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There is something very nostalgic about mid-late 2000s computers. Those computers that had Core 2 Duos or those dreaded Pentiums Dual Cores. Those old computers that used to be really usable back then, but one way or another, got left behind in the never ending computing race, maybe they were rendered obsolete by our current very bloated internet, or maybe, a new operating system or program requirement forced these machines into retirement. Now these old computers are facing the recycling center or landfill. These computers were from an era where computers were truly ours, with the software on them being under our control as well. Software was purchased under a single payment, not a subscription and you can use it as long as you can. I think another reason why I feel very nostalgic to these computers could be because these are the kinds of computers where I learned how to use these machines, or something else entirely.

I recently (and by that, I mean two years ago) was left with a very old computer from 2007. It was a Dell Inspiron 530S, an old piece of shit that was in surprisingly good condition. My aunt, the former owner of that Dell, asked me to back up any files that were on the device, but never came back for them. Oh well. Anyways, the computer was pretty old and I really never tried booting any operating system on it. I ended up removing the hard drive when it got it, and if I remember correctly, the original XP install never booted up again, therefore it is free game. The Dell then proceeded to lay there and collect dust next to the big ass printer someone gave to me for free.

So I wanted to play around with an old camera from 2005. The camera was a Sony DSC W5, a pretty nifty camera that had a fatal flaw: It used MemoryStick cards as its storage medium instead of the more common MicroSD. This means that any picture that I tried taking on that camera was essentially stuck on said camera until I figure out a way to get pictures off it. Fortunately I figured out a solution.

So a long while back, I manage to salvage a multicard reader from a junk PC for some reason. And kept it in storage “just in case”. And it only took ten years to find some application for this random multicard reader. It has a MemoryStick slot on it, which means I could install this on any old computer (since the connector is just USB 2), and it should just work out of the box. I got the card reader installed, and got an OS booting off it in no time. Installing anything Linux flavored was a pain in the ass to be honest. Everything looked like it would boot normally, up until it didn’t. I had issues with something called SYSLINUX, so I would try booting up older and older versions of Linux until I found something that would actually worked. I eventually just gave up and decided to just go with Windows 7, and of fucking course that worked, lmao. After that, I finally managed to get some of the images off the camera.

This experience has been a fun one. I got to use Windows 7 on actual physical hardware again, got some software running, among other things. I do plan to do more stuff with this computer, maybe get a SSD installed, or something along those lines. Maybe I’ll gut out the case and reuse it as my HTPC setup I want to do in the future, or something else entirely. Who knows.

Tangent 1: The Sony DSC-W5

There is something about the look of old digital cameras that give me a sense of nostalgia. And this camera is one of them. The DSC-W5 is pretty good, it manages to render colors much better compared to my shitty phone (which is the awful Nord N10).

I will probably post more pictures with this camera in the future, but for now, these will do. The thing about this camera is it doesn’t have rechargeable batteries, and instead, relies on 2 AA batteries to power itself up. I want to get rechargeable batteries eventually, and basically use this camera instead of my phone for pictures. I think that would be pretty fun to do, I think.

page updates:

• 2025-09-25: page was created