best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Ended up using it to retire a less than useful Laserjet 4L (which I was using with a Jetdirect 500x)... Dimensionally it's close enough to the 4L that it happens to fit on the bottom of my garage bench server/printer stand. A bit tight vertically (3"), but thankfully everything is serviced from the front/back so this isn't an issue. Ethernet printing works (didn't test or care for wireless), so I'm really at a loss to why it was tossed

I did that when I got my Ricoh setup....I was able to retire 3 other machines. I updated the firmware on it last week....it literally took an hour for it to do its number....sure glad the power didn't go out!!

[Xenon-Codex]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Found two Asus laptops from the dump. The older one has 750gig HDD and a big screen, and the other has 512GB SSD and 8 GB ram. The newer machine was in sleep mode...

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored an Samsug Galaxy Note 4 N910F in rather pristine condition - doesn't bootloop, but does get rather hot.

Also scored another slotket which allows me to control the CPU voltage at my free own will without changing anything on the mobo (physically.). It's made by Cooltek from what little I could find, and despite advertising itself as FCPGA compatible, I still had to modify it (cut pin AM2, bridge X4 and AH4 I think it was) but otherwise it might be a great candidate combined with my BE6-II for some nice clocling and undervolting stuff. I already have found semi-undocumented jumper settings (the ones printed don't go lower than 2.0v, while the DIP switch on the slotket allows you to go as low as 1.6v with the updated table I have found on a eBay listing, maybe even 1.5 or lower on fully undocumented, who knows).

And finally, also got a Toshiba Satellite L670-1K0 that has some slight issues. GPU needs reflow (no, I still don't have enough tools and confidence to replace an entire BGA chip.), an USB port is broken, and one of the RAM sticks (a puny 2GB Hynix) is bad. The rest of it looks surprisingly clean, though.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I haven't really had much to report lately....it's been kind of quiet.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Custom build AMD Athlon XP 2000+ system with a Thermaltake CPU cooler that sounds like a lawnmower. Hard disk was pulled by original owner. POSTs but probably needs a PSU as the one it has makes some less-than-confidence-inspiring noises. Will probably throw 2K or XP on it after dropping a good 80GB IDE drive in it.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You sure the Thermaltake isn't at fault too? I have one of those and almost instantly ditched its original fan (which not only was loud, but it was a 80mm w/ adapter from 70mm) in favor of a standard Skt754/939/AM2/AM3 70mm fan that is less louder than Thermaltake's craptacular excuse of a fan.

[mikay786]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got some decent stuff today at flea market

Some rogers wafer speakers (trouble identifying these not much info out there)

Nad 3240 pe amp

Computer wise

A few early gen i3-i5 laptops

A nice looks Sony tablet and a big kindle tablet

Got a dyson v7 vacuum just the motor bit but was working so ideal as a spare to our v7 we use at home.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored these yesterday:

- PSP 1003 w/ bad screen (not cracked)
- Samsung NP-R610H (C2D T5800, GF 9200M GS, 4GB DDR2, 250GB Hitachi HDD, no battery and has a single green line on the left side of the screen.)
- FSC Amillo Pa3553 (Athlon X2 QL-60 , HD3470M, 4GB DDR2, no HDD and no battery)
- Dell Studio XPS 1340 (C2D P7450, GF9400MG + G210M HybridSLi, 4GB DDR3, 500GB Seagate, has battery but of course won't charge and will limit CPU speed without a genuine Dell charger.)
- Toshiba Satellite L505-10V (C2D T6600, HD4570 512M MXM, no HDD, 4GB DDR3, no battery)

The only losses out of these were the PSP with the bad screen (and was horribly corroded inside) while the FSC is a bit weird - could be either a totally kaput chipset (RS780M, though no signs of ever being reflowed) or the CPU is dead. I'm holding on it until I can get another CPU and test (I've personally had several S1G2 CPUs die and the laptops were fine after a CPU swap.)

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

From yesterday:

- 5x Toner and 2x drums for my Brother HL-2270DW ($5 per, $35 for all). 3rd party... but at the price I don't care. Doubt I'll ever need toner or drums for it ever again; it's my fastest printer and the only one with a true duplexer, but I hardly print much of anything these days.

-More Outlet "by the pound" scores:

-A nice large (and well taken care of) tool bag, previously used by an ethernet/data tech (had some cat6 jacket bits and a couple CAT 6 jacks loose inside).

-A 100' flat Cat6 cable. Badly tangled but otherwise in good shape.

-A Weller WTCPN 60W Soldering station. A bit old and beat up, and only had a conical 700F tip. But, it works great and it uses still-available TC series tips which aren't terribly expensive ($5 a pop or so)... ordered an assortment of 800F chisel (screwdriver) tips for it. Less thermal mass than my current iron (A Weller W60P, uses larger tips), but as cheap as it was, I'm not complaining... not to mention it heats up noticeably faster than said W60P. Not to mention in some cases one needs two irons... and I gave away/junked my other ones (aside from a massive 100W stained glass iron, a Weller soldering gun, and a radio shack desoldering iron I haven't used in years).

-A very old (50's?) vacuum tube speakerphone system. Made by Webster Electric of Racine Wisconsin... not sure on how it interfaced with a phone, other than that it has a built in speaker and a remote microphone on a cable. Needs a new power cord (severe mouse damage) and gosh knows what else... but may be a fun project. Perhaps I find a way to link the tube amplifier to a bluetooth device to make it into a "modern" speakerphone?

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A Sony DSR-250 Professional Video Camera:





Unfortunately, the battery was dead as a doornail (the 14.4V pack reads 0.0017V) and a replacement (generic) ended up costing $80



Aside from the battery the only issue was a "dead spot" in the scroll wheel for the menu, which a squirt of DeOxit fixed.



And a Tandberg 3041X reel to reel tape recorder:









This one needed belts and a pinch roller.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Very nice on the camera!! That would be fun to play around with.

I have several Sony Reel-to-Reel decks I need to work on....you just reminded me!!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A Sony DSR-250 Professional Video Camera:

My church has a similar one in the AV booth (Sony DV pro grade video camera)... but the DV head is wiped out (couldn't record to tape). Still usable though via a long firewire cable and an old PowerMac G5 (2006 Dual CPU model!) with an old enough version of iMovie that can record from firewire. Sucks because of the low resolution... but at least it has really good optics.

I used it as a last minute means to record a wedding in 2020... All things considered, it did a decent enough job... the only goof I made wasn't the camera's fault (Audio issue; the issue was on the sound mixer/microphone setup side; at least I was able to salvage it with some heavy Audacity magic).

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Unexpected score:

$10- Pioneer FH-X70BT 2 Din Head unit. Works great. Nice upgrade to the "technically nicer" 1 Din JVC that was in my wife's van... that one had no working FM, but I think that had more to do with the power antenna wire not being hooked up; a PO had an aftermarket antenna shoved in the passenger footwell and the two rear window grids were unplugged; despite hooking the grids up I had no radio signal until I swapped head units tonight and made sure the power antenna wire was connected (don't remember if the antenna shoved in the footwell actually at all worked). I suspect it has a stock antenna amplifier somewhere; the power antenna pin on the vehicle plug was indeed present on the stock harness.

Nice and simple unit with basic USB and bluetooth (need to get the mic for it)... perfect for my wife who can't manage my Android 6 monstrosity I run in one of my trucks!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebies were an Inspiron 5559 laptop in mint condition; 6th gen i3 8gb ram. HDD is missing. They said it was in a boot loop after an update. Nothing to fix, replaced HDD reloaded and good!

Motorola XT2005-5 cell phone also in mint condition with a soft case. Batt missing. When plugged in, the splash screen flashes on and off. No idea what's wrong with it....that will probably go to the recycler.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebies were an Inspiron 5559 laptop in mint condition; 6th gen i3 8gb ram. HDD is missing. They said it was in a boot loop after an update. Nothing to fix, replaced HDD reloaded and good!

Motorola XT2005-5 cell phone also in mint condition with a soft case. Batt missing. When plugged in, the splash screen flashes on and off. No idea what's wrong with it....that will probably go to the recycler.

The missing battery may be your problem... Probably related.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a USB 3.0 to SATA adapter for $0.20 (roughly). Needed one at work (but due to politics and crap couldn't spend money one onw), lucky find.

Also scored a HP Laserjet Color CP1025nw for $10... all toners had life left (lowest was 40% on the black and cyan). Gifted to my parents. Third cheap color laser I've found this year (and the second one in two weeks!).

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Found a 40" Philips BDM4065UC 4K LCD monitor in the dumpster.
All that was bad was the LED backlight strips, all four of them.
Bought new ones on eBay for €27 and it works fine again.
But the size is just silly, hell my TV is a 37" Panasonic Plasma LOL!

I will probably not use it.
But it was a nice test while thinking about what to replace my aging Eizo S2000 monitor with...

I attached a photo with the bezel of my Eizo S2000 in front for size comparison

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Not bad...but I won't give up my 1080 plasma either, don't feel bad.

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

No no the plasma ain't going anywhere!
But this is not a TV, it is a 4K PC monitor

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Freebie last week was a TCL 43" 4K. Dead as a fart. Tested PSU, absolutely nothing in the secondary, not even standby. Researched to see if this model had any 'common cold' PSU failures that would save me some troubleshooting time, and found someone selling brnd new ones from broken screen sets for $8 shipped....and just did that. Took care of it.





It had someone's Ruku credentials in it....so I did get a little free TV....but I have since done a master reset on it.