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Finally got a replacement for my broken Zeos laptop!

J

jmetal88

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Jul 23, 2010
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878
Location
Derby, KS
I bought the 486 version of the Zeos Contenda a few years back for around $40, IIRC (including shipping, I think it was $20 or $30 before shipping was added on) and broke it trying to reverse-engineer the floppy connector in an effort to get stuff on and off the computer without using a serial cable. And since then, I've had an eBay search saved looking for one that's a decent enough deal AND has the floppy drive with it. Today, I found it for $60 shipped!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291384828908

Granted, it's the 386 version and it's missing the track ball and lid latch, but I'm sure I still have all the parts from the broken machine in my old room at my parents' house (I did throw away quite a few things, but I don't think that was one of them because I had it put away in a box before I started all that) so I think I'll be able to refurbish this one pretty easily (and IIRC it was a pretty slow 486 machine anyway, so I doubt I'll miss much due to the new one having a 386).
 
jmetal88 said:
I bought the 486 version of the Zeos Contenda a few years back for around $40, IIRC (including shipping, I think it was $20 or $30 before shipping was added on) and broke it trying to reverse-engineer the floppy connector in an effort to get stuff on and off the computer without using a serial cable. And since then, I've had an eBay search saved looking for one that's a decent enough deal AND has the floppy drive with it. Today, I found it for $60 shipped!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291384828908

Granted, it's the 386 version and it's missing the track ball and lid latch, but I'm sure I still have all the parts from the broken machine in my old room at my parents' house (I did throw away quite a few things, but I don't think that was one of them because I had it put away in a box before I started all that) so I think I'll be able to refurbish this one pretty easily (and IIRC it was a pretty slow 486 machine anyway, so I doubt I'll miss much due to the new one having a 386).
Click to expand...

I saw that auction, but didn't want to jump at it with the missing mouse, I figured I would never be able to replace that and make it a "whole" machine.

I've had a thing for ZEOS since well back into the 90's, being in their home state, they were quite popular here at the time. I've got a bit older "ZEOS Notebook 386" myself, but my ultimate quest is to find a Meridian 400c 486DX4-100 sub-notebook, like the one I had back in the late 90's, mine suffered a motherboard failure, and would have been too costly to repair, so I went out and bought a brand new Fujitsu Lifebook 280DX Pentium 233mmx in late '97/early '98 instead, while it was a lot faster, it never felt as nice as that ZEOS, and was a huge beast in comparison.
 
Aw, now I can't find the parts I thought I had. I hope I didn't throw them out. Although if I didn't, it still might not do me much good since they weren't in the box I thought they were in. Funny enough, the dead motherboard, the bottom case plastic, and the keyboard for it were all in the box, but I'm missing the LCD, upper case plastic, and trackball. So I basically have all the parts I don't need.

I could swear I've seen the trackball since the last time I threw away any of my old tech junk. Like I was looking through something and found it and I remember thinking, "What the heck did this come from?" Then, "Oh yeah, it was from that Zeos notebook that broke." Then I set it aside somewhere and haven't seen it since.
 
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Neat machine...unless I'm remembering wrong, I picked up one of those at a local auction a while back pretty cheap. :)

Too many neat toys, not enough time to play with them all...

Wesley
 
Well, I can still use it without the trackball, plus this one has all the accessories, which is really the reason I wanted it. I just wish I knew where I put the trackball from the one I had before.
 
Okay, if you guys ever get a chance to buy anything you need from this eBay seller, DO IT! Shipping was lightning fast, it was packaged amazingly well, and the seller had excellent communication about everything. I'm very happy with this purchase, even if I didn't find the trackball I thought I had back home.

Actually, the way this thing is built, I think I could just shove a marble in the empty hole and use it as a track ball. IIRC the original one I had was just smooth plastic anyway. It looks like the retaining mechanism is missing so it might not stay in to easily, but it'd be doable.

EDIT: Nah, a marble isn't gonna work. I just went out and bought a sack for a dollar, and they're all too big. I bet I could find something with about the right diameter online if I took the time to measure, though.
 
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The 'dish' for the ball came out to be between 11 and 12 mm across at the widest point where the ball would be sitting, so I think the ball is supposed to be 7/16" in diameter. So I ordered a ball bearing about that size and that's what I'll use for the time being.
 
Track ball replacement, attempt 1.

media-20150303.jpg

11mm ball bearing and a cover cut with an X-Acto knife from an old, damaged 5.25" floppy disk. Looks alright, but could be better. The hole is a little too tight, so mouse movements aren't very smooth at the moment. I'll have to go back and make it larger after a bit.
 
jmetal88 said:
Track ball replacement, attempt 1.

View attachment 23010

11mm ball bearing and a cover cut with an X-Acto knife from an old, damaged 5.25" floppy disk. Looks alright, but could be better. The hole is a little too tight, so mouse movements aren't very smooth at the moment. I'll have to go back and make it larger after a bit.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty dang good though for a quick hack ;-)
Your movement problems may also be due to the steel ball bearing, might be too heavy to freely spin in there, most mouse balls I've seen in laptops have been very light plastic balls, they don't exert much force on the rollers. No idea where you would find a better solution though, save for parting out another similar laptop mouse.
 
RWallmow said:
Looks pretty dang good though for a quick hack ;-)
Your movement problems may also be due to the steel ball bearing, might be too heavy to freely spin in there, most mouse balls I've seen in laptops have been very light plastic balls, they don't exert much force on the rollers. No idea where you would find a better solution though, save for parting out another similar laptop mouse.
Click to expand...


Nah, the ball bearing worked fine before I put the cover on. I cut the hole a bit bigger and it's spinning freely again now, but it looks a lot uglier than with the tighter cutout in that picture.
 
k2x4b524[ said:
Why not just put a thin coat of plasti-dip on the bearing? i don't know how well it would stick, or how long it would last for wear, but it would look pretty good.
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I don't know anything about plasti-dip, and this probably isn't the thing I'd want to start with. I think the metal bearing looks fine, it's just the cover I cut out that looks poorly finished.
 
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