Just won a 50MHz DiiMO with FPU on Buyee!

[Macobyte]

So I just grabbed the last piece of my SE/30 upgrade puzzle on Buyee this morning and I’m thrilled: a 50MHz DiiMO card with FPU installed. I was in a bidding war with someone and wondered if it was anyone here?

Over the past two years I’ve had my SE/30 recapped and restored and I’ve upgraded it in every way I could minus an accelerator. It’s got a MacEffects clear case, a ROMinator II, 128MB of RAM, a SCSI2SD v5.2, and a MacCon Ethernet PDS card. I don’t care about video out or internal grayscale so this addition will really push this great little Mac as far as it can go.

This was my first time using Buyee… It goes to their warehouse first and then gets shipped to me, but I’m not clear if the international shipping is included in the cost of the winning auction bid or if they will charge an additional fee.

 

[alectrona2988]

I believe they charge an additional fee for international shipping. You'll probably have to spend a fair amount of money for that, though.

 

[CircuitBored]

Postage and packaging shouldn't be that bad on an item that small. I had an entire SuperMac S900 shipped via FromJapan (same company as Buyee) and it only cost me about £70. When I got a Nubus graphics card from Japan it was about £30 for postage and packaging. That said, international postage is very expensive right now compared to this time last year.

 

[mg.man]

if they will charge an additional fee.

Definitely - additional fee for shipping. Plus - depending on the terms of the underlying auction entry - you may need to pay the domestic (within Japan) shipping from the seller to the Buyee warehouse... Lots of things to consider when using Buyee, but as I said in another thread, I'm happy overall with the stuff I've purchased there.

 

[alectrona2988]

Just uh, be prepared to pay a fortune for shipping if you're thinking about importing a larger all-in-one Mac. Surface mail is limited to 20kg and 2 meters.

 

[Macobyte]

Thanks for the input everyone! I paid a pretty penny for this but still less than the combined costs of a 50MHz DayStar PowerCache card and a Twin Slot Adapter, which I was happy about as I consider this a more elegant solution. So if I wind up needing to spend an additional $50 or even $100 to get it over here from Japan, so be it.

I definitely wouldn’t buy an entire Mac through Buyee though… on top of the high shipping costs I can’t imagine international shipping is too kind to the CRTs or old plastics.

 

[Huxley]

This is a great story, thanks for sharing! I've bought plenty of cool stuff on eBay over the years, but there are so many alternatives globally - it's good to see a success story a bit off the usual (US-centric) beaten path. Congrats!

Huxley

 

[joshc]

@Macobyte How much did the card cost, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Macobyte]

@Macobyte How much did the card cost, if you don't mind me asking?

I don’t mind a bit; I know it’s hard to pin down current values for things like this so I’m happy to give other collectors looking another data point. The winning bid and associated Buyee auction fees was $466.50 USD, and I anticipate another $50-$100 in international shipping once it reaches the Buyee warehouse.

There is another (tested and shown working) DiiMO, also 50MHz with FPU, on Buyee at the moment with a $670 Buy It Now… I wasn’t sure how that price fit into recent valuations of these cards but it seemed a bit high to me.

 

[Macobyte]

Update for those who were curious: Buyee’s international shipping was just under $32, which seems reasonable. There were cheaper options that would take longer of course.

 

[Macobyte]

It arrived today! Currently have it and my MacCon card installed, I was planning to attach my RasterOps card to the MacCon but there’s no room. Anybody have a clever solution for attaching another card to the MacCon’s PDS slot?

System 7.5.5 is downright zippy at 50MHz.

 

[Bolle]

No easy way to fit an additional full size graphics card if you want to keep ethernet and the DiiMO.
The only way to conveniently have all three is to keep looking for a Radius IIsi Pivot card. You'll still have to modify that card by cutting off some of the PCB and solder on a right angle connector but that's as easy as it gets with the DiiMO.

 

[Macobyte]

Thanks for the input Bolle! I was afraid the solution was going to be more money and some hacky behavior. I think more realistically I’ll just swap out the MacCon for the RasterOps and then get a Pi Zero RaSCSI with a PotatoFi case and use it as an external network adapter via the emulated SCSI Ethernet adapter.

 

[jasa1063]

Well, I just got a Diimo 030 50MHz with FPU for my SE/30 from Buyee today too. It seems I had to sell my soul to get it, but I was happy to do so. I have wanted this setup for quite some time. I tried a TwinSpark PDS adapter with DayStar PowerCache P33 50MHz and I had no luck getting cache working even with installing a bodge wire. This was my next option and thankfully it works! I am using a copy of QuickSane 2.2 to speed up math operations. This is faster than using the SANE speedup with Diimo 030 Control Panel. In SpeedOMeter 3.23 the Diimo 030 Control Panel option scores with 30 and QuickSane scores with 40.

 

[olePigeon]

Just a thought: has anyone considered making an PDS slot ribbon cable? Then all you need to worry about is where to mount it (some zip ties or custom 3D printed bracket.)

I have the below cable (and gender adapter,) but I don't think it's the correct number of pins. I think this is for 96-pin. Used in telecom. But I bet there's a 120-pin version of the connectors somewhere.

 

[Macobyte]

Well, I just got a Diimo 030 50MHz with FPU for my SE/30 from Buyee today too. It seems I had to sell my soul to get it, but I was happy to do so. I have wanted this setup for quite some time. I tried a TwinSpark PDS adapter with DayStar PowerCache P33 50MHz and I had no luck getting cache working even with installing a bodge wire. This was my next option and thankfully it works! I am using a copy of QuickSane 2.2 to speed up math operations. This is faster than using the SANE speedup with Diimo 030 Control Panel. In SpeedOMeter 3.23 the Diimo 030 Control Panel option scores with 30 and QuickSane scores with 40.

Ah, you must have bought the other one… that one was more expensive than the one I got but mine was untested and yours was shown working in the auction, so I thought the risk was worth saving a few bucks. Congrats! It’s a game-changer and you can always flip the TwinSpark and PowerCache to subsidize the cost.

 

[olePigeon]

Pre-made 96-pin DIN 41612 cables already exist. They're bloody expensive. Maybe someone can get lucky on eBay.

 

[jasa1063]

Ah, you must have bought the other one… that one was more expensive than the one I got but mine was untested and yours was shown working in the auction, so I thought the risk was worth saving a few bucks. Congrats! It’s a game-changer and you can always flip the TwinSpark and PowerCache to subsidize the cost.

A gamer-changer indeed. The Diimo 030 is the best 030 accelerator period for the SE/30. The PDS passthru and it's 64K cache make it so. It also plays nice with the ROM-Inator II. I may be looking at an Ethernet card or video card down the road. Nice to have that as an option with this setup

 

[JT737]

@jasa1063 -I've seen that other Diimo 030 on Buyee for about a year now...I wondered who got it! The seller was originally trying to get something like $1200 for it. Good score

 

[jasa1063]

@jasa1063 -I've seen that other Diimo 030 on Buyee for about a year now...I wondered who got it! The seller was originally trying to get something like $1200 for it. Good score

I picked up a Interware VDR-2A 24-bit video card for the my SE/30 on Buyee as well. It should arrive in the next few days!