best cheap/free scores 1.1

[retiredcaps]

Originally Posted by Dan81

-Galaxy S5 SM-G900F (same as my pristine white one) - $6

Good score. Update to date Lineageos 16.0 builds at

https://download.lineageos.org/klte

I like the S5 removeable battery.

[Curious.George]

Originally Posted by Topcat

Anymore, I just use external HDD's for data archiving. Tape drives were a cheaper alternative to mass data archiving back in the day when HDD space cost a premium. HDD's are so cheap now....and an external case for one doesn't cost much either.

I don't bother with the cases; bare drives in a dock are "good enough". Cases take up space and, unless they are nearly identical, you're always hunting for the proper power adapter for the thing! (I use a PTouch labeler to label EVERY power adapter with something that makes it incredibly obvious which device it is used for. Sadly, I have some devices that "look" like they can use a power adapter for some OTHER device -- but the polarity is backwards! So, I have to add a note to the label "ONLY use for XXX device!") With the docks, a couple of docks can address all your needs and their power adapters can be left plugged into them so they are "handy".

The big problem with disks is it is too easy to forget that you are playing with an "archive copy". You run the risk of adding and deleting stuff that you really should be doing on the "originals", instead. With tape, it was a "challenge" to actually change the tape's content without rewriting the whole tape (or just appending the new content).

The other problem with disks is you can do a sh*tload more damage in an ohnosecond! <frown>

[llonen]

Recently picked up from an indoor car boot sale a BBC master 128k computer system, with monitor, disk drives and some software. Will be re-capped to ensure longevity but is otherwise in full working order, paid £5.00 for the lot.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Originally Posted by Dan81

Well, it's still a LCD display (OLED tech tho) nevertheless.

I'm already in process of ordering a whole new glass + display though. It's WAY too risky to remove the panel and change the glass. With a glass+display combo, it's literally plug'n play. Just plug it in, secure it down with 3M tape, then it's done, looking brand new.

The one I'll get is black, gonna look into some part numbers to see if they fit my phone

OLED is not an LCD with LED backlight, BTW. So, how would you even be able to get an LCD panel in that?

OLED is a different tech, with lighting part of the package and its giveaway of OLED, is image retention, possibly burn-in! My Galaxy S5 has that issue. But it's minor.

OTOH, the only LCDs that I can recall having image retention issues, are my 2010 (or circa 2010) Panasonic 42-inch Viera TV and my 47-inch Vizio E470VLE TV.

IIRC, LCDs usually don't have image retention and burn-in.

I have received reports of OLED suffering with image retention often, if not burn-in as well!

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Curious.George

I don't bother with the cases; bare drives in a dock are "good enough". Cases take up space and, unless they are nearly identical, you're always hunting for the proper power adapter for the thing! (I use a PTouch labeler to label EVERY power adapter with something that makes it incredibly obvious which device it is used for. Sadly, I have some devices that "look" like they can use a power adapter for some OTHER device -- but the polarity is backwards! So, I have to add a note to the label "ONLY use for XXX device!") With the docks, a couple of docks can address all your needs and their power adapters can be left plugged into them so they are "handy".

The big problem with disks is it is too easy to forget that you are playing with an "archive copy". You run the risk of adding and deleting stuff that you really should be doing on the "originals", instead. With tape, it was a "challenge" to actually change the tape's content without rewriting the whole tape (or just appending the new content).

The other problem with disks is you can do a sh*tload more damage in an ohnosecond! <frown>

I've never had issues like that. I have 4 external hdd for 4 different backups stored in 4 different locales. They all use the same power adapter. I use the backup util in s2k12, eliminates 'oopsies' with 2 of them. The other 2 I manually copy files....I havent screwed up yet....but as I get older and clumsier, you never know!

...but FWIW, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses the hell out my p-touch label maker. My wife gave it to me as a gift years ago....its used a lot around here.

[stj]

Originally Posted by llonen

Recently picked up from an indoor car boot sale a BBC master 128k computer system, with monitor, disk drives and some software. Will be re-capped to ensure longevity but is otherwise in full working order, paid £5.00 for the lot.

that's incredible.
maybe this will be interesting!
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub...-online-38d004

[kevin!]

Originally Posted by kevin!

The game is called dethkarz, this is one of the games that takes advantage of the glide API, and every time I play it, I am very surprised by the power of 3dfx.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krPoqljIjFc
I'm going to make some changes to the retro computer, probably get a computer with a tualeron (1.2 GHz), but unfortunately it doesn't have AGP, I plan to put the 3dfx banshee and leave the MMX pentium for older games using the motherboard's IGPU (it carries a ATI Rage 3D).

In the end they gave me the Tualeron .
I had all the gluxon capacitors in disrepair, I replaced them with nichicon HM series of 6.3v 1000 microfarads, and replaced 3 Teapo for Rubycon MBZ series 16V 1500 microfarads.
The luck I've had with this board that is version 5, which supports all available versions of Tualatin.

[BigTroll]

Originally Posted by kevin!

In the end they gave me the Tualeron .
I had all the gluxon capacitors in disrepair, I replaced them with nichicon HM series of 6.3v 1000 microfarads, and replaced 3 Teapo for Rubycon MBZ series 16V 1500 microfarads.

I like the case and the 3dfx badge, looks like a good system.

[kevin!]

Originally Posted by BigTroll

I like the case and the 3dfx badge, looks like a good system.

The label came to me just today and I put it in the box so it could be seen that it has a 3dfx inside .
I chose this case because it is the best state I was, although I like it a lot, it is very solid.
The bad thing is that I can't put ATX PSU.
I've already tried the Dethkarz game, it's great how does it work, the processor performance is exceptional, it performs similar to Pentium 4 1.8GHz :O

[Curious.George]

Originally Posted by Topcat

I've never had issues like that.

I've kept two copies of each drive for more than 30 years, now. Many years ago, I was using 4G drives (I'd bought 10 of them at $1/each) for my "archive" media. I went to "recover" some software by mounting one of the set of 10 (2 x 5) in an external SCSI case. Total failure. "Crap!" OK, that's why we have a backup of each!

Pulled the second copy of the drive. Same problem. Now, two drives hosed!

Only THEN did I stop to think about how unusual this would be -- after "losing" both copies of 4G of data (yeah, 4G isn't much, today, but back then it was a significant amount).

Turns out, there was a bug in the OS's disk driver which caused that particular model to scramble it's VTOC almost immediately on use! And, because ALL of the 10 drives were the same model, this would continue if I had tried to use any of the other drives!

[I.e., lots of damage in an ohnosecond!]

So, I rolled back to an earlier release of the OS and dug out the WORM backup of the disks (7 cartridges) and restored both of the 4G drives from that.

I have 4 external hdd for 4 different backups stored in 4 different locales. They all use the same power adapter. I use the backup util in s2k12, eliminates 'oopsies' with 2 of them. The other 2 I manually copy files....I havent screwed up yet....but as I get older and clumsier, you never know!

As I said, an ohnosecond is an unbelievably short period of time! Sooner or later, you kick yourself for hitting ENTER! <frown>

Each of my 4 workstations needs about 4T for a full backup. So, that's doable with cheap external drives. And, the other machines tend to be considerably smaller (on the order of 1T). But, it still means a collection of "backup disks".

Instead, I go the other way -- restoring the *original* images when/if I have to recover something. And, any "working files" that I may want to backup just get copied to any other machine that happens to be "up" at the time. It's an admittedly ad hoc solution but one that I can reasonably manage (and relatively easy to do cuz I'm only pushing small groups of files onto other machines instead of going through the steps of a "real" backup)

...but FWIW, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses the hell out my p-touch label maker. My wife gave it to me as a gift years ago....its used a lot around here.

As I said, I label each wall wart/power adapter.

Each computer/laptop has a label for it's hostname visible -- along with the root/administrator password (if you can break into my house, having the password exposed is no worse than having it HIDDEN... once you have physical access to the machine, all security bets are off!)

Ditto each UPS, NAS, printer, appliance, etc. -- any network node.

I label all of the network, phone and CATV drops thoughout the house.

Every external disk is labeled with the volume name of the disk contained within as well as its size (often, the enclosure may have been sold with one disk size installed and I've upgraded it).

Every *bare* disk is labeled with its volume name.

The printers have "useful notes" attached: "insert labels face down", "insert envelopes along left edge", etc.

Seldom used items are labeled with abbreviated instructions (e.g., crank radio has a label telling me that it will run for 15 minutes when fully wound, how many revolutions to wind it completely, etc.)

Yes, it is easily one of the most overused items that I have, here! It never gets "put away" because there always seems to be a use for it!

The downside is that it is wasteful of "tape"; it spits out an inch of blank tape before each label! So, I make a point of queuing up several labels in it and only printing when I have reached the end of its internal buffer. Then, cutting that one LONG label into the smaller labels that I want...

[Topcat]

I picked up a privately owned (not an abused off-lease) M6400 from ebay for cheap. I was given another M6400 with a bad GPU and a M6800 with a bad HDD from a local shop. The M6800 was sold before I even had it ready. The M6400's won't take long to re-home either. Laptops and AIO's still sell well. I can't give a tower away anymore.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

I picked up a privately owned (not an abused off-lease) M6400 from ebay for cheap. I was given another M6400 with a bad GPU and a M6800 with a bad HDD from a local shop. The M6800 was sold before I even had it ready. The M6400's won't take long to re-home either. Laptops and AIO's still sell well. I can't give a tower away anymore.

I love how people at work laugh at our old M6800's... and I remind them they still fetch $500 on ebay. Not the $2500 they did new, but still respectable for the age.

(Which is why I don't own one personally... they're kickass power user laptops).

[BigTroll]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

I love how people at work laugh at our old M6800's... and I remind them they still fetch $500 on ebay. Not the $2500 they did new, but still respectable for the age.

(Which is why I don't own one personally... they're kickass power user laptops).

I really like the Red M6500s always wanted one but yeah ebay prices too much for me. I did however get a Red dell latitude 6510, its my linux/retropie laptop.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by BigTroll

I really like the Red M6500s always wanted one but yeah ebay prices too much for me. I did however get a Red dell latitude 6510, its my linux/retropie laptop.

My main laptop (personal) is a Latitude E6430... I've had it since I graduated college in 2015. Considered upgradign but other than a new SSD, I can't be bothered. Too much $$$ to gain anything (already has an i7 and 8GB of DDR3)

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

I love how people at work laugh at our old M6800's... and I remind them they still fetch $500 on ebay. Not the $2500 they did new, but still respectable for the age.

(Which is why I don't own one personally... they're kickass power user laptops).

I know, right? THey're amongst my favorites.

FWIW, that Q9300 that never could seem to find a home ran just swell in one of the M6400's. It had a 2.4GHz C2D in it, so it was a nice upgrade for it.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

I know, right? THey're amongst my favorites.

FWIW, that Q9300 that never could seem to find a home ran just swell in one of the M6400's. It had a 2.4GHz C2D in it, so it was a nice upgrade for it.

Glad you found a home for it... what a picky chip. Seems most OEMs didn't want nutcases like us burning down VRMs with fireball chips

The Precision 7710 I used to use (before I moved positions and received a comparatively gutless Latitude Rugged 5414) was also nice. Only rotating assemblies were the fans. Ditto for later 7700's that my other coworkers upgraded to. But those are still wicked expensive since they're still mobile CAD workhorses used by a lot of companies.

The only precision laptop I didn't care for was the M6700... the screen hinges seemed flimsy, and the one I briefly had was always trouble. Hence how I got the 7710.

[Curious.George]

Originally Posted by Topcat

I picked up a privately owned (not an abused off-lease) M6400 from ebay for cheap. I was given another M6400 with a bad GPU and a M6800 with a bad HDD from a local shop. The M6800 was sold before I even had it ready. The M6400's won't take long to re-home either.

I rescued an M6500 a year or two back. My other half uses it for her on-line banking. Has an issue with the touchpad's scroll function but I'm not going to waste any time sorting it out (driver, no doubt).

Laptops and AIO's still sell well. I can't give a tower away anymore.

Folks are no longer willing to tolerate the "bigness" of a "computer". They want something that they can hide away in a corner -- or in a desk drawer.

I am delighted with this change in preferences as it means I have a boatload of larger machines to choose from that would otherwise be *scrapped* ("no resale value"). Personally, I like having 1100W power supplies and 6 or 7 spindles -- in addition to a set of "special" I/Os...

And, room for *big* fans that can rotate more slowly instead of those buzzing little hornets!

[Topcat]

^
My wife's system is a Dell 3010 USFF, tiny little thing, sits quietly behind the dell u3011 it displays on.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

^
My wife's system is a Dell 3010 USFF, tiny little thing, sits quietly behind the dell u3011 it displays on.

..And my wife runs a supermicro workstation ... but she's partially a gamer. That said, the USFF I installed at church as a 3rd AV PC (slideshows) does pretty well. Depends on what you're doing I guess.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

..And my wife runs a supermicro workstation ...

I've got plenty of them here to give her....but I got the "I don't want that monstrosity under my desk!" She doesn't game, other than a little Diablo2 now & then....which would run on a pentium3.