My area's major thrift chain, Goodwill, doesn't have any systems laying around any more, regardless of era. I have not seen a single desktop computer--let alone any internal parts--for the last few years at multiple Goodwill locations. I suspect all desktops and non-boxed parts are cannibalized under Goodwill's participation in Dell Reconnect. Dell claims that Goodwill will refurbish and resell desktops at certain locations, but it seems unlikely that my area outside the nation's capital would be bereft of such locations. Local Goodwill stores also stopped accepting CRTs two years ago (edit: this is not my area, but the rule appears to be the same).

piatd wrote:

My area's major thrift chain, Goodwill, doesn't have any systems laying around any more, regardless of era. I have not seen a single desktop computer--let alone any internal parts--for the last few years at multiple Goodwill locations.

Most all the computer and worth while stuff at Goodwill is auctioned on line thru their Ebay like website, been that way for a few years now. You can check it out here: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/ . I still find keyboards, led/lcd monitors and cables at my locals but no laptops or desktops. In my state Goodwill still has to accept CRT TV's and monitors as part of the "green" recycle act if they want to stay a non-profit status in this state (and not pay state income taxes)...

🤣 goodwill

We have an "America's Thrift Store" here, and boy are they fantastic. They'll carry just about any computer they can get their hands on, CRTs, keyboards, accessories... Everything.

Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to have a friend behind the scenes in the store. Came in once while he was working and he flooded the shelves with old electronics... That's how I got a bunch of my *boxed* PCI and AGP video cards, and how I got several of my Pentium class machines.

Haven't seen anything older than a Pentium on their shelves, but those have IDE cables and typically Pentium, Pentium II, and Pentium III machines have a CD audio cable in them.

Funny thing, they never seem to get AMD machines in there, just Intels.

Horun wrote:

Most all the computer and worth while stuff at Goodwill is auctioned on line thru their Ebay like website, been that way for a few years now. You can check it out here: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/ . I still find keyboards, led/lcd monitors and cables at my locals but no laptops or desktops. In my state Goodwill still has to accept CRT TV's and monitors as part of the "green" recycle act if they want to stay a non-profit status in this state (and not pay state income taxes)...

That might explain where most of the refurbs ultimately go. Do you know why some Goodwill affiliates still have ebay stores?

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

How do you guys not have these things? Are these somehow uncommon in different parts of the world? You can find all of these things in any machine made before like 2006 at any recycling or thrift store.

Being a system builder / IT tech in a company with 200+ PCs usually causes this... Nobody needed CD Audio in office environment so these were simply not installed. Later when you replaced parts in broken PCs (optical drives for example) - again you didn't installed these cables or reused cable which was already in the computer...

I have lots of ribbon cables, CD-ROM audio cables, s-video cables, case brackets and so on... more than I will never need in fact... and it's only like 10% of stuff I decided to safe - rest (especially CD Audio cables) we just throwed into garbage.

CD audio cables I have used in DIY audio, wonderful nice shielded cables to use and splice up in various ways. I would have loved to have the ones you tossed out 🤣.

ooooh yeah 😎

GDM F520, it's no FW900, but eh 4:3 is awesome too 😁

this time it's not even from an office, so hopefully not been used to death.

I've recently built a small collection of Adaptec controllers for my SCSI experiments out of eBay. Different models, generations and buses. Cheap (mostly). All working.

imi wrote:

ooooh yeah :cool: […]
Show full quote

ooooh yeah 😎

hardware32_03.jpg

GDM F520, it's no FW900, but eh 4:3 is awesome too 😁

this time it's not even from an office, so hopefully not been used to death.

Nice! I have one as well. Let us know your impressions once you start using it!

My 12" mono monitor arrived... It works!!! Plastic parts need some solid cleaning and retrobright (maybe), but other than that it's perfect.

Also this particular CRT model (Philips M31-340 GR/PD) has delicious, slow response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLlscV0r7zE

MMaximus wrote:

Nice! I have one as well. Let us know your impressions once you start using it!

I only quickly tested it with my laptop, but I need to test it with a proper machine that can output more than 60Hz ^^
I noticed a slight convergence issue in the bottom right corner which apparently can't be fixed through the menu unfortunately as for some reason that only allows for horizontal adjustment across the whole screen so the top corner is off instead if I try to correct it, vertical has more detailed adjustments.
I already got the service manual, but that's going to be a project for a later date... it probably won't be an issue in games but I did notice it on the desktop.

HanJammer wrote:

My 12" mono monitor arrived... It works!!! Plastic parts need some solid cleaning and retrobright (maybe), but other than that it's perfect.

that first picture is giving me serious ALIEN vibes

Very nice monochrome monitor!

I've got a 12 inch Samsung monitor just like it, it is also very slow response... The screen takes several seconds to fade, even at the lowest brightness I can still read!

P31 phosphor is something else, isn't it?

That monochrome monitor is incredible. Speaking of hardware, I bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro 410CDT, external floppy drive for it, and a new display for my ASUS Nexus 7 2012 Wi-Fi tablet. Modern-wise, I bought a Syba Dual CF to IDE 44-pin adapter for the Toshiba laptop in case the old 810MB (770MB actual size0) is broken and received it today from eBay (the package was from Amazon and the company has it where the item can be bought from either Amazon or eBay).

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

Oo, nice Compaq Portable. The Q8200 sounds decent too.

What's the Matrox like? Had a chance to do anything with that yet?

I tested it to see if it at least POSTS, and it does. I haven't tried it in Windows yet. I noticed it has a slot for a SODIMM, and I happen to have a 256 meg SDR PC100 that would fit - would that even work?

No, it's probably a special kind. I have some cards with a similar slot - A regular SODIMM won't even fit. You need the special video memory modules. Many video cards, some onboard solutions, and the iMac G3s came with this.

Look for "iMac G3 4MB video RAM" and you'll see what they look like.

HanJammer wrote:

My 12" mono monitor arrived... It works!!!

Love it!!!

Sound Blaster CT1920 AWE32 Upgrade Card (Goldfinch)

wiretap wrote:

Sound Blaster CT1920 AWE32 Upgrade Card (Goldfinch)

With a factory output jack, noice. I had to add one to mine. Handy little cards those, particularly the ability to load sound fonts (Win9X) and emulate an MPU 401 alongside any other sound card you fancy (i.e. doesn't need to be a Creative card).

mpe wrote:

I've recently built a small collection of Adaptec controllers for my SCSI experiments out of eBay. Different models, generations and buses. Cheap (mostly). All working.

Then get some PCI-X card as well - Ultra160 or Ultra320.
They can be found very cheap.

This card is impressive.