The 1989 Chaplet Halikan... or pieces of it anyway
Added 2025-07-26 17:52:42 +0000 UTCGreetings and welcome to some LGR sadness!
Can't say this the video I wanted to make this week but here we are. So it goes, right?
The Chaplet Halikan LA-30A is a fascinating machine from the late 1980s, being one of the first laptops to combine a backlit display, hard disk drive, and two ISA expansion slots into a machine that ran entirely on battery power. Neat!
Unfortunately, while this rare beast was in pretty great shape before shipping, ehhhhh suffice it to say it did not look so great once it arrived on my doorstep. Which really, truly just absolutely sucks. I hate seeing such historic and hard-to-find machines in pieces like this. Especially since it was packed decently well and the box didn't show any external damage! I really thought that it would hold up just fine. But the plastics on these things are increasingly brittle to an insane degree, so if anything, I want this to act as a kind of LGR public service announcement: USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN SHIPPING OLD PLASTIC COMPUTERS. Even better, don't ship them at all.
And that's it for this week, lemme know your thoughts! Especially if you have ideas and/or skills to put to use on rebuilding this thing. I'd love to get a 3D printed case or turn it into a makeshift desktop/luggable/something along those lines. May as well make weird lemonade from my fragile plasticky lemons, I say.
Comments
They call me Mr glass.gif
PiraTed
2025-07-29 21:37:27 +0000 UTCAn accurately recreated shell in smoky transparent gray or clear would really sell the "this computer died and came back" vibe.
Jon Bieber
2025-07-28 23:45:56 +0000 UTCSaw a tree go through his house but still looks at this 80s laptop and goes “Saddest thing I’ve seen in a while”.
Paul
2025-07-28 20:36:35 +0000 UTCSure is, he and I are discussing options :)
LGR
2025-07-28 20:05:19 +0000 UTCThat style of laptop case rebuild is something that polymatt tends to do.
Aaron Ladd
2025-07-28 15:35:23 +0000 UTCDefinitely feel like commiserating with Sean on this one, haha
LGR
2025-07-27 17:57:50 +0000 UTCThat'd be a fun outcome!
LGR
2025-07-27 15:10:47 +0000 UTCThought I was watching an Action Retro video for a minute there 😄Good luck with the rebuild.
Rob Burford
2025-07-27 14:51:11 +0000 UTCHow about getting a wooden case made? Maybe with a clear top to see the guts?
Kevin Tangney
2025-07-27 14:50:58 +0000 UTCAt first I thought it was going to be something like this blog post: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2025/05/please-dont-ship-heavy-fragile-vintage-computers-they-will-be-destroyed/ but your case is so much more tragic- it's really a shame. You can probably recover that floppy- it's possible to do transplants of the disk from one to another, but I've never done anything like that. Thanks for posting this look at an intriguing machine.
Steven Zakulec
2025-07-27 13:07:17 +0000 UTCI'm as heartbroken as you are. 😭
Jasonfractic
2025-07-27 12:55:23 +0000 UTCThat fills my soul with such intense pain. But it does prove how brittle the old plastic has become in some cases.
Alyxx the Rat
2025-07-27 10:35:05 +0000 UTCI guess the half clamshell happened when the displays got bigger than the Motherboards. Having said that some of the early full clamshell designs have more bezel than screen.
Duncan
2025-07-27 10:29:13 +0000 UTCI wonder how much of the problem was caused by the heavy looking PSU being effectively sat on top of the computer. The ultimate would be finding that the battery was fine. In terms of a replacement case wood is fairly easy to work with. The only Apple 1 I have seen (in the London Science Museum) was in a lovingly crafted wooden box. p.s. Speaking of wooden cases, in the early 1980s a classmate bought a bargain priced £99 colour monitor for his BBC computer. The only problem was that the monitors were surplus games cabinet chassis so didn't include any case. He had to get some plywood an hand fashion one himself.
Duncan
2025-07-27 10:26:27 +0000 UTCYou just need to find someone to make a Kintsugi video out of this. Granted, from what it looks like, it's somehow break worse int he process.
Scott Seligman
2025-07-27 03:33:13 +0000 UTC"Fragile Plasticky Lemons" is gonna be my new synthpop band name.
Jason Siedzik
2025-07-26 20:54:55 +0000 UTCAnd THIS folks is why we don't build computers out of glass. Or sugar glass. I've always wondered where the modern clamshell design originated; it seems like a majority of early laptops had this half-clamshell design well into the mid-90s.
Pietro Gagliardi
2025-07-26 20:54:49 +0000 UTCAt some point in time my ThinkPad collection was over 50 machines in size and when we moved I had to get rid of them. Even though I used special packaging and boxes designed to ship laptops, a rather big number arrived broken: either outside or inside. It’s not just the cases, it’s also the inside, because ThinkPads suffering from „flexing“ can just beak during shipping. As time goes by more and more devices are going to break because of materials deteriorating. It’s hard…
John
2025-07-26 20:50:53 +0000 UTCI guy I did repairs for once sent me a 1st generation Nintendo DS that had some issues, one of the screens needed replacement or the touchscreen sensor was not working, I don't know. But the whole shell of that machine was similarly brittle. I when tried to loosen screws or screw things back EVERY little post shattered into pieces. I could crumble up any parts in my fist if I wanted to. I ordered a replacement shell from aliexpress and it was better after I transferred the guts. I don't know what plastic they used for it originally, it was terrible.
Dukefazon
2025-07-26 20:50:46 +0000 UTCAw dang! Hopefully still residing in a good home somewhere, there can’t be too many of these left
LGR
2025-07-26 19:41:09 +0000 UTCMy friend gave me exactly one of these Chaplet Halikan laptops. It was in much better condition, but the keyboard was broken. Sadly I sold it about six or seven years ago. :(
kepuexe
2025-07-26 18:49:01 +0000 UTCUgggghhhh. That kind of piss poor packaging is truly unbelievable to me.
LGR
2025-07-26 18:36:54 +0000 UTCAww that stinks. We had an IBM 5150 and its matching monitor and printer shipped from California. Dude shipped it in a Home Depot moving box and wrapped it in newspaper. It arrived sounding like a box full of marbles.
Jamie Pilkey
2025-07-26 18:32:54 +0000 UTCYeah it’s the expertise and time investment with modeling that I don’t have! Printing I can handle even at home, potentially.
LGR
2025-07-26 18:11:52 +0000 UTCI've seen some really nice looking clear cases 3d printed by places like PCBWay. Obviously modeling the case would be the hardest part, but that could add an interesting twist to it
Anthony Maciel
2025-07-26 18:07:53 +0000 UTCI'd be curious how much that would've helped in this case (heh, case) considering how comically brittle the plastic is on this thing. I swear I've held more durable Dorito chips.
LGR
2025-07-26 18:03:04 +0000 UTCThat could look awesome! But the existing plastic is so incredibly brittle that even *looking* at it makes it fall apart, so even if glued together I'd never want to touch it again haha An all new significantly stronger housing is in order :)
LGR
2025-07-26 18:00:48 +0000 UTCOof, sorry this happened to you. My yearly PSA: Always double-box anything of value.
Jim Leonard
2025-07-26 17:58:47 +0000 UTCIt's a real shame. Maybe you could glue it back together and make a statement piece, Kintsugi style. Would it be tedious? Absolutely. Would it be glorious? Absolutely. 😁
Mr. Wizard
2025-07-26 17:56:53 +0000 UTC
