Subject: Re: Trenton Computer Festival

From: chris <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 5 22:12:59 2003

>I also went to TCF on Saturday.
[snip]

Yowzers!

Sounds like there was FAR more to be had on Saturday than Sunday when I 
went. I don't think I saw ANY Apple 2 stuff at all other than one guy 
with a box of software and a Cricket speaker box. (of which I meant to 
buy the stuff, but got side tracked answering a Mac question for my 
brother and then further side tracked by things to look at... before I 
knew it, I had walked away, and gone home and forgotten to buy the A2 
items).

I also didn't really see too many items older than 68k Macs and a few 
early Pentiums. I guess all that stuff sold off on Saturday.

Looks like next year I go on Saturday rather than Sunday.

-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>

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From: Ethan Dicks <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 5 22:13:09 2003

--- chris <[email-masked]> wrote:
> went... Looks like next year I go on Saturday rather than Sunday.

The same can be said for the Dayton Hamvention - the *really* interesting
stuff is to be found by fellow sellers when setting up the night before. 
The best thing for mere attendees (like myself) is the opening rush at
dawn on Friday.  All day Saturday is OK, and Sunday is bargain day, 
especially after noon, and especially if the weather has been crappy
(that's how I got a PDP-8/L tagged $250 for $35, 21 years ago... Sunday
at 16:00, during clean & packup, after three days of rain).

So... best selection: as early as possible.  best price (of whatever
is left): as late as possible.

Bargains can be had anytime, but unless you are looking for stuff
that nobody else is looking for, or unless it's the year that some
technology hits the wastecan (like MicroChannel boards did a number
of years ago) and is in abundance well beyond demand; chances are, 
someone will beat you to it (like the $20 uVAX-III w/dual DESQA that
Mitch Miller beat me to last year on Friday morning!)

-ethan
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com

---

From: "John Allain" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu May 8 23:53:45 2003

> Sounds like there was FAR more to be had on Saturday than 
> Sunday when I went. I don't think I saw ANY Apple 2 stuff at all 

I went Saturday-not-Sunday and _was_ impressed, but for mostly
the _wrong_ reasons, IE, not too much Classiccmp, but some good
ready to use stuff.
Going over my list of purchases, here's what I bought Jurclassicwise:
    2-inch Sony microfloppies
    Sun 13w3 cable.
    D.G. SCSI terminator.    period.
and not:
    some guy's personal DVD's  (scored: "Pi", "Enigma")
    USB and HD25 adaptors.
    1 complete working UPS in 2 pieces, $10
    white light 4LED flashlight, decent cheap Binoculars, chinese tools
    etc.

I saw a DecWriterIII sell before 10am.  There was 1 guy with everything
old (5-10 years old, UG) but cheap, two HP SCSI storage enclosures &
drives $5 each, lotza hubs and switches.  Some Sun Ultra, HP Pentium
Pro systems, not much.  1 indigo.  1 Alpha (period), memory raped.
There were a LOT of parts for refurbushing your own UPS, about 5 sellers.
One guy had Pentium pro,II-233,II-300 chips, $2.00 each (where classic is
now apparently. *Warning*).

It may rebound some after the Tech bust is over.

Worth a trip (140 miles round for me), but Not if you Only want to buy
classiccmp.  There may be a market for Selling, If you've got the nack.

John A.