Amazingly found a computer shop today still stocking floppy drives.

[cj7hawk]

A friend told me of a small corner shop nearby today that still sold old computer parts. Given the last of the salvage places disappeared over a decade ago ( nearly 2 decades ago ) I was sceptical, but asked if he went by again, to find me a nice 5.25" drive.

So he stopped responding to my SMS messages when I ask about it, because of accidentally blocking me, and my wife asks his wife out to a local event and I catch up with him, find out he got me a nice NOS TEAC F-55 DSDD and wondered why I never called about it. I head around and pick it up for around US$5...

Then he tells me where the computer shop is and that they have more drives. So I head around and sure enough they have some new Panasonic nock offs for around US$7.50 each, and I ask about old ones, and he explains he threw them all away a few weeks earlier, along with some MFM and IDE drives... But had a few he kept in case and sold me the remaining ones ( 5 more ) for US$5 each. ( I'm making allowances for the exchange rate... )

Seems he repairs old computers from time to time, and sometimes gets parts from them, and sells them at 2000's scrap prices. Has almost as many 1 star reviews as 5 star reviews, but seems OK - just like any computer shop. It was nice to step into something that felt like it was out of the 90s They also sold and repaired both new and old kids ride-on toys, which was cool to see. Most of them usually end up on junkpiles once the batteries die.

So I'm planning on calling him once in a while and see if he has any old ISA machines to encourage him to keep them when he gets them in He seems to have an idea that they can be sold for more, but just wants t get rid of the old stuff, which he only keeps around in case he has to repair the odd old CNC machine.

Though it makes me wonder about all the overpriced computer shops on Ebay, and given it's nice to find a reasonably priced one once in a while, I'm going to encourage it.

He even had PCI riser cards to allow accessing the PCI card out of the slot for development, but no ISA ones sadly.

 

[dorkbert]

Me think there's profit to be made on fleaBay.

 

[powerlot]

and he explains he threw them all away a few weeks earlier, along with some MFM and IDE drives.

nooooo
Always sad to hear when clueless people throw away stuff and you're too late to save it. I spoke to a person who threw out a bunch of stuff because everyone told them "it's worthless old electronics, no one wants it anyway"

 

[cj7hawk]

nooooo
Always sad to hear when clueless people throw away stuff and you're too late to save it. I spoke to a person who threw out a bunch of stuff because everyone told them "it's worthless old electronics, no one wants it anyway"

A close friend recently threw out a brand new unopened Multisync monitor (CRT) he had still sealed in it's box! Because he thought CRTs were worthless now... Just the day before I mentioned I was looking for one but couldn't afford one... and a box of old full height working floppy disks and MFM hard disks. He promised not to throw anything else out until he at least gives me the chance to pick through it instead of it going to the tip...

There's still a lot of PC era equipment around in sheds and old offices. Not a massive amount, but more than enough for collectors. But even the recyclers just seem to throw it all into landfill now. It's hard to find... I've been walking swapmeets ( not sure if the term is universal - I've also heard them called car boot sales ) and found a box of old motherboards and cards, which cost me $5 AU (About US$2.50 ) - And it had a good FDD, though I did have to clean it thoroughly to get it working. But it's reliable now.

The best part of that find was there was a small carton with about 20 to 30 connectors in it. 9 pin to 25 pin, 5 pin keyboard to PS 2 - both ways. USB to 9 pin. Audio splitters. All the stuff that people always threw away... But now is impossible to find.

Way back, we had computer salvage stores that used to collect old computers and sell them for metal content to recyclers, but first they would collect in a small warehouse where you could pick through them first and basically pay a little more than the scrap merchants would to buy it, but I haven't seen one of them for more than two decades.