> I have noticed that used PC retail stores, much like used Hi Fi stores,
> buy equipment for next to nothing, and sell used machines, parts, even
> cables for outrageously high prices -- often 80% of a comperable new
> part. On the other hand PCs and parts from 486 down can be gotten
> almost for free in the world of flea markets, garage sales, and
> friends. I was told by a tech that large companies literally throw
> away some parts like keyboards when they go a large upgrade for a
> corporate client.
Yes, I'd noticed this as well. At the school where I now work we had a huge
pile of survPC kit (from old stuff like RML 480Zs - 1975ish - through
286/12s with 20Mb MFM HDDs, 1Mb RAM and VGA - all the way up to 486/100s
with 4Mb RAM and 240Mb HDDs) that needed to disappear quickly. After a few
friends and I got our pick (I took two of the 286s, 1 Herc and 1 VGA
monitor, and Amstrad PC1640 with Herc display and 32Mb HDD, a 486/100, two
harddrives and one of the RML machines, friends took a 286 and monitor each)
for free the remaining pile (by this time, about half or two-thirds the size
it was before I got my hands on it) was taken away (for free) by the local
second-hand computer shop (including, I might add, a monitor we were about
to take to the local junkyard because it had a tendency to short the highest
potential of the CRT to the front and side panels while making a very loud
whistling noise).
I went into this computer shop last Monday to see if there was a laptop I
could buy to use in hospital (work doesn't stop just because I'm having my
eye cut in half y'know :) ). On the floor in the 'bargains' section lay a
286 system identical to the pair I took, with the same DOS 5 I took, the
same VGA monitor I took, and a cheaper mouse than the one we gave away with
it, on sale for 250 UKP. As far as I can tell the only thing the shop had
done to the machine was change the mouse for a cheaper model and give the
case a clean. Oh, and the extremely dodgy monitor was also on sale for 60
quid, without any mention of the fact that it'll only work with the RML
3/480Z or one other machines from that era (e.g. BBC Micros) with some
rewiring and internal resoldering.
Caveat Emptor I guess.
Regards, Web: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/8786
Ben A L Jemmett ICQ: 9848866 JGSD e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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