best cheap/free scores 1.1

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 for $4 today. It's a little worn cosmetically but physically it's all there (no broken door latches or the like). My Fujifilm units were getting a tad beat up and my trusty Canon A540 has a half-broken battery door, so this is a nice addition/upgrade.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

momaka - That Delta is unfortunately dead. The solder on the secondary heatsink literally lifted off with the pad. Not a biggie as I got a Deer built like that Delta.

Just scored another Deer (Fortrex ST-400W w/PFC choke (yes,it's real) ) and another ASUS K8N which needs a recap. As opposed to other gutless Deers,this one came from the factory with:

-Panny FL 1000uF 16v for 5vsb (no,there's no trace of flux or anyhting,neither any soldering
-Rubycon ZL 1200uf 16v for 12v
-PI coils (that is something )
-2x Teapo 1200uf ??v - quite strange to see Teapos in a Deer O_O,I knew they used Koshin for the better ones like Allied ones
-2200uf Rubycon MHZ - anybody heard of this series? The cap is 100% genuine.

Primary transistors

???? for 5vsb (2N60 likely)
2x D13009K
(yes,13009s in a Deer. Better than the usual 2SC5763 my other Deer has (Premier LC-B400ATX I modded in case you wonder,that thing is half as good as this Fortrex)

Secondary side:

big output filter coil - it's really big!
SBL3040PT for 5V
UF1002FCT 10A ultrafast - gonna use a 2045 as I plan to use it on a Athlon 64,there's plenty of amps to help so....
SBL3040PT for 3.3V

And that's quite all. The fan has a connector (thank god!) to attach to the board.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Okay, today I found something really special and memorable: CRAP

No, I didn't find any crappy items. I literally found a moist, mushy, smelly, light-brown, human (I think!) crap . But luckily I didn't step on it or get any of it on me.

Where? The usual dumpster I've been checking for the last year now. It's a "2-in-1" residential + commercial dumpster. Apparently, it is used quite a bit by some small local handyman/HVAC company, so at the end of the day, workers often unload some HVAC-related junk in there from their vans (usually wires, nuts, bolts, and some scrap metal pieces, but not entire A/C or heating systems).

But I am guessing that one of those workers for that company really must have needed to do a #2. And since the dumpster provides a fairly closed up and private area, you can guess why there was a piece of crap in the corner of the dumpster right by the door.

Other than this funny experience, I didn't find anything else. And that is fine by me. As I mentioned in the best cheap/free scores thread, I stopped buying cheap/broken stuff to fix up due to having too much crap in my room. And I'm also no longer checking my "usual" dumpster as much as I used to before. That said, I still do check what's being thrown out every once in a while, just out of curiosity. But I do it a lot less often now and I am also much less likely to pick up anything, unless it is really something worthwhile.

[Dan81]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Okay, today I found something really special and memorable: CRAP

No, I didn't find any crappy items. I literally found a moist, mushy, smelly, light-brown, human (I think!) crap . But luckily I didn't step on it or get any of it on me.

Couldn't resist,that just made my day.

[ben7]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Couldn't resist,that just made my day.

Same here xD

Hey, I'm sure you know very well, when you gotta go, you gotta GO!
xDxDxD

-Ben

[Dan81]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

This happened today:

Me and my friend we were walking around the city. At one point,I saw a keyboard and some floppies at the dumpster. I took only the keyboard,and guess what it was:an dirty and a ripped cable IBM Model M keyboard. We cleaned it and I took it home.

The underside says "(C)Lexmark Internation INC 1985" so it apparently was made by Lexmark? There's another date on it,stating 07-09-1995,just above the copyright)

Here's how it looks. Not my pic as I don't have cameras. Any ideas if I can convert it.

PIC:

[Compgeke]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

'85 is when the design was done by IBM, ignore that or '84. 07-09-95 is the manufacture date, well into the Lexmark period.

In the early 90s ('91 I believe) Lexmark bought the keyboard and printer division from IBM and continued making them until later in the 90s the IBM keyboard contract expired and some Lexmark employees started Unicomp to continue making the keyboards.

For the most part any Model M is convertible to use on anything modern. If it has the SDL cable (removable, like a wide network cable) it's just PS/2.

If you have the white cable you just need a system with PS/2 and a USB to PS/2 adapter. If you have the black cable you need an AT to PS/2 adapter (passive adapter) and a USB to PS/2 adapter.

If you have a phone plug connector you'll need to get a Teensy 2 and check out Soarer's Converter.

[Steve_RS]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

The best dumpster finds I encountered was years ago when i was around 14 (circa 1998) - me and my friend were walking home one sunny evening and we noticed a pile of hifi-separates sitting in a skip. At this period in time, people were ditching the old bulky hifi-separates in favour of these modern all-in-one midi hifi plastic boxes.

We could only carry one each so I grabbed a Sanyo JCX amp/receiver and he grabbed a Marantz twin tape deck. Got home, fired them up, all working, so we went back. Second time round we got a Pioneer record deck, and a RadioShack Graphic EQ. For weeks afterwards, we used to just walk round the estates looking for skips to see if there were any goodies inside. From what I recall we never found one as good as the first, but we did get a top-loading VCR and an Amiga 600. Both full working order. Im sure we spyed a large (like 28") ferguson style TV, but we were just too far away from home to carry it back.

The Pioneer record deck did require a new stylus. But I still have that record deck to this day. The other items eventually failed or went awol during some random house parties or pirate radio broadcasts.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

...


Couldn't resist,that just made my day.

Glad to hear that .
I thought it was quite funny too, despite the nasty smell at the time.
Actually, I thought about taking a picture and uploading it here... but then I thought perhaps that would be a tiny bit too much .

Hey, I'm sure you know very well, when you gotta go, you gotta GO!

Words I live by every day.

I took only the keyboard,and guess what it was:an dirty and a ripped cable IBM Model M keyboard. We cleaned it and I took it home.

That is a great find! Those keyboards are amazing. Once you use it, you'll never want to go back to anything else. Also, the "clicky" noises make you feel like you are typing really fast .

I got my Model M with a pair of CRT monitors on Craigslist a while back. At first I didn't really want to take it, but then the guy said he was throwing it away, so I took it. It wasn't until I got home and checked what it was that I realized how good of a score that was.

...

By the way, I found a "Huffy" -branded bicycle next to a trash can about 3 weeks ago. When the owner of the house saw me, he said he had three more that he was going to throw away. Two of them were small/medium size bikes for kids around age of 10 or less, and the other two were slightly bigger (one almost normal size - that was the one I saw). Anyways, I told him I couldn't take all of them at the moment and that I would need to come again later in the day with my car... and I did. The owner basically left all four bikes next to the trash can. But I only picked up two bigger bicycles as that is all I could fit in my car.

From the two bikes I picked up, one had both tires blown (small holes) but was otherwise okay. The other bike had flat (but not blown) tires, rusty chain, and a bit of a bend in the front rim (but still ride-able). After a bit of TLC, I got both of them road-worthy again in a few hours of work. The only thing I couldn't really fix on them was the brakes. They use this old style (I call it "horseshoe") mechanism that really can't be adjusted too much. So the brakes aren't really good. But the bikes are otherwise not too bad and fairly light too. Gears shift fine on both as well.

Anyways, I gave one of the bikes away to a neighbor's kid. He's about 10 years old and had just outgrown his old bike, so was happy with this one. I did warn him (and his parents) about the brakes, though. The other bike I still have, but I will likely give it away on Craigslist as I have no need for it. We already have two bicycles in the garage (one is light, which I use to go grocery shopping when the weather is good, and the other bike is heavy with thick tires - good for when it has rained and/or is slippery outside).

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

momaka - That Delta is unfortunately dead. The solder on the secondary heatsink literally lifted off with the pad.

Still sounds fixable to me .

As opposed to other gutless Deers,this one came from the factory with:

-Panny FL 1000uF 16v for 5vsb (no,there's no trace of flux or anyhting,neither any soldering
-Rubycon ZL 1200uf 16v for 12v
-PI coils (that is something )
-2x Teapo 1200uf ??v - quite strange to see Teapos in a Deer O_O,I knew they used Koshin for the better ones like Allied ones
-2200uf Rubycon MHZ - anybody heard of this series? The cap is 100% genuine.

I seriously doubt Deer used those caps at the factory. Most likely was recapped and flux cleaned well.

UF1002FCT 10A ultrafast - gonna use a 2045 as I plan to use it on a Athlon 64,there's plenty of amps to help so....

I know this works for you. But in case you missed some of the discussion in this thread...

...the noteworthy quotes here:

The 45V reverse voltage spec is too low for the +12V output of the half bridge topology? Regarding the two MBR2045CTs, I mean. That would be my guess.

Exactly. I did actually test it like that and one of the MBR2045s failed short after a few hours. They were replaced with one 20100 and one 3060 in parallel.

[xelectech]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

stj,

didn't see your reply till today, sorry; PG3002V11.00

BTW, your facebook thingie rocks!

[SteveNielsen]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

This week I scored a portable TENS unit with cables and electrodes. I tried it and boy howdy it most definitely works. I'm thankful for the variable intensity control!

Also got a bunch of stuff to look through and keep finding useful things, so far:
Steam cleaner (hand held)
Dremel tool (single speed) with a box of various bits
Wood carving tools (rusty need cleaning/sharpening)

Not sure what else yet. We've got a lot to go through and sort out.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

stj,

didn't see your reply till today, sorry; PG3002V11.00

BTW, your facebook thingie rocks!

so it's a maxx running Ruby2 ?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just got this!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191630575460

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Nice score stj. But man, that is one weird keyboard layout. It would sure mess me up. I like to have my Ctrl, Windows, and Alt keys where they normally are on most keyboards. Also like to have a full Backspace key, not a tiny one in favor of a huge Enter key.

By the way, I bought a refurb Dell Latitude E6400 from MicroCenter for $180 last week for my uncle. Came with a 2.5 GHz C2D, 4GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, DVD-ROM, power adapter, Win 7 Home Premium, and working battery. The battery holds over 2 hours on a charge, so not too bad still (though nowhere near the original 5 hours capacity). What do you all think? Okay deal? I know I can get the same laptop on eBay, sans HDD, HDD caddy, adapter, and OS, for about $30-40. But I didn't have any spare 2.5" SATA HDDs on hand and didn't feel like messing with finding an HDD caddy.

IMO, it's a good laptop since it's from Dell's business lines (Latitude). Has magnesium alloy covers and hinges. Doesn't look all too pretty design-wise (quite square and boxy, actually), but it is made a bit tougher. I also like that it has a matte screen instead of glossy. Resolution is 1280x800, which should be okay. I'm not a fan of large resolutions on a small screen anyways.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

^ Nice score stj. But man, that is one weird keyboard layout.

goes with this!
http://gis.sakura.ne.jp/sunkey/sunkey_e.html

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just got this!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191630575460

jeez, i've had one of those forever it came from my SunBlade 1000. I want to get another one of those sunblades!

[xelectech]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

stj:
>so it's a maxx running Ruby2 ?

I think so, (some of the literature I found on it says something about that but I can't remember where that is at the moment) the original sticker inside the cabinet has a manuf. date of 6/8/99, and software version V3-01.

I'll try to attach a few jpegs of it...

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

if you need any info or manuals - just ask.
i may want a file or 2 from the harddrive in the future btw.

[xelectech]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

stj:
>if you need any info or manuals - just ask.
>i may want a file or 2 from the harddrive in the future btw.

Thanks, much appreciated, so far i have about 24 MBs of pdfs and info files.

The motherboard only has 64Meg of memory installed so I've not yet been able
to run any newer programs to get a look at what's on the HD. With it installed in another machine I briefly tried using clonezilla and boot it next generation to back it up, with no success. I think I tried Part Ed 3.0 as well, at least got a look at the partitions with that, not sure all the disk space was accounted for there.

It would surely provide some peace of mind if one could transfer the system onto a newer HD; since it's the only maxx HD I have was kind of leery of trying too hard, and am wondering if getting another stick of memory for it would help with getting into the HD files via the Unicorn MB.

How 'bout you, any success on that front? What kind of maxx machine(s) have you got?