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lol

here's more than I ever needed to know about the history of Halted and Haltek- (thanks, google)

http://www.bluefeathertech.com/technoid/surplusmemorial.html

Between the racks I got from Weird Stuff, the tube radio I got at Electronics Flea Market, the wiring and connectors, and components I get from Halted and Al Lasher's Electronics, (I still miss Quinn's Electronics, though...), I almost don't need to go to Fry's or order from Digi-Key.

Not that I don't go to Fry's, Digi-Key, or even eBay, but it's nice to still be able to get parts 'n' stuff on a Saturday for $5 in gas and a pleasant drive, rather than a $5 shipping charge and a three-day wait. (I don't mind paying $5 for a $1 connector, but if I gotta go that route, I'll be damned if I'm gonna wait for it :)

Alas, the surplus store memorial list gets longer with every passing year.

But that covers a few places I know of in the Bay Area. Where are your surplus stores?

similar, if you're in Portland, OR, is Wacky Willy's. Amazing shop.
but oh, no! it looks like Wacky Willy's is gone. That is truly sad.

Specifically, the closed-source software vendors.

Consider: No matter how much marketing you have, it is ultimately up to the end user of a product to decide if they've gotten the value they expected to get. If said user finds that the closed-source product they paid (possibly) big bucks for isn't worth the media it was recorded on, they're going to cut their losses and try something else.

Alternatively, there are many small businesses that simply can't afford the kinds of prices that closed-source vendors often charge. I know this for a fact, because I'm one of those tiny businesses! If not for FreeBSD, Apache, and Postfix, to say nothing of the surplus hardware market, I would never have been able to get my Internet presence off the ground.

It's not just Freeware, either. How many of us have found low-cost Shareware products to be incredibly useful for the stuff we do, when comparable commercial products would have nearly required a second mortgage? Hex Workshop is, I think, a great example.

If that $60 billion figure is accurate, the commercial software vendors have no one but themselves to blame. Oh, there are some good values Out There, yes, but I think they've been largely drowned out by the flood of questionable products that are turned out with far more marketing than quality engineering.

Happy tweaking.

...on what you're looking for. I'm no expert on putting together big systems for enterprise environments, so I'll leave that type of reply to others.

However, I do know a great deal about digging around on the surplus market. If you're looking to put together your own servers, perhaps for self-hosting of your Internet presence, you can save tons of $$ by hitting up used-computer stores and electronic surplus places.

As just one example: My former employer (Boeing) retired a number of enterprise-class servers a few years back. Among these was a Compaq ProLiant 6500, tricked out with triple Pentium Pro 200 CPU's, twin redundant power supplies, a RAID controller, two-port Ethernet card, and the front-panel diagnostic display.

That system probably had a five-figure price tag when it was first sold. I picked it up for about $150, and spent another $100 or so on enough nine-gigger drives to create a RAID-5 stack. I added on another external RAID bay, with drives, for about another $100, and had one heck of a reliable FTP archive and database system for less than $400.

At the risk of Slashdotting my own site, I've got listings of electronic and computer surplus places in California, Oregon, and Washington up at this link.

Keep the peace(es).

I used to be in IT. Spent about 14 years in the field, in fact. The reason I left the field as a career is twofold: First, I made the mistake of overlapping work and hobby too far (I was living and breathing computer hardware and software day and night, and it eventually overwhelmed me).

Second, I discovered that I really prefer doing hands-on with actual hardware. I get a particular kick out of building equipment, then being able to point to it and say "I made that."

While it's true that this can easily be done in the world of programming, I just don't have the patience to sit in front of a screen for 8+ hours a day coding. In fact, I do as little code as possible these days, and most of that has to do with microcontrollers.

The only "IT" stuff I do now consists of keeping our home-based 'net presence and workstations running. My primary career is now civil service (state government), keeping the radios and other electronics for the WA State Patrol running.

My side business is along the same lines, but just different enough to keep me from burning out altogether. I specialize in conversion of commercial 2-way radios to amateur ("ham") service, and I also do memory and PLD device programming and mil-spec electrical connectors.

Keep the peace(es).

When I was building the GPS receiver module for the 'Techmobile,' I was working with an old Trimble six-channel unit that was originally part of a system they made for the military. Said receiver was built into a very nice machined-aluminum housing, designed explicitly for mobile use, and I really wanted to make use of at least the housing and its connectors.

I ended up doing a little more than that, as the web page mentions. There were two original circuit boards inside the Trimble receiver, one for the power supply side and the second for the actual receiver and logic. It took me about two hours to literally slice all the original PLCC surface-mount chips off the old board, clip off some through-hole components, drill mounting holes for the new board, and get everything mounted. In essence, the old board became nothing more than a physical substrate to mount the new module.

Since the upper board had such a nice, heavily-filtered, ready-made DC/DC converter on it (9-32V in, 5V out), I wanted to use it. The challenge I faced was to cut enough traces to isolate the converter's output side from the original circuitry (which was now presenting a solid short, thanks to the mounting screws punched through a four-layer PC board), but not enough to disable it.

The challenge was met, and the new receiver still works like a champ. In fact, last year, I upgraded the original GPS-25 module to a WAAS-enabled module, the GPS-15LV.

Like I said in the 'Subject' line: I'm not sure if this counts as "abuse" or simply "modification" (probably a bit of both), but I had fun doing it.

73 de KC7GR

I don't know what's so 'crazy' about it. Back in the summer of 2000, I equipped our van with, among other things, a general-purpose onboard computer that can do a lot more than just GPS-based real-time mapping and route planning. It's also equipped for APRS operations, and (as soon as I get a proper multimode wireless card and an additional antenna installed up top) 802.11 networking.

At the risk of sounding a bit snobbish, I think the 12-inch TFT color display I've got up front beats the crap out of most of the "consumer" in-dash navigation units with those microscopic screens.

In anticipation of some of the questions that will likely pop into the minds of those who view the page:

(1) Yes, all the equipment is legal for me to have in there, including the lightbar.

(2) No, I'm not a 'storm chaser' (though I have been asked that a time or two). I'm a communications tech for the Washington State Patrol. I'm also disaster-response trained, thanks to the City of Kent CERT program.

(3) Yes, I have been 'first responder' in a couple of (thankfully minor) situations. I keep a full trauma kit in the van, but I pray I never need to find out how complete it is, or how well my training took.

(4) Let's just say that, besides the above, I take my hobby of amateur ('ham') radio pretty seriously, especially the parts about being ready to lend a hand in public service and voluntary support of emergency communications.

Keep the peace(es).

The used/surplus market can really be your friend once you get to the States. Some areas are better supplied than others. For example, the Seattle area has RE-PC, which bills itself as the largest used/recycled computer place in the northwest (probably true -- I've not found any other computer surplus place in the region quite so large). I see rackmount cases and parts turn up there all the time, at both the retail locations, and the prices are generally pretty cheap.

The SF Bay Area part of California has a generous supply of used electronics and computer places too numerous to list in any detail here. At the risk of load-testing my web server, I have a page at this link that lists all the Bay Area surplus places that I knew of as of my last (annual) trip to the area in 2003.

I would, however, like to point out one place in particular in the Bay Area. Weird Stuff Warehouse has to be seen to be believed, though their prices can be a little on the high side, IMO.

I also have store and swap meet listings for the Puget Sound region and the metro Portland area of Oregon.

Outside of the retail surplus scene, amateur ("ham") radio swap meets can also be excellent sources of such parts. I bought my original rack case from one of the Bay Area events back in 2000, and it is still serving me well today. You can search for hamfests close to whatever area you'll be moving to at this link.

I hope that helps. Rackmount stuff is great fun, and scrounging for it (and other parts) even more so. Definitely part of the "Tinkerer's Spirit."

Enjoy your travels.

The used/surplus market can really be your friend once you get to the States. Some areas are better supplied than others. For example, the Seattle area has RE-PC, which bills itself as the largest used/recycled computer place in the northwest (probably true -- I've not found any other computer surplus place in the region quite so large). I see rackmount cases and parts turn up there all the time, at both the retail locations, and the prices are generally pretty cheap.

The SF Bay Area part of California has a generous supply of used electronics and computer places too numerous to list in any detail here. At the risk of load-testing my web server, I have a page at this link that lists all the Bay Area surplus places that I knew of as of my last (annual) trip to the area in 2003.

I would, however, like to point out one place in particular in the Bay Area. Weird Stuff Warehouse has to be seen to be believed, though their prices can be a little on the high side, IMO.

I also have store and swap meet listings for the Puget Sound region and the metro Portland area of Oregon.

Outside of the retail surplus scene, amateur ("ham") radio swap meets can also be excellent sources of such parts. I bought my original rack case from one of the Bay Area events back in 2000, and it is still serving me well today. You can search for hamfests close to whatever area you'll be moving to at this link.

I hope that helps. Rackmount stuff is great fun, and scrounging for it (and other parts) even more so. Definitely part of the "Tinkerer's Spirit."

Enjoy your travels.

The used/surplus market can really be your friend once you get to the States. Some areas are better supplied than others. For example, the Seattle area has RE-PC, which bills itself as the largest used/recycled computer place in the northwest (probably true -- I've not found any other computer surplus place in the region quite so large). I see rackmount cases and parts turn up there all the time, at both the retail locations, and the prices are generally pretty cheap.

The SF Bay Area part of California has a generous supply of used electronics and computer places too numerous to list in any detail here. At the risk of load-testing my web server, I have a page at this link that lists all the Bay Area surplus places that I knew of as of my last (annual) trip to the area in 2003.

I would, however, like to point out one place in particular in the Bay Area. Weird Stuff Warehouse has to be seen to be believed, though their prices can be a little on the high side, IMO.

I also have store and swap meet listings for the Puget Sound region and the metro Portland area of Oregon.

Outside of the retail surplus scene, amateur ("ham") radio swap meets can also be excellent sources of such parts. I bought my original rack case from one of the Bay Area events back in 2000, and it is still serving me well today. You can search for hamfests close to whatever area you'll be moving to at this link.

I hope that helps. Rackmount stuff is great fun, and scrounging for it (and other parts) even more so. Definitely part of the "Tinkerer's Spirit."

Enjoy your travels.

All right... I know I'm probably going to be giving my web server a Slashdot-class load test by doing this, but whattahey... If it crashes, I know I didn't build it right to begin with.

In short: The page is one I wrote up detailing the efforts I've put in, over the last three or so years, to "hack" our minivan into a heavy-duty comms vehicle. Can you tell I take my amateur radio hobby pretty seriously? ;-)

It also has an onboard computer with GPS and mapping software, which has saved me from getting hopelessly lost in new territory more times than I can count.

Yes, I have been "first responder" in a couple of traffic incidents. This is why I keep a trauma kit in the back. Haven't had to dig into it seriously yet, and I pray I never really have to, but it's nice to know it's there.

I'm amazed the whole SCO mess has dragged on as long as it has, especially considering that SCO incorporates Samba (scroll down towards the bottom, look for an announcement dated 19-Aug-03) into their own OS releases, and Samba is licensed under - you guessed it - the GPL.

As Andrew points out on the web page, SCO can't have it both ways. They're bashing the GPL on one side, and reaping its benefits on the other.

Or does 'Dalek' McBride (scroll towards mid-page) really think he's going to gain anything other than a corporate bloody nose from the whole fiaSCO?

Unless the answer to all three of the above is "yes,' I'll be sticking with what I have now, thanks.

Somehow I don't think that DIN unit targets the type of person who would create an "Inspector Gadget" van like yours. Gotta admit, it was entertaining to see a wiring panel in the back of a van. It's as though your van came straight out of the movie Sneakers!

Can it accept an external display and keyboard/mouse combo?

Can it accept a CD-ROM?

Is its GPS receiver WAAS-ready?

Unless the answer to all three of the above is "yes,' I'll be sticking with what I have now, thanks.

Any time I travel, I almost always make it a point to check out whatever electronic surplus places are local to the area. The area around Melbourne, FL is amazing, probably thanks to the heavy NASA and aerospace presence. I found some amazing bargains on older Motorola radio hardware, to the point where I went to the trouble to ship it home. The transit time was such that it arrived the day after we got back.

For something a little closer to the west coast, you can have a look at my surplus store listings for the Bay Area, northwest Oregon (Portland and vicinity), and Washington (Puget Sound region) at this link.

Have a great trip.

I could not disagree more!

Every year, I make it a point to attend a minimum of four ham swap meets; the big Mike & Key event in Puyallup, the two in the Bay Area (Livermore and Foothill), and the Radio Club of Tacoma event. I try to do more if I can.

The quality and quantity of gear at each one fluctuates wildly, year-to-year, as do the prices. That's part of the fun! While Ebay has the greater variety, in many cases, it can never substitute for the fun and satisfaction of making a face-to-face deal. Besides getting the gear on-the-spot, you can get a far better "feel" for whether you want to deal with someone when you're staring them in the face.

You say "The new stuff is better and cheaper than the old stuff." While there is some truth to that, in terms of 'cheaper,' there is also a lot of "WRONG!" in terms of 'better.'

A perfect example is test equipment, especially oscilloscopes. Tektronix completely discontinued their analog 'scope line beginning in 2000. However, their 7000-series (yes, analog) hardware can still beat the crap out of most modern stuff in terms of durability, flexibility, and value for the $$. Earlier this year, I bought a 7904A mainframe, with a basic bandwidth of 500MHz, from a local surplus place for $400. Plug-ins for it would have run around another $200 if I didn't have them already.

Would you like to tell me where I could have gotten a new O-scope, good to at least 500MHz and at least as durable, versatile, and well-made as the Tek unit for $600?

No? I didn't think so. ;-)

My point is that ham swap meets and electronic surplus stores still have a firm place in this world. Don't you dare judge them all by what you're seeing in the Bay Area! I've visited some places in Florida (Orlando & Melbourne) that still have Good Stuff at Good Prices, and I had outstanding luck at the 2002 Mike & Key and RCT swap meets.

In fact (shameless plug alert!), I have part of my web site dedicated to listings of Washington state and California (at least the Bay Area) surplus places and ham swap meets. I happen to agree with you on HSC, but there are other spots you should check out.

I guess the best way to say it is that both Ebay and ham swaps still have a firm place in this world. One will never take the place of the other, so you should use them both. Between the two of them, you will likely never lack in whatever you search for.

I think the biggest change I've seen is that the "tinkerers" (those who modify commercial gear for ham purposes, or design their own stuff) are no longer so great a force in the hobby. The hams who take the hobby seriously enough to have a labful of RF test gear, and who know how to use it, seem to be getting increasingly rare. I know, because I'm one of them! ;-)

It used to be that I could turn on any of the local 2m (VHF) or 70cm (UHF) repeater channels, and hear a discussion going on that at least included something technical. It used to be that I could pop onto those same channels with a technical question, and chances were good that someone would know how to answer it.

Not any more. It seems that I can have a conversation with a dozen different hams, and out of them there will be 1-2 that know anything more about their radio than how to turn it on and use it. "Appliance Operators," once a rarity in the ham field, have become largely the norm.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one wing, it's sad, I think, to see so many people take their exams just for the sake of taking them, and then forget everything they learned and have no further interest in expanding their electronics knowledge.

On the other wing, a big piece of my side business is dependent on those who choose not to do the technical side for themselves. I try to give my customers a bit of free education as they walk out the door with their newly-programmed radio, but I never know where they're going to go with it.

Also, don't forget that tinkerers need stuff to tinker with. The quality and quantity of stuff showing up at many ham swap meets all over the country seems to be going down. I think it's due largely to the depredations of Ebay. Why comb the swaps when you can search for goodies from your easy chair?

I have an answer for that. Social skills! Ham swaps are more than swaps; they're social gatherings, just like the rest of any ham convention. As I've said on my Ebay 'About Me' page, where can you get a clearer impression of who you're buying stuff from? By looking at someone's feedback record, or looking them in the eye and watching how they interact in real time?

Anyway, I've drifted off-topic enough. I plan to make the 'pilgrimage' to Dayton, possibly in 2004. Until then, those of you that are going, good luck and good journey.

73 de KC7GR

At the risk of blowing one's own horn, I have listings of Bay Area (California) and Puget Sound region surplus stores and swap meets at this link. There's also links to other resources.

Enjoy!

I ran into this same question, in terms of design, when I was working out the details of the 'TechMobile,' as my wife dubbed it. Originally, I was going to buy a DC/DC converter supply for the onboard computer (yes, ones with 12V input exist), but I changed my mind after discussing it with a fellow engineer.

He pointed out something that I'd not thought of. Sure, a DC/DC will run the computer easily enough. But consider all the time I spend at electronics/ham radio swap meets, and the fact that there are times when having power tools available on-the-road can be mighty handy.

For about the same price that a DC/DC box would have cost, I got a nice heavy-duty Cobra inverter from an Ebay seller. I've got power to spare for both the onboard PC, and for testing stuff I might want to buy right at a swap meet. Much better value for the $$, IMO.