I always find a copy of the local yellow pages and look up the thrift's in a new city. I have found that overall if you can locate Goodwill, Savers, Value Village, DAV's, Unique, to name a few that you will find something of interest at them. Goodwill is my first choice but they vary from city to city as some will not take computers at all (EPA issues) and others have them coming out the wood work. The prices vary at Goodwill also from a couple dollars to hundreds, some the Goodwill here in MN have volunteers that come in and test the electronics for them plus price them and these guys mark things way high. I have tried talking with a couple of them about the high prices but for some reason they acted like the items belonged them and not free items given to Goodwill. Savers is a private thrift and the prices are a little on the high side, Value Village if you can locate one are the lowest and always by second choice to shop at. Hope all this helps you. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gunther Schadow" <gunther(a)aurora.regenstrief.orgTo: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.orgSent: Monday, August 06, 2001 11:21 PM Subject: Re: Finds in Houston gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Care Medicine http://aurora.regenstrief.org

On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Bill Bradford wrote: Just because someone puts 4 hours @ $8.25/hr (or whatever they make) into a Commodore 64 does NOT mean that it is now worth at least $33 (plus markup). In my area (great San Francisco Bay/Silicon Valley area) Goodwill's and Salvation Army's tend to mark computers at silly prices. It's sort of taking advantage of the lower income folks who go into those stores looking for deals on used goods and walking away with a computer that's worth maybe 20% of what they paid for it. I did (VCF 2.0 :) Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Bill Bradford wrote: Bill, they make there profit my volume apparently. Most stuff (not limiting "stuff" to computers) is dirt cheap at the local GW. However, sometimes with computer stuff they'll mark it up very high. What happens is that the get a set of something, like a nice Lazer 128 or //Gs or whatever, but mark it up way high. Well no one buys it but everyone digs through it, scattering its pieces throughout the store. now, it's worth even less, then someone starts selling it piecemeal. The problem is that they don't have anybody that knows anything about computers, which doesn't surprise me.... part of there mission is to provide jobs for people that don't have good jobs.... often uneducated people (please don't think I am being judgmental or harsh, that isn't my intent). They don't know a good computer form a piece of junk el-cheapo clone 386. The Local Goodwill in town here, routinely has old dirty clone 386's out of the floor. I gave them a very clean IBM PS/2 Model 77 (486dx2-66), and I think they threw it away! The lady asked me if it worked.... I told her it needed a HD. I think she figured, Oh, I guess it's broken and tossed it, because I never saw it on the sales floor. They do ship stuff in between stores so it's possible it ended up somewhere else, but this Goodwill seems to handle the most computer stuff. I don't know about your local region, but herem they don't fix anything. I have whole case, want one :-) Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

Bill Bradford wrote: Wow, complete with museum! AH-HA! Now, I know where all the computer stuff went that I DIDN"T see in Plano, TX last month!!!!! I went the the Goodwill in Plano in early July and there was virtually no computer stuff. I take that they ship it all to Austin? Eric

We have the same here. I find that quite bad because they also sell clothes and other stuff to the poorer people that usually dont know anything about computers and they might think they are getting something usefull when they are not getting anything at all. Saw a 65 year old + with an old 386 the other day, for $30 (just the computer) he looked like he taught he was going on the internet with this... There is also another "non-profit" place where they have old XTs and 286s and bundle them with keyboard etc...and try to sell them for $75...But then again I think that place tries to hold on to stuff to justify the large building they occupy and their goverment backed operating budget... If they find someone to buy this, its not good because they are supposed to be doing GOOD things...even if they dont know how much its worth, its not an excuse for selling XTs at $75... The best finds now come from people telling people about me...I was given a lead on a KIM computer tonight by a friend I could probably get free... Then there is a giant used computer part place with Sun stuff and DEC stuff that could be a potential gold mine and owner is asking idiotic prices...I think he his one of those "I rather destroy it then sell it to you at that price" guys....and I am talking truly obsolete stuff here....nothing that can do any "serious" work...or even any collector value...Stuff piled to the roof...I am baffled... Oh well...My basement is kinda semi-full anyways.... Claude anything. computers. wireless got no

Goodwill is both retail and wholesale, with goods going about 50/50 to each operation. Almost all of the smaller thrift shops without a donation stream of their own buy from Goodwill in bulk.

On Wed, 22 Aug 2001, Ethan Dicks wrote: Good thing he's going to have to be pushing that thing over the Rockies when it breaks down. He's put on some pounds! Too many Radlers :) Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

There's a Ural repair/distribution shop next door to a place I used to work, in Preston, WA. Preston is a small town just east of Seattle/Bellevue, so if he makes it out here, I'll send him their way. I'm sure that they would love to see his bike, and perhaps do a few repairs on it as well. However, the bikes that they were selling look quite a bit different than his three-wheeler but they still had the "vintage" look to them, with side cars and all. E.

On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Bill Bradford wrote: <snip> Bill's remarks reminded me of the following. IMSAI and Other S-100 Cards I have the following cards available, for sale preferably. Like others, I need to get rid of things, rather than just exchange one for another. Anyway, here is the list: 1 IMSAI MPU-B processor card w/ 8085 processor 1 IMSAI PDS II & DIO - 2 card set (Disk?) 1 additional DIO card 2 SEALS 8K Memory cards - 8 2102L chips missing 1 PTCO 2KRO PROM card - (Tested OK in 3/76) 1 Wizard PSIOB card 1 Wizard PSIO #2 card 2 Unknown 8085 processor cards - Apparently process control based on EPROMs Preference to someone taking all, but will separate. Best offer by 2000 PDT Tuesday 10 August. Shipping at cost. Shall we keep down clutter and respond off-list? - don

On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, John R. Keys Jr. wrote: I don't know if this has anything to do with their pricing, but monitors are becoming a huge toxic waste problem. The folks at the Alameda County Computer Resource Center (www.accrc.org) where the VCF collection is stored have started charging $10 for every monitor received as required by a new state law enacted earlier this year in an emergency session. The state of California is trying to work with them to ease the burden. It has to do with storage of toxic waste. Nobody wants monitors anymore...especially old or dead ones. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

3000 untested Apple monitors? Good lord....What for? Claude

On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, Mike Ford wrote: On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Mike Ford wrote: not. One You have unusual friends. Or one friend who is REALLY strange. Hmmmm. Why would a spammer want thousands of old monitors,. . .

On Wed, 8 Aug 2001, Richard Erlacher wrote: Yes, I installed this software for my friend's business. I can get a copy of it next time I'm there (sometime in the next couple weeks). Shoot me your address and I'll mail it to you gratis (I promise it won't explode when you open it ;) Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Not to shock any fellow nerds, but I do have more than one friend. OTOH sometimes I am loose with the term friend, and apply it to people I know and speak with regularly, but that I take no responsibility for. OTOOH some of the weirdest people I have met were associated with old computers.

That would be one *big* videowall. Peace... Sridhar On Wed, 8 Aug 2001, Bill Bradford wrote:

On Wed, Aug 08, 2001 at 01:19:45PM -0500, Bill Bradford wrote: I once toyed with such an idea. A surplus 6-slot Macintosh filled with 5 video cards and one ethernet card, and 5 original Macintosh monitors (that was a nice monitor) could be had for pretty cheap. Several copies of the whole thing could be had for pretty cheap. Could make a really big data-wall. What fun! Then I computed how much it would all weigh, how much electricity it would draw, how much heat it would dump, and how underpowered a mere Mac IIfx is for so many bits to slop around. As with my recent purchase of new hardware for my basement server, it is hard to come up with a computation that makes very old computers look good against new in price/performance terms. -kb, the Kent who still wants an ASR-33, but for non-price/performance reasons.

On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Mike Ford wrote: My question would be why? What is he planning to do with them? Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Hello ! Some days ago I send an inquiry about the way to format one RD52 Hard Disk attached to one DILOG DQ614 board. This board treat one MFM disk like up to FOUR RL02 Hard Disks. It appears to have one ROM accessible in the address 775000 (in one PDP-11/23 PLUS), and I can access it, appearing the '*' prompt of the rom, but nothing more. Well, by courtesy of Mr. Nils Holm I know actually that I need one program that works under RT-11. This program is named DQ6140. I hope this could be an answer to all these members of the list who have one DQ614 and don't know how to put it to work. Oh... If somebody wants a prepared disk with a copy of this program and other utilities, the price that was quoted to me some days ago is of 605.- Euros. Yes, you have read perfectly: 605.- euros. The unique obscure matter is this: the RD52 (in my case) must be jumpered like DS0. I reviewed the disk and it only has the jumpers: 'DS1', 'DS2', 'DS3' (this is actually selected), 'DS4' and 'A'. There is another point that I must clear that appoint about jumper to board to access RL unit 0 on disk 0... but this last matter is easy. Finally, I must appoint that RT-11 and Unix detect that exists at least one DL0 and one DL1 in the system, but they can't access the 'bad sector info'. In the case of the DL1, Unix BSD2.11 ask me for the 'CSR'. What is this, Gurus :-) ? Greetings and Best Regards from Spain. Sergio

From: Tony Duell &lt;ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk&gt; You can say that again. A good moment to ask that if any one does find a working one, just buy it for me - I need it! Of course, it would be great if that was in Australia, but I suspect its going to have to come from another part of the planet, and I'll pay the shipping. Phil (Brisbane, Australia)

I also hit the phone book yellow pages immediately in new towns, but also I try to use Yahoo yellow pages at home before I leave so I can print out some lists of places. Thift stores and pawn shops are so unpredictable, and often pricey, so they are not the first place I look. USED computer dealers, computer recyclers, now that can be some good stuff. Scrap buyers, same thing. Hamfests, ie in Los Angeles on the last Saturday of the month there is a big one at TRW. Visit the local members of this list. NOBODY that has visited me so far has left empty handed, and my garage has a better selection than most stores of any kind.

Sometimes unpredictable is good. Sometimes the only place you can find is a pawnshop.