Take an empty suitcase to fill with Raspberry Pis, Pi zeros, Pi picos, Microcenter seems to be about the only place that has them at MRSP... a lot of others claim to but the shipping is mysteriously 10 or 15 higher than any same size or weight item, can't be combined and is single unit.

I have heard about a retro gaming cafe in New York somewhere but don't know much other than that.

I would look into the existence of any surviving oldskool electronic surplus places, it's amazing what you can find hiding in a corner there, and usually stock up on fans, weird connectors etc.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-04-14, 15:40:

Take an empty suitcase to fill with Raspberry Pis, Pi zeros, Pi picos, Microcenter seems to be about the only place that has them at MRSP... a lot of others claim to but the shipping is mysteriously 10 or 15 higher than any same size or weight item, can't be combined and is single unit.

I have heard about a retro gaming cafe in New York somewhere but don't know much other than that.

I would look into the existence of any surviving oldskool electronic surplus places, it's amazing what you can find hiding in a corner there, and usually stock up on fans, weird connectors etc.

Good to check in advance what duties/taxes would need to be paid upon return, if OP is planning a shopping spree.

darry wrote on 2024-04-14, 16:41:

Good to check in advance what duties/taxes would need to be paid upon return, if OP is planning a shopping spree.

Up to CAD$800 per person is tax free upon returning to Canada if you're in the US for more than 48hrs. 😀

Interesting, I wouldn't associate Raspberry Pi with retro...unless I came across RetroPie.

It's not retro PC-related, but I would HIGHLY recommend going to the Museum Of Natural History if you can make the time to go. I didn't even come close to getting through, but it's one of the most spectacular museums I have visited!

And, if you find yourself Downtown, check out Mamoun's Falafel on St. Mark's Place. I used to go to NYC for work frequently when I lived in Boston, and it was always a delight trying out their shawarma and falafel.

UCyborg wrote on 2024-04-15, 21:06:

Interesting, I wouldn't associate Raspberry Pi with retro...unless I came across RetroPie.

There's loads of projects with them for sound, midi, video and input conversion, they're even being turned into accelerators for retro machines like the PiStorm.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-04-15, 21:21:

There's loads of projects with them for sound, midi, video and input conversion, they're even being turned into accelerators for retro machines like the PiStorm.

There's def plenty of retro applications where a Pi is useful. On a side note, I'm sad that despite all the retro video game console Pi cases out there, there's no mass produced retro PC cases out there. Would be neat to build like 'The MS DOS Mini' as it were.

That said, one of my favorite finds is loose PC games on CD-ROM. 'Big Boxes' go for money unless you get lucky but just 'Some random CDROM of a neat looking game' usually gets the price of 'About 5bux' and I like finding those and trying them out. They're also a lot cheaper to acquire. 😀 The problem is, a lot of retro shops simply don't touch PC due to weak demand.

MadMac_5 wrote on 2024-04-15, 21:11:

It's not retro PC-related, but I would HIGHLY recommend going to the Museum Of Natural History if you can make the time to go.

Well, if the OP is interested in seeing old techno stuff the Intrepid Museum is a good place !

https://intrepidmuseum.org/

Many planes on display, including the Concorde, a space shuttle, and you can visit a nuclear missile-carrying submarine: USS Growler.