make a point.

A big yes to both of these. Disassembly and recycling in the event of education not being able to use them sounds much less of a waste

Malaysia has been in the middle of rolling lockdowns and changes in extensions to those lockdowns. Destruction is the safest way to deal with this sort of thing in the middle of a pandemic.

[Starver]

Malaysia has been in the middle of rolling lockdowns and changes in extensions to those lockdowns. Destruction is the safest way to deal with this sort of thing in the middle of a pandemic.

...it's an either/or thing?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Even if the schools aren't open at the moment, you could plan the process to improve/create their computer systems in a Covid-secure way. Easier, even, without pesky kids running around them.

I'm not familiar with all the precautions in place there, or all the politics behind them, but it shouldn't matter overly much, especially with official permissions or instructions.

(Besides, I still think that the PR show of 'destruction' needn't have, and practically shouldn't have, involved crushing the most useful bits. If indeed there were any useful bits and it wasn't just a lot of hyper-specific SOAC stuff. Even if it is more likely to mostly have gone as sweentning gifts to Party Member homes than public schools under some political systems, maybe or maybe not in this particular case.)

Unless someone here is actually involved and asking for advice about it (not just me making a funny), I'm drawing a personal line under this. Sorry if I did too much spouting off about it myself.


I had a couple of actual geeky questions, to make this post relevent again, but they soon turned into me just going "Modern technology sucks!" as I wrote them up. *SNIPPED*

[Naturegirl1999]

I’d imagine after the separating of components it’d be possible to store them in a sterile environment by putting the, somewhere that would break any proteins, since there’s really nowhere on a computer anything would grow, yes viruses could stay there, but if their proteins are broken sufficiently, they wouldn’t be able to infect anything

[bloop_bleep]

Educational donations could have been reasonable.

Even disassembling and recycling the components seems better than rolling them over to make a point.

If they were ASICs like Lord Shonus was saying, and from the video they appear to be, then you would have no use for them unless you were mining bitcoin. They have silicon designed very specifically for one task. The most valuable component you could scavenge out of it might be a $10 fan. Or a proprietary power supply that is incompatible with almost anything unless you're ready to get out the jumper cables and the solder.

EDIT: In fact there were very probably ASICs as mining bitcoin specifically on anything other than ASICs is impractical at this point.

[King Zultan]

I have a question that has nothing to do with bitcoin or destroying computers.


Can a laptop work if you take the keyboard off of it, because mine is broken and it's doing shit on it's own, and I keep forgetting to look into buying a new one.

[delphonso]

Probably, as long as the USB port is still working, a different keyboard should work fine, or, if it comes to it, the digital keyboard which is built-in could be used.

[Starver]

In short, yes. I assume you mean to plug a (regular, desktop) keyboard in as replacement, of course.

[And, at this point, I went on and became ninjaed...]

In long, I think most laptops can have the keyboard alone removed (and replaced, which is what maybe you ultimately want to do - eBay may give you a make-and-model replacement unit, or a screwed-for-other-reasons laptop that you can unscrew and use for spares), although exactly how the bits come apart is vendor (and model!) specific. May be a single screw out of the bottom, lever and release the ribbon-cable, could be taking the shell apart to reach the keyboard anchor and wiggle the in-line plug off the mobo pins, could easily be something else.

If it's just some keys then you can sometimes get new key-mounts/switches (doesn't sound like you need new keytops), but if it's an entire-keyboard-only problem maybe you can do as suggested. It may change the internal ventilation scheme to run continually without keyboard in place (or not) but if you dissassemble enough to de-ribbon, the now inert unit can be put back as well, I suppose.

(Check that trackpad/whatever still works if that's on a separate connector but the same subunit. Or even if its own thing. This is generic information, and proprietry construction/connection methods may confound my expectations of what you'll find when you actually dive in there. Or also add a third-party mouse, and when the screen goes use a monitor. )

You'll probably find a "How to fix <your make, your model>" video on Youtube, or other repairer's resource site, which you can use (half of) to get an idea exactly which torque wrench to strike against which USB port to find the Ark Of The Covenant, right? And if it gives no results or dire warnings against trying then maybe that's useful to know too.

[LordBaal]

Just yesterday I fixed a laptop with a "bad" keyboard. It worked perfectly fine without it's own keyboard with a usb one. In the end it was just a little thing and the keyboard was fine, the laptop was restored completely.

That is a pretty common issue with laptops, people has this innate ability to destroy or at least damage those keyboards to the point of uselessness.

Sure plug in a usb keyboard. But depending on the model it migth be pretty easy to change the original one (even not a single screw involved). The question is to find the replacement and the money for it.

More often than not laptop "peripherals" (keyboard, trackpad, sound, screen) tend to die before the actual computing parts in this cases you could use them the rest of their lives as lightweight servers, really cumbersome smart tv "sticks", really slim desktop computer, or whatever you can imagine as long you can plug in a keyboard and/or mouse and a monitor/tv. If the battery is still working is like having a computer with a internal UPS which is a huge plus in places like here.

[Naturegirl1999]

LordBaal, why would people be more prone to destroying laptop keyboards than desktop ones? Are laptop keyboards weaker or something?

[LordBaal]

Yes, in general. Also for some reason people tend to spill drinks on laptops more often than regular keyboards. Maybe because they cant move the whole desktop to the dinning table?

And as mentionend, laptop keyboards tend to be more febble than desktop counterparts.

Edit: I migth be a bit biased because in general people would be more ready to buy a new desktop keyboard once it stops working while a laptop one warrants a repair of the whole laptop for the average person.

Nevertheless desktop keyboards are way more serviceable than laptop ones.

[King Zultan]

I did notice the keyboard seemed really flimsy when I pulled it off to replace the motherboard awhile back, I also noticed some corrosion on the metal, was probably condensation from humidity and is probably part of the reason I needed a new motherboard.

Is there something I could do to prevent the humidity from damage it in the future?

[LordBaal]

There are electronics spray cleaners that double as corrosion protectors. However the best is to avoid any kind of humidity getting in there.

If you are not in a really humid place and do not spill liquids over the thing then humidity migth come from your own sweat.

Could be your hands or your legs/lap. Also make sure to dry your hands well after washing them. Oh and avoid putting the laptop over a humid surface like a table just cleaned or with those water circles left by a cold glass.