The end of an era...

[quinterro]

Today was the last day the Raleigh Flea Market Mall was open for business.  I've been helping one of the the vendors there for many years and picked up a few things from him to prevent him from having to take him home.

Among the goodies:

IBM x3500 Server with a single Xeon processor, 1GB of memory and no hard drives.  I'll bring it to work to tinker with.

An Apple 30" Cinema Display. Looks like it is in good condition, but needs a power supply.

A NOS reel-to-reel film projector to give to my Dad, who worked on them for many years during his career as a A/V technician.

I'll attach pictures later.

If anyone has a power supply that I can borrow to see if the monitor works it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Unknown_K]

Why did the place close?

 

[quinterro]

The property the flea market was on and the car dealership beside it was bought to be torn down and a food bank will take its place.

The dealer I helped out was there for 27 years.  His doctor has told him to stop working because of his knees so the flea market closing was rather convenient.

 

[TheDoctor]

IBM x3500 Server with a single Xeon processor, 1GB of memory and no hard drives.  I'll bring it to work to tinker with.

Those are pretty nice.  That was the first enterprise-grade server I ever used  Truly amazing engineering in the ease of access and the amount of redundant, hot swappable parts.

 

[techknight]

I actually just moved to the north carolina area. I wonder what kind of stuff as far as flea markets/computers/hamfests etc go on here? Shame that ones gone. Maybe there are others? 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Hey, tk! How close to Raleigh are you now? You were a CA guy right? Sometimes there's some computer stuff at the State Fairgrounds Flea Market, but I haven't been there in a long time. There's a property sale monthly for NCState (?) that I've been to just once on a tour day.

Welcome to the area! [] ]'>

q, was your guy in that little store in the corner near the side entrance? If so, I got a lot of funky old KBDs, the Stack-o-SPARCs and Drexel from him over the years, great guy.

 

[quinterro]

Skinny guy with white hair and a beard near the appliance booth?  Yes, that's Charile.  He may still get repairs on occasion since he gave his phone number to long-time customers but I don't expect any until I see them. Since I started at my current employer in 2012 the extra work was nice but it wasn't a necessity.  It does keep you on your toes though.

The server I picked up was sent to recycling - we had lots of other more recent machines at work so it was just taking up space.

A coworker may know someone who has a power supply to test the 30" Cinema display with.  If he wants the monitor it is his to keep.

The Raleigh flea market mall is now closed to indoor vendors but outdoor vendors have until the end of the month until they have to go too.

Haven't gone to the State Fairgrounds Flea market yet, nor the NC State property sale.  Even though I have been reducing the number of computers I have there are still too many.  At the moment there is no desire to pick up any more unless there is something cheap that is better than my Thinkpad T500.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, Charlie. He has been talking about getting out of the game for years, used to love visiting with him.

One day we'll need to try to organize a regional get-together.

 

[techknight]

Hey, tk! How close to Raleigh are you now? You were a CA guy right? Sometimes there's some computer stuff at the State Fairgrounds Flea Market, but I haven't been there in a long time. There's a property sale monthly for NCState (?) that I've been to just once on a tour day.

Welcome to the area! [ ]

q, was your guy in that little store in the corner near the side entrance? If so, I got a lot of funky old KBDs, the Stack-o-SPARCs and Drexel from him over the years, great guy.

No, I was in ohio. Now I am in western NC. Franklin area, next to rabun county GA. 

 

[NJRoadfan]

I have come up empty on the trip to the NC State Fairgrounds. Nothing remotely electronics let alone computers the times I have been there.

 

[techknight]

Well, the community here probably hasnt even heard of computers until about the last decade or so. Right in the middle of the bible belt, and the majority of residents here are 55+ years old.

The oldest stuff I have found is roughly P4, and the waste transfer stations dont have anything, or any E-waste bins. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Holy crap! I didn't know you could actually get that far from Raleigh and still be in NC! 8-o

I guess you might drive about 50 miles to BFE, NC right smack on the far corner  .  .  .

.  .  .  or would you have to hike the last 20 Miles?