consumer and otherwise electronics questions

[Antti.Roppola at brs.gov.au]

> Don't do this to a ThinkPad.  Most laptops now have 
> microcontrollers in
> the batteries to control charging, smooth the voltage and report
> statistics back to the laptop.

Aka if you open the (dead) battery and it has micrcontrollers as well
as cells, we probably shouldn't fool with it?

Antti
(with 486 laptop that doesn't seem to have anything exceptional
 inside the battery casing)