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What's the furthest (metaphorically or literally) that you've gone for something?

A

arrow_runner

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When I was about 8 or 9ish I got a cd-rom drive for my 386 but found out that it wouldn't work with the onboard controller. Since I had no cash I put a $30 combo IDE controller on layaway at Wal-Mart.
 
I slept with Bill Gates with a condom to prove that it was possible Microsoft can actually prevent a virus. Does that count?



Stolen from facebok post of a buddy of mine..
 
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There's a Far Side catroon where an elderly couple is setting up their new computer. The man is "inserting" himself into the computer's floppy drive, when the woman (reading from the manual) says, "Oh, it says to insert your floppy disk."
 
(Steering this back on-topic) Not sure what you mean by "how far":


  • How far have I ever traveled to get something? I was driving 7 hours from Illinois to Ohio and on a whim I checked Indiana and Ohio craigslist for anything interested. I noticed a Tandy 1000 EX (*WITH* the 640K RAM upgrade) and monitor in an Indiana town for cheap and it was only about 45 minutes out of my way, so I guess you could say that I drove 4 hours to get a Tandy 1000 EX setup.
  • How much money have I spent? The most I ever paid for vintage gear (for my hobby) was $275+shipping for an IBM 5161.
  • How long did I wait for something? The longest I ever waited for vintage gear was 11 years (I saw an IBM Music Feature Card in 1987 and thought at least once a month about trying to get one until I finally was able to get one in 1998 by combing Usenet carefully).

So, maybe clarify the question?
 
Heh... sorry for the OT replies. Just couldn't resist a reply to Brad's M$ joke ;)

back to on-topic.... so far as literally gone for something? I recently drove 3 hours each way to purchase and collect a Ms Pacman cocktail arcade cabinet in relatively good shape and nearly working condition (rolling screen, easily fixed) on the cheap. I plan to restore it to 100% stock and turn it into my coffee table. Yes, I'm single and can get away with such lunacy ;) And yes, it's my first arcade machine - I've always wanted a cocktail, and will eventually have a full-size multicade to go with it (unless I go small and build a bartop multicade - we'll see)

Gone, as in paid alot? No. Not gonna tell you how much I paid for the complete/like-new King's Quest v1 (IBM PCjr plastic case) that included both the chiclet Keyboard overlay and the typewriter keyboard overlay. Suffice it to say that it was more than the $175 I paid for my boxed/like-new Roland SCC-1a midi card. No, you can't have either. No, not even for more money. Yes, I've turned done offers that were nearly double. Go triple and I might consider it ;)

Gone, as in gone insane? That had to have been when I purchased a NOS 8mb Intel Aboveboard for $50. Not realizing that it didn't come populated with the memory chips. DOH! (the box text and labels made no mention of this, however, and since it was NOS, it's not like the seller knew this beforehand either)

Gone, as in why did I buy this damn thing? I think that every time I look at my 15.4" 1.67ghz G4 aluminum-cased PowerBook. It's a cool toy, but those damn batteries dying after sitting for 3 months without being recharged, when they both held a 3+ hour charge before being discharged and stored for a few weeks REALLY pissed me off. As in put it on the shelf and not touch it for the next 10 months kind of pissed-off. As in I could strangle the designer who put the smart monitoring hardware on a battery rather than just following the trends and charging/monitoring the laptop's batteries like everyone else so that the only time it will die is when the cells within the battery die! - yeah, still a sore spot.

Gone, as in to get rid of something that I absolutely couldn't deal with anymore? - see above post. About 10 ft, to the top of my shelf - I haven't really let loose of much of my "hobby" stuff yet.....
 
Maverick1978 said:
Gone, as in paid alot? No. Not gonna tell you how much I paid for the complete/like-new King's Quest v1 (IBM PCjr plastic case) that included both the chiclet Keyboard overlay and the typewriter keyboard overlay. Suffice it to say that it was more than the $175 I paid for my boxed/like-new Roland SCC-1a midi card.
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Fair price for the SCC-1 but I'm pretty sure you overpaid for the PCjr KQ1. But hey, if you've got the chiclet overlay, all power to you. Most only come with the typewriter overlay as most of the sales were after the conversion to PC/Tandy 1000 and they had dropped the chiclet overlay by that pressing.

Gone, as in gone insane? That had to have been when I purchased a NOS 8mb Intel Aboveboard for $50. Not realizing that it didn't come populated with the memory chips. DOH!
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Um, it comes populated with 2MB so it's still useful. If you don't want it, please PM me!
 
Maverick1978 said:
Heh... sorry for the OT replies. Just couldn't resist a reply to Brad's M$ joke ;)

back to on-topic.... so far as literally gone for something? I recently drove 3 hours each way to purchase and collect a Ms Pacman cocktail arcade cabinet in relatively good shape and nearly working condition (rolling screen, easily fixed) on the cheap. I plan to restore it to 100% stock and turn it into my coffee table. Yes, I'm single and can get away with such lunacy ;) And yes, it's my first arcade machine - I've always wanted a cocktail, and will eventually have a full-size multicade to go with it (unless I go small and build a bartop multicade - we'll see)
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:) I drove 6 hours each way to pick up my Tempest cocktail cabinet. My first (and only) arcade machine.

Maverick1978 said:
Gone, as in paid alot? No. Not gonna tell you how much I paid for the complete/like-new King's Quest v1 (IBM PCjr plastic case) that included both the chiclet Keyboard overlay and the typewriter keyboard overlay. Suffice it to say that it was more than the $175 I paid for my boxed/like-new Roland SCC-1a midi card. No, you can't have either. No, not even for more money. Yes, I've turned done offers that were nearly double. Go triple and I might consider it ;)
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This? I'm still looking for the other disk(s). Or is this the wrong disk (I just started going through them tonight...)



Edit: Now I'm really thinking that's the wrong disk...
 
arrow_runner said:
This? I'm still looking for the other disk(s). Or is this the wrong disk (I just started going through them tonight...)



Edit: Now I'm really thinking that's the wrong disk...
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the wrong disk. You are looking for an IBM-branded "King's Quest" disk with a red label with no illustrations.
 
I drove around 100 miles one way to pick up a Quadra 950 power supply somebody was tossing (actually filled my trunk with old mac gear and software there, best haul ever).

Come to think of it I drove from Youngstown to Dayton for the Hamfest in the early 1990's with a friend and purchased a 540MB HD there (a good 4 hours one way I think).
 
arrow_runner said:
:) I drove 6 hours each way to pick up my Tempest cocktail cabinet. My first (and only) arcade machine.
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I'd say Tempest is worth that drive.

I drove 6 hours each way to pick up a car-load of computers including a Kaypro II, TRS-80 Model III, Mac SE and Compaq Portable III. The computers were cheap, but the gas wasn't.
 
arrow_runner said:
Lol. This stuff = the giant lot of stuff I got from my relative :p (unless you were joking and new that. It's so hard to tell...)
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I assumed there was more to it then the floppies. The Quadra 950 power supply I drove past Cleveland for was unobtanium and gas was cheaper then shipping (this was a long time ago) plus it was free so I didn't want to even ask the guy to ship it.
 
NSFW ;)

I got my NeXTStation, NeXTStation color and pile of software out of it though, even though I still had to drive almost 700km one way to get it all.
 
I drove from Landenberg, PA to I think it was Greensboro SC to pick up a PDP 11/40, RL02, Decwriter II. My wife and I turned it into a little vacation.
 
100km round trip last week for the Compaq Presario 5522, Cds and disks was well worth it. Saved the possibility of monitor damage. Spent a small fortune on Acorn stuff in the last year and a half though. That was point n click, pay and wait for the knock on the door.................

Took me 19 years to get one though.
 
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