Unused keyboard are always nice, I use something similar rubber domed. Cleaning used keyboards is not that fun..

Cd drives are nothing special imo.

Those CRX230 models CDRW (like 230AD, 230AE and 230EE) are 52x-32x-52x burners. You should be able burn faster than 4x with proper media in a fast computer....
Not bad if you did not pay more than about $20 each if they are really new (only because I can sometimes get new IDE CDRW for about that locally but rare)... but that is just my opinion on what they are worth.
One thing: the 230AD and 230AE models had a volume control on the front. The 230EE does not from all the images I looked at....
pdf manual:
https://manualzz.com/doc/60132279/sony-crx230ee-user-manual
Should work well as a cdrom reader even on a 486 but be limited to a low PIO mode speed.

I guess countries like South America where rules are somewhat relaxed it's very possible for goods to sit forgotten in storage for years.
North America seems like it also has many cases of warehouses untouched and forgotten for years. I guess in a big country storage is cheap.
Asia can be good for newer but obsolete hardware when manufactures release end of life stock.
Europe doesn't seem to have much luck in New old stock. I guess its due to smaller countries, smaller warehouses, so keep less stock on hand?

Joakim wrote on 2021-12-16, 19:10:

Unused keyboard are always nice, I use something similar rubber domed. Cleaning used keyboards is not that fun..

Cd drives are nothing special imo.

ok, but not every drive works correctly or is compatible with clonecd or writes in 4x, but if you consider everything the same... even so pay 1/3 the value of a used on ebay on a never used drive and have more than 200 available for sale I don't think it's common.

Horun wrote on 2021-12-16, 22:58:

Those CRX230 models CDRW (like 230AD, 230AE and 230EE) are 52x-32x-52x burners. You should be able burn faster than 4x with prop […]
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Those CRX230 models CDRW (like 230AD, 230AE and 230EE) are 52x-32x-52x burners. You should be able burn faster than 4x with proper media in a fast computer....
Not bad if you did not pay more than about $20 each if they are really new (only because I can sometimes get new IDE CDRW for about that locally but rare)... but that is just my opinion on what they are worth.
One thing: the 230AD and 230AE models had a volume control on the front. The 230EE does not from all the images I looked at....
pdf manual:
https://manualzz.com/doc/60132279/sony-crx230ee-user-manual
Should work well as a cdrom reader even on a 486 but be limited to a low PIO mode speed.

but the intention of those looking for this type of recorder is precisely to record at low speed, without activating DMA, to have a better quality recording/track. Modern recorders do not have this ability to burn high quality discs.

gundstaff wrote on 2021-12-17, 11:53:

Joakim wrote on 2021-12-16, 19:10:

Unused keyboard are always nice, I use something similar rubber domed. Cleaning used keyboards is not that fun..

Cd drives are nothing special imo.

ok, but not every drive works correctly or is compatible with clonecd or writes in 4x, but if you consider everything the same... even so pay 1/3 the value of a used on ebay on a never used drive and have more than 200 available for sale I don't think it's common.

Actually I don't have a problem to read any CDs written on my modern external usb cd rom drive on any drives I have. Maybe if you have very early CDROM drives this is a bigger problem and you need disks written at low speed?

Joakim wrote on 2021-12-17, 16:29:

gundstaff wrote on 2021-12-17, 11:53:

Joakim wrote on 2021-12-16, 19:10:

Unused keyboard are always nice, I use something similar rubber domed. Cleaning used keyboards is not that fun..

Cd drives are nothing special imo.

ok, but not every drive works correctly or is compatible with clonecd or writes in 4x, but if you consider everything the same... even so pay 1/3 the value of a used on ebay on a never used drive and have more than 200 available for sale I don't think it's common.

Actually I don't have a problem to read any CDs written on my modern external usb cd rom drive on any drives I have. Maybe if you have very early CDROM drives this is a bigger problem and you need disks written at low speed?

A lot of people lose a lot of cds trying to burn Dreamcast games. Mine is old and the games were on GD-Rom discs the recording had to be very good, with cd of prime material, it's not a simple recording to make for the layman, there are advanced settings so it can detect discs above 700mb and others. It's not something accessible for Linux, it's not a simple ISO burning. In my case I use cds with 870mb, which I can't find around the corner or in large quantities, the loss has to be minimal. There are different recorders, discs of different materials/sizes, it all depends on the quality you want to achieve and where else to use. These are old subjects, nothing new in what I said.

gundstaff wrote on 2021-12-17, 17:22:

Joakim wrote on 2021-12-17, 16:29:

gundstaff wrote on 2021-12-17, 11:53:

ok, but not every drive works correctly or is compatible with clonecd or writes in 4x, but if you consider everything the same... even so pay 1/3 the value of a used on ebay on a never used drive and have more than 200 available for sale I don't think it's common.

Actually I don't have a problem to read any CDs written on my modern external usb cd rom drive on any drives I have. Maybe if you have very early CDROM drives this is a bigger problem and you need disks written at low speed?

A lot of people lose a lot of cds trying to burn Dreamcast games. Mine is old and the games were on GD-Rom discs the recording had to be very good, with cd of prime material, it's not a simple recording to make for the layman, there are advanced settings so it can detect discs above 700mb and others. It's not something accessible for Linux, it's not a simple ISO burning. In my case I use cds with 870mb, which I can't find around the corner or in large quantities, the loss has to be minimal. There are different recorders, discs of different materials/sizes, it all depends on the quality you want to achieve and where else to use. These are old subjects, nothing new in what I said.

If anyone's interested or doesn't know, regarding Dreamcast games, I got one recently for the first time so I could see what I missed at the time, when I only had a PSX. After some research and luckily only a couple tries, this is what I found to work:

1. Get Dreamcast .CDI format games, not .GDI. .CDI is the adapted game version to fit in the 700mb. Many are over 700mb, but that's normal as it is done in "overburn", as you'll see.

2. You don't need high end CDs, what you need is older CDs. CDs are more cheaply made nowadays than in the 2000s due to cost cutting measures, even the high end ones, as most people nowadays buy CDs for data or music purposes, which don't require as much fidelity to read. The Dreamcast is actually not that picky reading games but the PSX for example really demands good media and burning process. Personally I look out in the wild for the same brand CDs that I bought at the time, from Memorex:
https://www.newegg.com/memorex-52x-700mb-cd-r … N82E16817131802
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/CFCAXT/single-sided … dvdr-CFCAXT.jpg (looks like this but in CD-R format)

3. For Dreamcast games get Disc Juggler, the free version is more than enough. Then apply the settings as exactly shown below, at a low speed like 8x. It never fails to successfully burn and read Dreamcast games. For PSX just get a good media like the Memorex above and burn and at a low speed with a program of your choice, and you should be good to go. I'm yet to test DiscJuggler for PSX or Sega Saturn as well.

Feel free to pass this information, hope this helps