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another early morning electronics flea market here in silicon valley (West Valley College). we're so early the sellers haven't arrived yet.

no electronics yet. here, have an onion.

oh cool an Intel 286 design kit!

TDS 420. smokes when powered on

board test fixture. I'm wondering what those tiny boards are in the lid. maybe temperature sensors?

old school router with a floppy drive

straight from Fallout

the smart clapper

neat old film movie camera

kind of a chaotic energy going on here

neat gauges that you might expect to find in a power plant

a Heathkit calculator with a Panaplex display

this card comes apart in two halves. very odd

wonder what these boards were from

oh a keyboard but just the board

vintage milk carton

expensive camera and lens

huh a cable for a NeXT machine

this toaster gets along with bread like a house on fire

caution: radiation from polonium is dangerous if the said material is ingested or inhaled. do not

piles of calculators

commodore calculator

some weird laser assembly

silicon valley retirement plan

the existence of this gauge makes me uneasy

extra long life battery. put in service before Feb 1943. think it's still good?

the seller *gave* it to me! it's a D cell manufactured during World War II and it hasn't leaked and still has voltage! "extra long life battery" indeed!

my other flea market finds include this prototype of the PrairieTek 240, the 40MB followup product to the 220, which was the first 2.5" hard drive on the market.

i also got this Shugart 606 hard drive (10MB). i don't think they did very well in the PC market.

another find is this WD-2120D, a 120MB drive meant for the first IBM Thinkpads, like the 700 and 720. it is not IDE nor SCSI -- it is IBM ESDI, a poorly named drive interface that is effectively IDE but over Micro Channel and with a different register interface.

i imaged the drive, but it just contains the same garbage sector over and over again. the only thing that changes is this 32-bit number, which increments. i suppose it's been wiped.

finally, i got a little plastic tray with an Apple part number. 073-0061. it seems to be a parts kit for an Enhanced IIe or IIe Platinum.

@tubetime Might come in handy in the next decades! Just keep it generally below 2.

@tubetime …y'know what, I've been surprised before, it might actually have some charge still. I would still replace it if possible though

@tubetime
I found a nice old Beckman DVM in a junque shop. Unfortunately, the 9V battery terminal had corroded away and I had to tack in a new one…

@tubetime home sick & isolation with the 'vid after vcfw, thanks for sharing the pics and providing a glimpse of silly valley nerdom

@tubetime I was really hoping you’ll do just that - measure if it’s still any good 😃

@tubetime Looks like those ROMs are for the original non-enhanced IIe.

@tubetime You said your dad knew Al Shugart, correct? And IIRC, he said that he was a bit foppish in person?

@cr1901 grandfather knew him. and, weirdly enough, i know his grandson.

@tubetime If I can't get even the person right, dunno where I came up with the foppish part then :o.

Yay fallible memory...

@drscriptt not sure, i need to look into it.

@drscriptt looks like standard ST-506.

@tubetime I'm glad the warranty seal is still intact, might be worth trying to RMA it.

@tubetime

How much does the voltage roll off with a load on it? It'd be amazing if it's still at a usable internal resistance.

@tubetime @becomethewaifu "For BEST results put in service before: FEB. 1943"

"During World War II" is an understatement! 😮

@tubetime

Everyone say it with me now:

They don't make em like they used to...

@tubetime That cell is as old as my grandfather. They definitely don't make them like that anymore.

@tubetime the brand name was derived from "ever ready", as they were the first to build and advertise full sealed cells that do not leak or dry out

@tubetime Finally a brand that describes the product!

@tubetime I'm sorry but with a packaging like this you've evidently been sold a tiny tomato tin.

@tubetime I'll bet it still lights up a bulb.

@tubetime oh, DANG! A logarithmic current meter?! That’s amazing! I mean, 10k mA is … carry the two… 10A, so not too scary. But the log scale is AMAZING.

@tubetime "Well, either the battery's good or we've got a problem, it's too soon to tell..."

@tubetime It's a DIY measurement device for excitement in the social network sphere. The mR/hr is a million rants per hour, isn't it!?

@tubetime What? Is Silicon Valley going to be retired?!

@tubetime My wife and I were discussing the other day that VLB is what truly killed 16-bit computers.

@tubetime I need to get down there to the flea market some time.

@tubetime Looks like a fiber optic cable splicer