best cheap/free scores 1.1

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Seems like we do have a desktop thread already:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...hlight=desktop
Old and didn't take off, really, but why not.

I think we had some others too, but I can't find them for some reason.

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

ok in the server rack but i couldnt tolerate the noise in living space.
fixed one for a local factory and the fan noise was BAD!

Today's free score was a working Dell Poweredge 2650 2U rack server. 2x 3.06GHz Xeon's, 4GB RAM, and the upgraded 3 channel SCSI RAID controller. Of course the drives were missing, but SCSI stuff is dirt cheap now, and I have a bunch of it laying around.... System works fully. I've got a copy of S2K8 R1 (supports 32 bit processors), should run like a dream on this.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Scored a like new (maybe new) ballistic sg maxx case for my s4 for $3... its blue and military rated. Walmart.com wants 22 for it new. Less bulky than an otter defender, has a belt holster, and why not for the price?

[SteveNielsen]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Hah! Doh! At first I thought you were talking about a gun thing with the ballistic and military and holster words. I had to re-read it and actually look up what an s4 was.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

ok in the server rack but i couldnt tolerate the noise in living space.
fixed one for a local factory and the fan noise was BAD!

100% correct. I wouldn't even dream of using this in an occupied space, it is obnoxiously loud. It will wind up in a datacenter somewhere.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got myself a Marantz SD4000 cassette deck. Deck was $13. Shipping a little over $20. Not exactly in pristine condition. Cassettes play with quite a bit of WOW (though not much fluffer). But other than that, everything else on it works. Had to do very little work to bring it from "acceptable" to "good" condition. And for a 35 year old deck, I really should give it a break.

Would have been an excellent score if it wasn't for the shipping cost. But then again, it's an old, fairly bulky and heavy deck.

After taking off the front aluminum plate and washing it, the deck really shines. More of an art piece, really. I think I'll make a thread on it when I take some pictures.

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

well, you ever end up with a computer of the same model as your first one? i just did. even know whats wrong! it has 2gb of memory and two 545MHz CPU's and i added a USB card that was in a 95 machine that i pulled from the curb. sorry about the feet in the pic. i had my hands full.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

the novram fault is an easy fix.
does Solaris have drivers for the usb chipset, or are you planning a Linux install?

[goontron]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

the novram fault is an easy fix.
does Solaris have drivers for the usb chipset, or are you planning a Linux install?

backporting the drivers from solaris 11 now. how do you fix the NVram besides buying a new module?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

bust it open,
you can find loads of foto's on the net.
if you look at the bottom you will see that it should have a resin filled recess on each end.
under the resin are a pair of contacts.

on one end you solder a new 32.768Khz crystal.
i say new, but i pull them from dead motherboards.

on the other end you fit some short wires to a cr2032 battery holder - also ripped from a dead pc motherboard.

if your neat, you can put the crystal and holder ontop of the chip and put some epoxy on it to keep it together.

after that, when you boot up, you need to store the network controller MAC adress from what i remember.

you can probably find something here:
http://www.sunhelp.org/sites/

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

on one end you solder a new 32.768Mhz crystal.
i say new, but i pull them from dead motherboards.

Shouldn't that be kHz?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Shouldn't that be kHz?

yes.

[northtowndann1]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

and so 1.1 is a good thing?

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up a random tower for $5, really just for the case expecting to find a Core 2 Duo or Celeron or something.

Turns out it's not only a mATX board in a full tower case, it's a QX6700 on that board. Odd processor choice for such a crap system other than that. Motherboard's a MSI G41M4-F, case is a Thermal Take VA8000BWS, random Cooler Master heatsink missing a fan fin and 3 GB of DDR2 ram.

Pics:
http://imgur.com/a/SyRvq

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Finally found a new place to stay for next semester in University. The old apartment place where I stayed was nice but I kept getting bad roommates. The whole place is packed full of reckless college kids.

Of course, there is some good in that as well. On my final few trips during the move out, I stopped by the trash room in the old place to throw away some garbage. As always, the juvenille kinds here regularly leave their trash in that room rather than throwing it down the chute. As I opened the door, I immediatelly spotted an LCD and grabbed it. There was also a bag with some cables. In it, I found the power adapter that went with the TV. Also in the bag was.... a Wii... along with all of the cables and controllers. I felt guilty taking everything and since I am not at all interested in game consoles, I left the Wii there, in case someone else wanted it. This all happened late at night before I finished the move-out. Unfortunately, the next day must have been trash day because the trash room was empty, so I don't know if anyone really took the Wii or not. Knowing the people that live in this place, most likely not. Perhaps I should have taken it .

On the other hand, the LCD I found turned out to be a Westinghouse TV. I forgot to write down the model number, but it looks like either a 22" or 24". And yes - IT WORKS just fine. Why was it thrown away? - I have no idea. No remote, perhaps? (at least I couldn't find it in any of the other trash bags). The TV looks very new and very slim, though - mostly likely LED too. It has a VGA input. I might end up using it as a monitor.

Another thing I found in that trash room later on in the next day was a decent-looking brushed Stainless Steel desk lamp. Has either damaged switch or cord (didn't spend too much time testing), but its 53W Halogen bulb was working fine. Just what I needed, as the kitchen light in the new place was out too. But I will probably fix that desk lamp as well and mount above my bed as a reading light.

And last but certainly not least - a BIG thank you to a certain member here at BCN, who recently donated a lot of nice computer hardware to me. I really appreciate it, man .

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got an InFocus LiteShow III wireless monitor adapter. Pretty cool device even if it downsamples everything to 1024x768, 1280x760 or 1280x800.

Allows for 4 systems to be connected at once (can do 4 screens at once), can stream video files through it, has audio out, etc. All around a cool device for free.

[chozo4]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

My recent one was the following.. it isn't much though but I find some good stuff on the curb at times.

[copypasted from my facebook post]
Interesting.. found a plastic storage box on the curb alongside trash cans on the way somewhere today and decided to grab it. Looked through it now tonight to find...
> 8 keyboards (6 from HP) that look new, but the hp ones had the cords cut (but the cords in the bottom of the box?)
> a bunch of lan cables
> A brand new unused DVI cable still twistied and smells factory (yes, I smelled it..)
> a 320 GB 2.5" Seagate Momentus SATA 7200.4 Hard drive that seems to have been used for auditing, sql server, vpn use, and other analysis based on the data since it was never wiped. Have yet to do a disk health scan.
> two rolls of cable management Velcro (seems there might have been a tiny bit of coke spilled int he bottom, only splashed on)
> about 6 PS2 mice of varying brands and age.
> an Ethernet 'store register controller'?
> various VGA and other DVI cables.
> couple cut usb cables.
> 2 LCD monitor stands...
> a triplite ethernet token ring surge protector with grounding wire.
> usb to serial adapter cord
> various power plugs for a pc and extensions (mostly 10A 125v which is standard with the exception of a 15A extra thick one which I may just use for my desktop)
(END Copypaste)

A week before I'd found a fully functional 17" HP LCD monitor with cables and adapter wedged between a pair of garbage pails. Works perfect for benchtesting. Along with a functioning desktop computer a month prior without case sides for trash. Worked just fine and had a gigabyte motherboard with core 2 duo intel processor and PSU in decent shape. The board was reliable enough as it was even using Rubycon MBZ series caps which caught me off guard.

Needless to say, I'm still trying to understand what the heck is a 'store register controller' and what it's for. Also, the 320gb drive works flawlessly and am using it as a a lower-energy use replacement to my WD Caviar Blue 320gb drive. It had only a handful of hours on it so was likely a pull from a broken but barely used laptop. Needless to say... a lot of the stuff I intend to eventually sell as I have no use for the majority of it. Based on the contents I'm assuming it come from an out of business store with some PoS systems.

[chozo4]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

APC Back-UPS RS 1200 and Linksys WRT54G v2 each for $1 from a garage sale a few blocks down. The UPS had no battery and the people selling it were selling off stuff from their brothers business. Guess they just didn't want it to the point of practically giving them away... literally. $60 for a battery later and I basically got away with a super-cheap decent UPS and a backup router as a just-in-case thing.

The only thing that drives me nuts is that the UPS only runs the fan for a few seconds on initial startup or when running off the battery. Being it's literally sandwitched laying down inside of a mostly enclosed space it gets hot without airflow to the point you can feel the heat transfer through the plastic case and 3/4 inch wood on both sides. Had to wire up an old ball bearing 12v fan to a 9v adapter that had most of its' cord chewed apart by one of the chihuahua's but onyl needed a super short cord anyway. Just keep it plugged in to the surge-only outlet and it will only run when not running off battery as desired. Now it stays completely cool without any heat buildup.

it's stored inside of the centre flip-up compartment of my desk top. The whole desk-top was also a brand new discard on the curb still in (a broken open) box from someone moving out. It's actually the top of a liquor bar display with two flood lights on the underside which I don't use.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

> 8 keyboards (6 from HP) that look new, but the hp ones had the cords cut (but the cords in the bottom of the box?)

I've seen that before, with CRT monitors. Local non-profit was in for a monitor overhaul, replacing all of the CRTs with LCDs. One of the IT guys must have been too lazy to get behind each desk to remove the cables, so some of the CRT monitors had cut cords. At least he didn't cut any power cords - that would have been a BAD day for him .

[ncovert]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

My dad brought home a fairly complete office phone system.

37 phones in total, and two things of...uh..whatever made the phone system work. All for free. They were going to be thrown out by the I.T guy, so my dad was wise to take them. According to eBay, the phones and equipment still have some value, so we might be able to make a couple bucks





(The TV's and computer case in the last picture were not part of the find.)