eBay bargains - what's your latest conquest?

[ToniCH]

To go from DVI to DP you need e.g. an Atlona AT-DP200 or AT-DP400.

Thanks. I understand you mean I need an active converter but my monitor has DisplayPort. So, I would need mDP to DP adapter/cable to make the final connection? Would it work?

And, I already do have 2 of the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters. Are these bidirectional?

 

[Amethyst1]

I understand you mean I need an active converter but my monitor has DisplayPort. So, I would need mDP to DP adapter/cable to make the final connection? Would it work?

Yep.

And, I already do have 2 of the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters. Are these bidirectional?

Nope.

 

[Doq]

Update 2: (update 1) (first post)

It looks like the 3400c is cooked. Might try harder but there seems to be no sign of life on this unit. But like I said earlier, one out of two is still a win. And if I do give up on this 3400c I still have several parts, including a rare (I believe) 128MB upgrade card, potentially useful in the event I do find a Kanga for less than an arm, leg, and kidney.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Well, I've done dozens of repaste jobs and HDD to SDD swaps etc. but I am not sure if I bother with the G4 Mini. Ideally yes, it would be a good upgrade - if I would plan to actually use it for something. I have several G5's, G4 MDD (2x1.25GHz) and the Cube (1GHz) for example and use them much more likely than the Mini. Mini is more of a collection item for me among my other G4-machines (and Minis, I also have 4 Intel Minis in this type of case, 3 are cpu, RAM & SSD upgraded).

In fact I do have several new mSATA drives and adapters without a machine at the moment but I also have several machines without a SSD which could be more useful for me with one like the TiBook and the PB 12".

I used to use my mini as a TDM machine. I had a tweaked 10.5.8 install that I would put onto new to me Powerbooks as I acquired them - worked well for that. Nowadays it is a very cool book end. I still would like to put server on one and daisy chain a bunch of fw drives to it.

 

[juanstdio]

Yesterday, a friend picked up this 17" G4 PowerBook for me!! (My wife is blocking me from buying more)
Once its in my hands it will have the good care that deserves. It is the top of the line 1.67 GHz DLSD / HR with a bit of more ram. Just for $90 including charger. I can't complain

 

[DouglasCarroll]

(My wife is blocking me from buying more).....


Yet you apparently went around her to purchase more behind her back....



Are you sure you don't want to post this in the "How I got divorced" forum?

 

[juanstdio]

(My wife is blocking me from buying more).....


Yet you apparently went around her to purchase more behind her back....



Are you sure you don't want to post this in the "How I got divorced" forum?

hahaha!!
She finally agreed, the comment was because at the end of the day she has a valid point LOL😂

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

hahaha!!
She finally agreed, the comment was because at the end of the day she has a valid point LOL😂

Yanno, my wife n I have this kind of unspoken agreement. If I can keep my retro PC/mac stuff hidden away in my office or garage and I keep it low cost, I dont get too many looks. I mean heck, Im not buying expesnive clothes or shoes or handbags or perfumes etc. so I figure its a pretty good deal

 

[m1maverick]

Just pulled the trigger on a PowerBook G3 PDQ for $80.00. It is the 266MHz version with 192MB of RAM, 4GB HD, CD-ROM and the power supply. Some scuffing on the top and bottom but looks to be in reasonably good condition. Struggled if I should buy but the price seemed really good (most system selling at this price were as-is / parts, missing pieces including power supplies). Decided to buy it as it supports native booting of classic MacOS as well as the earliest versions of OS X.

 

[skinniezinho]

Guys, do yourself a favor and dont buy used colorimeters. Munkis, spyders, variations of i1display, including latest "Pro" and similar. They do not age well and will produce errors. If you don't trust me, here's the same info from the horse's mouth:

How long do colorimeters last? | DisplayCAL

Hi, Typically how long will a colorimeter last for if kept at room temperature and used 3 or 4 times a year. What is the procedure w/ DisplayCAL to determine if it's time to replace the device? Thanks.

hub.displaycal.net

If you just want to play around and learn new stuff, sure, a colorimeter for 10 Euros will allow you to fire up a calibration apps and see how they work. But otherwise, it's just like buying a used condom in the hope that it can still be used.
Better save some money and buy used industry standard i1Pro spectrophotometer. It operates on different principles and will last forever. Except the lamp for reflective measurements, of course, but for display calibration, it's not needed. These can be had for as low as 50-100 sometimes, depending on location, condition and what's included in the set. New they were 1k-3.5k.
For display calibration a plain unit will do. If display mount is not included, you can make an improvised black foam surround yourself to block the scattered light and can always hold it by hand.

P.S. Don't buy OEM versions of i1Pro by EFI. They have custom firmware and are not recognised by regular apps.

Thanks for the taking your time to explain all to us.

This is pretty much my exact use case. 😅 I would have been perfectly happy if this ended up being a total dud. I had no expectations for any result but came out better than expected.

Like AdamBuker that is totally my usecase.
I just bought this weekend the colormunki display for 10eur this weekend.
It came with a CD, which is not compatible with powerpc.
Decided to give displaycal a go. It gave some errors on the powerbook about SSL certificates to download some "drivers", but it the end it worked, taking a good 8hours to develop a calibrated file!
By any chance do you have any trick to surpass this?
Surprisingly it also worked perfectly on my Thinkpad X13 running W11.
Can't say the same on my Late 2014 Mac Mini running Sequoia and W10. Even tried the more up to date DisplayCal PY. Guess it is related to usb3.0 issues

 

[ojfd]

Decided to give displaycal a go. It gave some errors on the powerbook about SSL certificates to download some "drivers", but it the end it worked, taking a good 8hours to develop a calibrated file!

8 hours is good. Very productive

By any chance do you have any trick to surpass this?

There are no tricks. Just use the software that works on PPC, your OS and supports your device.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Picked up a a1145 2.1ghz IMac G5 iSight on CL for $50. Always wanted one for my collection as they were available October 2005 and discontinued 2months later January 2006. I also think it’ll look perfect between my 17” and 24” white Intel iMacs. It came with an a1243 kb & a1296 mm v1, so pretty good value in that bundle

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Picked up a a1145 2.1ghz IMac G5 iSight on CL for $50. Always wanted one for my collection as they were available October 2005 and discontinued 2months later January 2006. I also think it’ll look perfect between my 17” and 24” white Intel iMacs. It came with an a1243 kb & a1296 mm v1, so pretty good value in that bundle

That’s great! Incidentally which video conferencing program are you planning on using with the isight? I’m trying to find what works with these older machines still.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

I mean heck, Im not buying expesnive clothes or shoes or handbags or perfumes etc. so I figure its a pretty good deal

I’ll bet your wife wouldn’t complain in the least if you spent the money on her expensive clothes and shoes and handbags and perfumes!

 

[weckart]

Update 2: (update 1) (first post)

It looks like the 3400c is cooked. Might try harder but there seems to be no sign of life on this unit. But like I said earlier, one out of two is still a win. And if I do give up on this 3400c I still have several parts, including a rare (I believe) 128MB upgrade card, potentially useful in the event I do find a Kanga for less than an arm, leg, and kidney.

Nope. Sorry to burst your bubble but the memory modules are not interchangeable between Kanga and 3400 despite looking identical and fitting in both. I've been there. Maybe there is a simple hack in moving a resistor etc. but I haven't seen anything like that.

 

[weckart]

A speculative punt on eBay and I blew my life savings on this hotly contested little lot. Came with lots of free DNA but nothing that cleaning wipes and IPA couldn't deal with.


Not sure what I am going to do with this but it might turn out to be a nice tinkering box. I'll easily forgive the state of the contents for the fact that the very friendly owner kept all of the boxing and even threw in the original receipts plus a thumb drive with Lion on it, which he paid for from a Apple Service provider back in the day. Although the TV is a perfect match, being period appropriate and having a DVI input port on the back, that one might be bound for the charity shop as space is a bit of a premium these days and I have more than enough monitors.

 

[ToniCH]

Although the TV is a perfect match, being period appropriate and having a DVI input port on the back, that one might be bound for the charity shop as space is a bit of a premium these days and I have more than enough monitors.

As the TV is probably designed so that it can decently show SD resolution and it seems to have a good array of connections it might be a good candidate for some kind of retro gaming setup. That with a retro gaming machine or console and a scan doubler or some other digital out -mod would probably be perfect. But decent pic can be had with analog connections too.

I saved my old Samsung SyncMaster 710MP 17" flat panel TV for that exact reason. Much easier to store when not in use than bulky crts.

EDITs: typos

 

[ToniCH]

Bought and picked up 2 Cinema Display 23"s today from local classifieds at very reasonable $15.50 each. Now I have 3. 👍

My cMP GPU supports 5 displays but I think 3 is the most I can fit on my desk. And I probably could not even figure out what to use the others for anyway...

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Got a free 2019 16” MacBook Pro Space Grey in mint condition with 32 gig of ram that was in the recycle bin!

Needed an upgrade from my Monterey locked 2015 15” MacBook Pro so I’m stoked!

👍😄

 

[PPC_505]

Got a free 2019 16” MacBook Pro Space Grey in mint condition with 32 gig of ram that was in the recycle bin!

Needed an upgrade from my Monterey locked 2015 15” MacBook Pro so I’m stoked!

👍😄

Hopefully not MDM- or iCloud-locked.

 

[ToniCH]

There was an iMac G4 15" 700MHz in our local classifieds for a very reasonable price. So, I picked it up today. A nice clean sample.

Came without a drive so first order of business was to install one. I don't know where I have put all my mSata to ATA -adapters so I had to put a spinner into it so I can test it. Also put a new battery in. Installing Tiger now. So far it seems to work just fine. 👍

It had 256MB of RAM in one stick so the other memory slot was free. Only compatible dimms I had are also 256MB so now it has 512MB. It has a CD-RW/DVD -combo drive and an Airport card.

For some reason it didn't like my white Apple A1048 USB-keyboard but works with the Pro Keyboard. 🧐

 

[rampancy]

My condo's electronics recycling bin is like a slot machine, but Amazon Resale Stores are like playing the lottery.

While waiting for my partner's dental appointment to finish up back in November, I wandered into my local "Bin Store" to see if there was anything interesting. I found a random bag of Lego orphaned from it's parent set, and a complete retired Halloween set from 2022 - both of which were remarkable finds.

Then I found this:

My eyes did not decieve me; it was in fact a full replacement set of display adhesive strips for a Late 2012+ iMac, complete with a pizza cutter tool. Utterly astonishing. It almost makes me want to get a 2013 iMac from my local FreeGeek just to put them to good use...

 

[ToniCH]

Managed to finally spot an another Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter in classifieds. Made an offer and got it for less than half of what new one costs, which is nice.

Now I have one for both of my eGPUs so no need for cable swaps anymore. 👍

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Picked up a used Hitachi GRAID 2GB enclosure to run off my A1117 PMG5 via FW800 for $30 shipped. This thing retailed for $395 new (sticker on the box) lol!

I also picked up another Dynex dx-wgdtc pci WiFi adapter for $13 shipped. It’s destined for my MDD. The one in my QS crushes it. These things are creeping up in price (used to pick them up for sub-$10 shipped) so figured I’d pick this one up as it’s still reasonably priced.

 

[rampancy]

Picked up a used Hitachi GRAID 2GB enclosure to run off my A1117 PMG5 via FW800 for $30 shipped. This thing retailed for $395 new (sticker on the box) lol!...I also picked up another Dynex dx-wgdtc pci WiFi adapter for $13 shipped. It’s destined for my MDD. The one in my QS crushes it. These things are creeping up in price (used to pick them up for sub-$10 shipped) so figured I’d pick this one up as it’s still reasonably priced.

Man, those images take me back. I remember drooling over the GRaid back in the MacWarehouse catalog back in the day. And man, I remember finding out that certain Broadcom-equipped bog-standard PCI 802.11g cards could work just fine in my Sawtooth or my MDD G4s. It was around the same time that Radio Shack was going out of buisness in my home city. I scoured every location I could get to in search of cheap WiFi cards.