Samsung Archives

Fan Maintenance on my Samsung NC10

My Samsung NC10 Netbook has been in constant operation since 2013, for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s doing a great job as our internal office server, purring along quietly running CentOS 6.

When I put it in operation 5 years ago, I made sure no mechanical parts we being used anymore to avoid wear and tear: I’ve added an SSD, and once a day valuable data is backed up on a permanently mounted SD card.

The only mechanical thing still in use is the internal fan. I knew the day would come on which the poor thing would either give up and need replacing, or at least require some maintenance to make it go a few extra miles. Well, that day has come at the beginning on this month, when I noticed a bit of rattling noise that started happening behind my big monitor. That’s where I keep the little guy.

Turns out that the fan can be easily whipped back into shape with a drop of bicycle oil. It’s really easy to disassemble too – let me show you how I did it.

Read more

How to install CentOS 6 on a Samsung NC10

NC10

Today was a rather exciting day for me: I’ve successfully turned my aging Samsung NC10 Netbook into an internal server in our office.

I bought the little guy in 2009 and he’s been my trusty companion on many jobs before I got an iPad. He still works fine, even though Windows XP was getting weird of late – and admittedly I hadn’t even turned him on in over 8 months.

Now my trusty pal is running CentOS 6.4 while sitting quietly in a corner next to the printer, serving as an internal Linux server. This is great for testing and automated backups – and in the same spirit as playing with a Raspberry Pi (in a much neater battery powered package).

Refreshing the NC10 wasn’t a picnic though, and some of the steps are rather involved. Here are my notes, in case I either have to do it again or you want to follow along.

Read more