Too Good to Pass Up

[airship]

How often do you find a bargain that's just Too Good to Pass Up?

It seems to happen to me with alarming regularity. eBay threatens to bankrupt me. I'm working on my problem with a friend of mine who's a real budget-fiend. Maybe she can help me find a compromise.

Anyway, even though I TOLD the TWO local computer recyclers to PLEASE email or call me when they get Commodore stuff in, neither of them does. But I spotted that one of them had three 1541 drives for sale, with a starting price of $8 apiece. I usually don't even look at 1541s on eBay because of the shipping costs, but I could pick these up locally for $2 worth of gas.

I called, and they had sold one, but they still had not two but FIVE of them left. They'd picked up a bunch from a school. They'd already sold the C64s for a song (GRRRR!) but I could have all FIVE drives for $7 apiece!

No way I could pass that by, right? So tomorrow I'm going to go spend $35 for FIVE (did I mention there were FIVE?) 1541 drives that I have absolutely no use for, just because  they were Too Good to Pass Up.

Does anyone want to join me in forming a 'Commodore Anonymous' group? :förvånad:

[Golan Klinger]

I can commiserate. I got back into hardware last year (I've spent the last few years using emulators only) and since then, I've been on a tear. I have at least 30 disk drives of various types and use for one or two. I need to make a greater effort to get this stuff into the hands of people that will use and enjoy it.

[Guest]

I can't tell you what I have, you would think I was nuts.

My wife does.

Dan...

[Andrew Wiskow]

I can't tell you what I have, you would think I was nuts.

My wife does.

Dan...

No doubt about it...  We're ALL nuts!  :skratta:

-Andrew

[Blacklord]

I can't tell you what I have, you would think I was nuts.

My wife does.

Dan...

No doubt about it...  We're ALL nuts!  :skratta:

-Andrew

Naturally! We support a machine that was orphaned longer ago than most of our kids have been around.....:|

[RobertB]

We're ALL nuts!

A gentler term would be "fanatics".  :-)

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Golan Klinger]

Speak for yourself; I'm nuts. :förvånad:

[Guest]

I buy the things I wanted back in the 80's and 90's but couldn't afford. Their dirt cheep now and like airship I buy too many, OF EACH. :rodna:

Dan...

[airship]

Picked them up today and ONE of them is a highly yellowed early model WHITE 1541! Score!

Wonder if any of them work? The bastards charged me $1 apiece for power cords (yes, I'm out at the moment) so they ended up being $8 each anyway.

I also picked up another 3.5" Panasonic drive that should work with a 1581 kit. That's 3 of those now, and I still haven't ordered my first kit. I hope to pick up a couple in Chicago at the ECCC get-together. At least the guy who sells them is SUPPOSED to be there.

And I latched onto a $40 1GHz Celeron PC in a small form factor with a 20GB drive and CD-ROM that I intend to use with my XM cable as a server for the C128. I'm tired of tying up my regular PC. I'll hook it to my router and use it exclusively for downloading CBM stuff from the Intertubes. A PC as a server for a C128! Now THAT'S fanaticism!

[airship]

So my recycler emailed me today to offer me SIX more 1541s at the same price: $7 each! Local pickup, so no hidden costs. All FIVE of the last bunch I bought worked fine. I only had to SuperGlue one drive latch in the whole bunch. But what am I going to do with six more? And what if he emails me with five or six more available EVERY month?

On the other hand, if I don't buy them do you know what he's going to do with them? RECYCLE THEM!!!

How can I let that happen?

Has anyone ever put together a Beowulf cluster of 1541s? That's about all I can think of... :gråta:

[Guest]

Has anyone ever put together a Beowulf cluster of 1541s? That's about all I can think of...

I saw a picture once of someone using them for a printer stand.
They stacked them two at a time.

Dan...

[Guest]

One word: eBay

But, at $7.00 each you're not going to make any money.  If you can get him down to $2 or $3 each then you'd be on to something.

[airship]

Well, I just  made the following offer for ALL of the Commodore stuff he had on hand:

2 breadbox C64s, 1 C64C, 1 VIC-20, 3 C64 power supplies (one with square connector), and 6 1541s: $100 cash. We'll see if he takes it. I won't be saving a lot over eBay prices, but I AM saving shipping, which is often much more than the cost of the item itself for this stuff. That's three complete C64 systems with 2 drives each plus a VIC-20 with no PS, if everything works. I figure if nothing else I'm getting a cache of repair parts.

[airship]

He came back with a counter-offer of $60 for the six 1541s and two C64 power supplies. I jumped at it. This will get all 3 of the C64s I own up and running with two 1541s each, and still leave five 1541s untouched in my collection.

It's a sickness, I know.

One of theC64 systems  is going to end up a dedicated game machine with a 1702 monitor, Wico Command Control joystick, and Navaronne 3-cart expander with a rotating population of carts from my Atari cart collection. This will eventually go into a custom stand-up videogame cabinet, but I probably won't get around to that part until after I retire in nine years.

And I may still hear back from him on the three C64s when he's not able to sell them (without power supplies) on eBay for $15/ea. plus shipping.