Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 14:24:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 13:03:

I live in Turkey.

Baklava!

Baklava is Turkish?
There are two very angry ethnicities around the corner who would like a word about that.

Did buy this nice thing today x2 keyboards for 10 euro + shipping. The EPSON is Fujitsu with Fujitsu Peerles, ppl claim this is not mechanical, BUT that is nonsense, as the Model M is very similar to this, and everyone know they are mechanical..
Overall this keyboard feels alot like Model M, but different sound and feel, ofc the build quality is very high as expected (after all made in Japan) .

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 18:02:

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 14:24:

Baklava! Ok, that was lame. :) […]
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appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 13:03:

I live in Turkey.

Baklava!
Ok, that was lame. 😀

The country is big, but is the market for old computers as big?

Like I said, there was little penetration of x86 PCs until the 98+ internet boom. I was lucky to have a father who was big into micros, we had an 800XL back in 87. Anyway, there was a very active Commodore scene in the 80s and early 90s, both for the C64 and Amiga, but micros were never well known or considered as education tools like they were in the west. x86 PCs only started becoming common household items when the Amiga 500 started becoming second fiddle to PC releases, that coincides mostly with the 486SX release or thereabouts. Regardless, they remained inaccessably expensive for most until very end of the 90s. The internet kind of coincided with a period when the country's economy transitioned from being a closed market to an open market, so the sound of a modem handshake kind of defined a whole generation here.. That's why those mini towers are so abundant but the desktop PCs are kind of nonexistant; x86 was largely an enthusiast thing during the 8086 through 486 years. Vast majority just had C64s and A500s.

OK, if the PC boom only reached Turkey in the Pentium era, then it makes sense that what you find today are mostly mini tower cases.
(I'd put the highest dynamic in a short time in Germany exactly on the AMD Am386 DX-40...)

For some reason, the desktop ran out of fashion since the mid 90s.
Only technical reason I could think of is that towers have better ventilation due to natural convection of warm air.
Maybe it was the advent of noisy fans.
But it probably was just a fad.
Or the CD-ROM boom - many desktops won't take two or three 5.25 units plus a hard drive on rails.

Same goes for 5.25 floppy drives. I'm slightly too young to have used them new and always considered them more trouble than fun but I'm surprised that some of them command around 50 € in auctions these days. Probably so fickle and prone to rust that they fail all the time... I try to store mine in a dry place in the furnace room.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-31, 19:04:

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 14:24:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 13:03:

I live in Turkey.

Baklava!

Baklava is Turkish?
There are two very angry ethnicities around the corner who would like a word about that.

It's Arabic actually.

International shipping can be fun, these days. Very, very fun. /s 😁

March 3: ordered, paid for a 6-day delivery service
March 9: tracking shows that it's arrived in my country

At this point, UPS's tracking updates become a total farce for 3 weeks.

Daily "warehouse scan", various conflicting messages saying it's waiting for Customs clearance, and immediately under (slash, associated with) that is a further note that it has cleared. But no, 5 more days of Warehouse Scan. Now, oh look! another message it's Cleared customs, and On The Way! Again. Ah well, good then. It'll finally arrive soon, after all that f'ing around.

---

Wake up next day and small text "Clearance in progress" is now added underneath the big "On The Way" text ... 🤣

🤣

On the way, hey? Sure it is. Sure it is.

There's something so satisfying about a certain vintage of Lian Li case! Picked up this G50 today. I think it's going to be the new home for my Socket 7 system.

Lostdotfish wrote on 2022-03-31, 21:21:

There's something so satisfying about a certain vintage of Lian Li case! Picked up this G50 today. I think it's going to be the new home for my Socket 7 system.PXL_20220331_211620147.jpg

Always loved the look of those sleek, aluminum cases. Something very appealing about that minimalist look.

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-03-31, 21:29:

Lostdotfish wrote on 2022-03-31, 21:21:

There's something so satisfying about a certain vintage of Lian Li case! Picked up this G50 today. I think it's going to be the new home for my Socket 7 system.PXL_20220331_211620147.jpg

Always loved the look of those sleek, aluminum cases. Something very appealing about that minimalist look.

The old Lian Li PC-50 is a stone cold classic. Solid raw aluminium. I also loved the Coolermaster cases of this vintage, the ATCS range.

Having build a modern rig recently, I have to say, they just don't build them like they used to...

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-31, 19:04:

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 14:24:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 13:03:

I live in Turkey.

Baklava!

Baklava is Turkish?
There are two very angry ethnicities around the corner who would like a word about that.

Not what I wrote.

I had some when I was young in a turkish restaurant and they were delicious.
Good food makes your day!

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 23:08:

Not what I wrote. […]
Show full quote

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-31, 19:04:

Nexxen wrote on 2022-03-31, 14:24:

Baklava!

Baklava is Turkish?
There are two very angry ethnicities around the corner who would like a word about that.

Not what I wrote.

I had some when I was young in a turkish restaurant and they were delicious.
Good food makes your day!

It sure does. Had a really good İşkembe in a turkish place here today.

But I also long for the delicacies of Cecina and surrounding. Spent quite few weeks down there over the years, probably always put on some weight.

Got given a 9800XT in unknown working condition last night, no idea if it works as yet as I dont have the free time to test it but it looks to be in good condition no bad caps or missing smds, fingers crossed that its not one of the 9800xt DOA cards.

Unsure what type of build ill put it into yet if its working but I was thinking that a nice mid tier P4 build would suit it or even a 775 Pentium E5xx build, I have a few 775 boards with working AGP which would make for a nice mid tier build.

Not sure if this stuff would be considered "retro," may be too new, but I've been on somewhat of a Fanatec steering wheel controller buying spree the past couple of weeks. I've been a "fan" of Fanatec since the original Xbox days, owned a couple back when, sold them, and now looking to reclaim what I can find. I picked these up recently:

Porsche 911 GT2 wheel for Xbox 360/PC in its original box with all accessories in beautiful condition (I bought the original Porsche 911 Turbo wheel back in 2009 during pre-order so this one is especially nostalgic for me):

CSR for Xbox 360/PC/PS3:

The one which started my love for Fanatec products, the Speedster 3 for original Xbox. I'm especially excited I found this one:

I also have the Speedster 3 wheel for PS2 brand new in the box stored away which I picked up awhile ago, no pictures of it unfortunately. In addition to the older wheels, I just pre-ordered the Fanatec GT DD Pro for PS5 and bought the GT wheel on ebay, just need a clubsport shifter and pedals. Speaking of pedals, anybody have a set of the clubsport v1 pedals they want to sell? 😁 I'm waiting for a set to show up for sale on ebay.

Brawndo wrote on 2022-04-01, 05:04:

Not sure if this stuff would be considered "retro," may be too new, but I've been on somewhat of a Fanatec steering wheel contro […]
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Not sure if this stuff would be considered "retro," may be too new, but I've been on somewhat of a Fanatec steering wheel controller buying spree the past couple of weeks. I've been a "fan" of Fanatec since the original Xbox days, owned a couple back when, sold them, and now looking to reclaim what I can find. I picked these up recently:

Porsche 911 GT2 wheel for Xbox 360/PC in its original box with all accessories in beautiful condition (I bought the original Porsche 911 Turbo wheel back in 2009 during pre-order so this one is especially nostalgic for me):

CSR for Xbox 360/PC/PS3:

The one which started my love for Fanatec products, the Speedster 3 for original Xbox. I'm especially excited I found this one:

I also have the Speedster 3 wheel for PS2 brand new in the box stored away which I picked up awhile ago, no pictures of it unfortunately. In addition to the older wheels, I just pre-ordered the Fanatec GT DD Pro for PS5 and bought the GT wheel on ebay, just need a clubsport shifter and pedals. Speaking of pedals, anybody have a set of the clubsport v1 pedals they want to sell? 😁 I'm waiting for a set to show up for sale on ebay.

Very nice!

I need to purchase a "new" steering wheel / pedals setup. My Logitech MOMO red steering wheel is broken because the part that attaches the steering wheel to the bas is plastic and it of course died of being brittle after so many years .
Already repaired it once with glue and reinforcement via aluminum sheet cut and glued in.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-31, 18:50:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-03-31, 13:03:

I live in Turkey.

ok, that feels pretty remote, economically, tbh. But why would desktops be less common? Strange. I could ask my neighbor. Or the other. Or the third one.
If you had any exchange with Berlin, I could help you out 😉

I'm in Croatia, a bit less remote from your point of view 😁, but desktops from bygone age are rare. I think it's due to economy, desktops were usually brand name and they cost more than DIY builds so most of the computers were store built with cheap parts.
My first PC was Cyrix 486DX2-80 which was cobbled up with cheap parts and in baby AT mini tower.
Second one was P166MMX, again same story, cheap parts in baby AT mini tower.

Only desktop computers I saw were in banks where they had IBMs, DEC and like PCs. I didn't know anyone that had desktop case at home 😬.
I'd expect the similar situation was in Turkey.

Some hardware I recently bought.

Solo761 wrote on 2022-04-01, 06:29:

I'm in Croatia, a bit less remote from your point of view :D, but desktops from bygone age are rare. I think it's due to economy […]
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I'm in Croatia, a bit less remote from your point of view 😁, but desktops from bygone age are rare. I think it's due to economy, desktops were usually brand name and they cost more than DIY builds so most of the computers were store built with cheap parts.
My first PC was Cyrix 486DX2-80 which was cobbled up with cheap parts and in baby AT mini tower.
Second one was P166MMX, again same story, cheap parts in baby AT mini tower.

Only desktop computers I saw were in banks where they had IBMs, DEC and like PCs. I didn't know anyone that had desktop case at home 😬.
I'd expect the similar situation was in Turkey.

That's surprising. I would have thought that former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria would have the best stuff when it comes to former eastern-block countries in the 80s and early 90s...

In Poland you can still find desktops from late 80s/early 90s literally everywhere - by just talking to people around you can gather a nice bunch quickly. Sometimes it's even NOS (attached - friend's find from the last week). Also auction and ad services are full of them, although that stuff was usually brought by scrappers from German recycling centres and such (usually these will have better components inside). On the other hand we didn't really had much stuff like IBMs, DECs, Compaqs and so on - these were usually brought by corporations in the mid 90s or some schools and companies bought them as second hand stuff from other countries, but they were non-existent when it comes to households.

That system looks amazing.

HanJammer wrote on 2022-04-01, 08:46:

Solo761 wrote on 2022-04-01, 06:29:

I'm in Croatia, a bit less remote from your point of view :D, but desktops from bygone age are rare. I think it's due to economy […]
Show full quote

I'm in Croatia, a bit less remote from your point of view 😁, but desktops from bygone age are rare. I think it's due to economy, desktops were usually brand name and they cost more than DIY builds so most of the computers were store built with cheap parts.
My first PC was Cyrix 486DX2-80 which was cobbled up with cheap parts and in baby AT mini tower.
Second one was P166MMX, again same story, cheap parts in baby AT mini tower.

Only desktop computers I saw were in banks where they had IBMs, DEC and like PCs. I didn't know anyone that had desktop case at home 😬.
I'd expect the similar situation was in Turkey.

That's surprising. I would have thought that former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria would have the best stuff when it comes to former eastern-block countries in the 80s and early 90s...

In Poland you can still find desktops from late 80s/early 90s literally everywhere - by just talking to people around you can gather a nice bunch quickly. Sometimes it's even NOS (attached - friend's find from the last week). Also auction and ad services are full of them, although that stuff was usually brought by scrappers from German recycling centres and such (usually these will have better components inside). On the other hand we didn't really had much stuff like IBMs, DECs, Compaqs and so on - these were usually brought by corporations in the mid 90s or some schools and companies bought them as second hand stuff from other countries, but they were non-existent when it comes to households.

I think Ukraine and Poland kind of special in that they were technology/defense hubs for the USSR, were they not?

appiah4 wrote on 2022-04-01, 08:53:

I think Ukraine and Poland kind of special in that they were technology/defense hubs for the USSR, were they not?

While it's true about Ukraine (but it was part of USSR) - Poland was mostly agricultural and mining industry. Also some automotive industry, and ship yards...

Although Poland had several big 'foreign trade enterprises' selling clone PCs to other countries (I have some interesting articles about them) and in the early 90s after there were smaller companies building computers for Polish market (Gulip / Gulipin above was among them) or importing complete builds from Singapore and Taiwan.

There was some electronics industry, and we had PC clones for the domestic market (and some exported to USSR and later to Russia) - for example Mazovia but those were pretty horrible.

HanJammer wrote on 2022-04-01, 08:46:

That's surprising. I would have thought that former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria would have the best stuff when it comes to former eastern-block countries in the 80s and early 90s...

There weren't that many computers here in the 80s, in early to mid 80s there were some localy made DIY computers, mostly based on Z80 CPU, and in later 80s smaller home computers like C64, Amstrad (mostly Schneider, as they were from Germany), Amiga, Atari... and they were smuggled accross the border into Yugoslavia.

If you wanted to get one legaly you were limited to these local diy computers or you had to have connections in the goverment to get permit to import one of the western computers. Goverment logic was that these were dangerous things and if you got one you could have built a rocket, use said computer as guidance, and fire it on said goverment (true story, that was one of the official reasons for denial of these permits 😁) so it wasn't easy or cheap to get one.

In late 80s inflation was rampant so people didn't have excess money to spend on "toys" like computers, and in early 90s there was a war so people again had something more to worry about than computers. Computers got more widespread in late 90s / early 2000s thanks to these cheap(er) DIY build PCs.
When looking on local classified ads there's never a lot of vintage computers. And what's available is sold by mostly few people who seem to picked up what little there was and now look to profit on it 😬.