#iopener — Public Fediverse posts

I sometimes get a wild hair to buy a ~$150 Chromebook or Win notebook, probably to run Linux, as a 2026 version of the #iOpener. Then I remember the junk I've bought but didn't really use:

* $50 Black Friday Android tablet ~2012, I literally never opened.
* used ASUS eee pc $50 ~2015, ran Linux on it, but didn't use much
* Amazon Kindle 8 inch tablet 2017, screen wasn't sharp enough for reading PDFs (primary use), too slow for games (secondary use).

1/x

I used a Netpliance i-Opener as my main system, bridging the time between selling my B&W G3 400 PowerMac and ordering a PowerMac G4 Dual 800.

I got in before they changed the terms of service, so paid $99 and done. Upgraded it to a WinChip 2, added a serial port, ethernet, and a little HD for storage. Good times, that summer.

There's an amusing story of the company calling and trying to get me to pay out due to the binding contract they told me they had retroactively applied to all sold units. lol

https://bytecellar.com/2013/04/23/i-opener-the-internet-appliance-that-was-made-to-be-hacked/

#Netpliance #iOpener #WinChip #X86 #IDT #CPU #retrocomputing #maybe #internet #internetappliance #windows98 #blog #blogpost

Remember the #iOpener?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvlCM9bnhMo

#technology #hardware #hacking #netpliance #internetAppliance

And also #iOpener from iFixit came in handy while removing the final bits of the trackpad assembly - the covering plate is adhered like the entire MacBook's life depends on it - I even managed to lightly cut my finger while prying it out 😂

Remembering my i-Opener. Was a fun grab and hack early on, before they changed the TOS. ;->

#PC #iopener #internetappliance #ihacked #vintagecomputer #maybe #windows #WinChip #iPaq