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eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?

ToniCH said:
At least a week ago you could still order the Apple adapters from Amazon US-store for 25€/$27 each.
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Yeah. I really don’t understand the crazy prices for the Apple adapter at all. But the worst thing is: I don’t have one I could now sell for a fortune. Argh 🤣
 
ToniCH said:
And on topic: I bought an Apple A1016 BT keyboard for 15€ today. Don't really need it but it will be a nice addition for my collection and somewhat period correct for some of my early flat panel iMacs. I bought one new but it broke in tragic Coke accident when almost new.
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I have one of those brand new in box, which I never got round to using….😁
Can’t remember the original price though, I think I must have bought it for my G5..….🤔
 
I noticed the ethernet port was in the other end than in my TB Dock 2. Otherwise they look quite identical. And the sticker on the bottom doesn't have 2 in it. ;)

It might have been a short lived product. I see reviews for the TB Dock 1 appearing in May-June 2014 and for the TB Dock 2 already in December of same year.

BTW. some reviews comment the USB 3 bus being slow on the TB Dock 1 - sounds like the same thing or even same chipsets/components as with Belkin TB Express Dock? Elgato's next version got a speed bump.
 
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Today’s MacBooks are powerful enough for most corporate users but their cumbersome connectivity makes them inconvenient, and their small screens and keyboards make them uncomfortable to use in the office all day. The new Matrox DS1 docking station changes everything! It gives you the most from your Thunderbolt port by letting you add a large display, a full size keyboard, a mouse, an Ethernet network, and many other peripherals using a single cable. In an instant, you enjoy all the productivity benefits of a desktop computer.
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It's lovely how they envision in they brochure people in Thunderbolt era using wired keyboards and especially mice. But its good it lets you use a full size keyboard too! 😂

Yes, I too still use the wired stuff but mostly only with vintage machines.
 
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ToniCH said:
But its good it lets you use a full size keyboard too! 😂
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Even better is how they explain not having a second TB port despite using Light Ridge.

Matrox DS1 is the last device in your Thunderbolt chain. Conveniently positioning your Thunderbolt storage with pass-through between your laptop and your DS1 lets you easily remove just your laptop, or your laptop plus storage, with a single disconnection.
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And reading the brochure carefully reveals it has one USB 3.0 port, with the controller further bottlenecked by PCIe 1.0. Way to go! 🤣
 
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ToniCH said:
It's lovely how they envision in they brochure people in Thunderbolt era using wired keyboards and especially mice. But its good it lets you use a full size keyboard too! 😂

Yes, I too still use the wired stuff but mostly only with vintage machines.
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So, uh…

I will probably always look for and use wired keyboards and other peripherals for one (well, two, but interlinked as one) reason:

One, the EOL/life-cycle costs of a wireless peripheral (keyboard, pointer/trackpad, headphones, etc.) will always be greater and will always exact a greater toll on everything around us after it gets disposed. When there is no quick and easy way to remove power cells from devices whose cells aren’t designed to be accessible by an end user (but still can be accessed with an iFixit guide and replacement batteries), the waste end of the product life cycle climbs: an impatient consumer, weaned on a model of treating consumer products as inherently disposable, won’t bother with iFixit and will sooner dispose of the item.

This goes triple for wireless peripherals whose lithium batteries cannot be accessed, much less replaced, forcing disposal of the entire package by, basically, everyone who consumes them. That companies have conditioned consumers into adopting this model — not necessarily greenwashing so much as ecosystem-washing — has troubled me from the outset. Apple have been especially notorious about this practice.

This is, for example, why I will never use AirPods. With ear peripherals, the wired Sennheisers I use at home and for studio work, and the wired MMCX-connector earbuds I use for on-the-go are designed with long life and modular, forward-compatibility in mind. Treated well, both of these will still be in use a couple of decades from now.

Two, the same goes for my wired keyboards and peripherals: so long as I treat the wiring with care and I periodically clean moving parts, these devices should continue to work for decades more. Heck, my preferred desktop pointer is a twenty-something-year-old Microsoft Trackball Explorer which I‘ve used for… almost 20 years (as second owner). When they do die, the copper cabling can be repurposed fairly easily (the plastics and polymers, meanwhile, are still a problem, though no more so than the plastics in wireless peripherals).

Were manufacturers to reach accord to produce a battery system designed to be easily replaced and used across different makers’ wireless devices, then and only then will I find a readiness to integrate wireless peripherals into my life. Manufacturers, however, show no hints they’re willing or angling to do anything like that anytime soon — if ever.

I find that to be unfortunate.
 
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B S Magnet said:
This is, for example, why I will never use AirPods. With ear peripherals, the wired Sennheisers I use at home and for studio work, and the wired MMCX-connector earbuds I use for on-the-go are designed with long life and modular, forward-compatibility in mind. Treated well, both of these will still be in use a couple of decades from now.
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I use BT headphones, just not AirPods as those are horribly, horribly overpriced. About 10x what they should be as bottom end BT earphones. I'm still rocking my £12 Boltunes three years on, which by all accounts sound much better than AirPods with basically all the same functionality save iOS integration, which is of no value to me. When they eventually die, I'll have had my money's worth considering that low end wired headphones are fixed and the wire is the weak point.

With regard to keyboards, Apple's first two stabs at BT keyboards had removable batteries but Apple couldn't resist one more foray into impossibly thin. The saving grace is that the Magic Keyboard will work in wired mode as does the one on my sister's iMac after I had to remove its bulging battery.
 
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B S Magnet said:
So, uh…

I will probably always look for and use wired keyboards and other peripherals for one (well, two, but interlinked as one) reason:

One, the EOL/life-cycle costs of a wireless peripheral (keyboard, pointer/trackpad, headphones, etc.) will always be greater and will always exact a greater toll on everything around us after it gets disposed. When there is no quick and easy way to remove power cells from devices whose cells aren’t designed to be accessible by an end user (but still can be accessed with an iFixit guide and replacement batteries), the waste end of the product life cycle climbs: an impatient consumer, weaned on a model of treating consumer products as inherently disposable, won’t bother with iFixit and will sooner dispose of the item.

This goes triple for wireless peripherals whose lithium batteries cannot be accessed, much less replaced, forcing disposal of the entire package by, basically, everyone who consumes them. That companies have conditioned consumers into adopting this model — not necessarily greenwashing so much as ecosystem-washing — has troubled me from the outset. Apple have been especially notorious about this practice.

This is, for example, why I will never use AirPods. With ear peripherals, the wired Sennheisers I use at home and for studio work, and the wired MMCX-connector earbuds I use for on-the-go are designed with long life and modular, forward-compatibility in mind. Treated well, both of these will still be in use a couple of decades from now.

Two, the same goes for my wired keyboards and peripherals: so long as I treat the wiring with care and I periodically clean moving parts, these devices should continue to work for decades more. Heck, my preferred desktop pointer is a twenty-something-year-old Microsoft Trackball Explorer which I‘ve used for… almost 20 years (as second owner). When they do die, the copper cabling can be repurposed fairly easily (the plastics and polymers, meanwhile, are still a problem, though no more so than the plastics in wireless peripherals).

Were manufacturers to reach accord to produce a battery system designed to be easily replaced and used across different makers’ wireless devices, then and only then will I find a readiness to integrate wireless peripherals into my life. Manufacturers, however, show no hints they’re willing or angling to do anything like that anytime soon — if ever.

I find that to be unfortunate.
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I've never owned a wireless keyboard or mouse with non removable batteries. In fact every one of my devices like Apple wireless A1016, A1314 KBDs (3 4), several Logitechs (3) and various wireless mice and a Magic Trackpad all use AA-batteries. I use Eneloops so very little potential waste there. I think i have maybe 16-20 AA-Eneloops in various uses, oldest are 10-15 years old and still work very nicely in kbds and mice. So, no waste on that front since early 2000's (well, the rechargeable batteries I used early on are no longer in use of course and were recycled back then).

I have not swapped to Apples newer offerings because 1. no need as the AA-battery versions work perfectly and 2. the charging port on those is located badly and the devices cannot be used while charging so I would need to have a replacement to use while charging anyway.

I often do use wired kbds and mice when I am installing stuff in such way that BT devices might not work. But, my older Logitech stuff with their own receivers usually work in those instances too.

I very rarely use headphones at all (and even more rarely with computers) and all of mine are wired. I prefer speakers whenever possible.

So, I see no waste problem here.
 
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Received my second 25€ new Apple TB to Firewire -adapter from Amazon.

Also received first of 2 TB to Ethernet -adapters I've bought for 10€ each. I have some Mac based firewall plans where I need these.
 
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BTW. the Apple TB to Firewire adapters are back in the Amazon US store. But the seller increased the price from $27 to $35.80. Still a bargain vs. the ebay scammers.

EDIT: now they have readjusted it to $35.88. Maybe its tied to Bitcoin or something... ;)
 
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Tratkazir_the_1st said:
Always wanted to install OpenWRT to MacPro & configure FW ports as ethernet :D.
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Mac Pro is total overkill for OpenWRT - if its even compatible (?). I would consider OpenWRT to some compatible wifi-router if you have one. Mac Pro, I think all models 1.1-5.1, have 2 ethernet ports as standard btw.

I am planning to use PfSense or OPNsense. I would like to use one of my Mac Mini 2006s but no TB, USB 3 or 1000Base-T ethernet. :( So, I will probably use one of my Mac Mini 2012s. They should work just fine and be plenty powerful for a home firewall/VPN/etc. And also low energy consumption. It would probably also run virtualized fast enough.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Yank the WiFi module and attach what you want using an mPCIe to PCIe adapter :p
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Hmm...wait what? So the module is in mPCIe slot? That sounds interesting.... only thing is that I need 3 ethernets for it to be ideal. WAN, LAN and maintenance ports. The maintenance doesn't have to be gigabit so i guess it could be USB to EN adapter. But the WAN and LAN should be gigabit.

There is a 2009 Mac Mini in my local region for 20€. It has one gigabit EN in stock form. But, according to your link it cannot be hacked for another one. :(

In any case the hack is not free so all adds up. 2010-2014 Minis are about 50-100€ here so I can always get one of those and replace my late 2012 backup server which doesn't need to be that powerful for the job with another one. Or even with one of the 2007s or that 20€ 2009.
 
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ToniCH said:
Hmm...wait what? So the module is in mPCIe slot? That sounds interesting.... only thing is that I need 3 ethernets for it to be ideal.
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This gizmo has two gigabit ports.

ToniCH said:
The maintenance doesn't have to be gigabit so i guess it could be USB to EN adapter.
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Or the mini‘s onboard ethernet, if it’s any good?

ToniCH said:
There is a 2009 Mac Mini in my local region for 20€.
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I’d still snag it at that price. The 2009 was the first great mini. Good GPU and dual-head.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Or the mini‘s onboard ethernet, if it’s any good?
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Sure. Didn't know about the twin gigabit gizmo. Availability and price though...

But still, I guess it would be best or at least easiest option for me to swap around stuff so I get the 2012 Mini for that job.
 
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