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The grandparent post said they could build a gaming PC for this much (with some scrounging), while the parent post disputed this. I've been playing BF1942 and even Battlefield 2 on a PC I built from scratch 2 years ago for ~ $700. The only components I scrounged were the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I'll bet I could build the same system today for $550.

The low-end graphics cards at my local store, Central Computer, have 256MB of video RAM and very capable cores, and now cost well under $80. Here's an OEM Radeon 9250 for $70

http://centralcomputer.com/itemdetail.asp?item=VGA JETR9250R

Games need decent video cards, but do not need much else. I'm running an old AMD Athlon XP 2500 and it doesn't break a sweat on BF2. The closest I can find to this dinosaur, the Sempron 2600, is $72 retail from NewEgg.

--Pat

I'll feel sympathy for Best Buy having to deal with bargain hunters when it stops pushing local stores out of business and fucking up street traffic wherever it parks its fat ass. Aside from the sale items, I can get everything cheaper online, and from a local store called Central Computer, which is able to survive against the SF BB by sheer volume of potential customers.

If your revenue's greatest strength is the ignorance of your customers, your days are numbered.

Keyboards that support both USB and PS2 have circuitry that support both protocols. Hence, they work with simple socket adaptors like the one you bought.

You bought a keyboard that only supports the PS/2 protocol, which is why you need something that translates the PS/2 protocol to USB.

Your problem is the keyboard, not the adapter.

The adapter is only for dual function devices. These devices are able to tell the difference between PS/2 and USB and switch to that mode. The adapters are nothing more then strait through contacts with the correct pinout.

What you need is a USB / PS/2 keyboard. Then you can plug it into the adapter and all will be well.
Being slashdot, I doubt you read right off your own links.

Application: USB ADAPTER for USB A Type Male to Mini Din 6 Pin Female ***IMPORTANT NOTE***: 10160 is the adapter ONLY, without chips and any software. If you do NOT have the related chips and software on your computer, we strongly recommend you to by the whole converter.

So either get the right keyboard, or whole converter.

Your problem is the keyboard, not the adapter.

The adapter is only for dual function devices. These devices are able to tell the difference between PS/2 and USB and switch to that mode. The adapters are nothing more then strait through contacts with the correct pinout.

What you need is a USB / PS/2 keyboard. Then you can plug it into the adapter and all will be well.
Being slashdot, I doubt you read right off your own links.

Application: USB ADAPTER for USB A Type Male to Mini Din 6 Pin Female ***IMPORTANT NOTE***: 10160 is the adapter ONLY, without chips and any software. If you do NOT have the related chips and software on your computer, we strongly recommend you to by the whole converter.

So either get the right keyboard, or whole converter.

Both of those things look like they're simple adaptors that just change the plug from one to the other. Even the first link you mention says, "***IMPORTANT NOTE***: 10160 is the adapter ONLY, without chips and any software. If you do NOT have the related chips and software on your computer, we strongly recommend you to by the whole converter"

The one in that link looks more substantial and looks like it'll actually have some circuitry inside it, rather than just changing the pinout.

No, not a dual-layer DVD+R (ha ha made you look)... a customer who thought they were already available. I was in Central Computer today and some dumbass specifically asked for it... "no, you don't understand! I want a dual layer one, where are those?"

Thankfully the salesguy was knowledgeable enough to say "no sir... Philips just announced them, they're not actually making them yet." But I know that he was thinking (in Chinese) "god damn you're a dumbass."

AMS DK-035A (ignore the Ultra SCSI reference on that page, the A suffix is for ATA), available for $159 from Central Computer

I just set up an eight drive RAID using one of those, and one 3-drive-in-2-bay version, the DK-023A ($119 from Central Computer). That way eight removable trays fit in my 5-bay 4U rack mount case.

I used a 3ware Escalade 7500-8 RAID card rather than Linux software RAID, but there's no reason why it wouldn't have worked with software RAID. I just couldn't find a "dumb" eight-port ATA-133 card. (And I like the 3ware cards.)

I initially tried to use Serial ATA, using the Promise SATA150-TX4 4-port Serial ATA controller and some Highpoint RocketHead 100 Serial ATA adapters for the drives. The Highpoint web site claims that the RocketHead 100 is not available for sale as a separate product, but lots of retailers including Central Computer seem to have them. The cabling was *much* nicer, but to make the SATA150 work with Linux a binary-only driver was required, so I decided not to use it until there's a driver available in source form.

I thought about using the 3ware Escalade 8500, which is the Serial ATA version of the 7500, but there's quite a price premium, so I decided to stick with parallel ATA for now. Maybe next year I'll set up a bigger RAID using Serial ATA.

Also, of note, is Central Computer between 4th and Howard. It's a good place for parts. There's cheaper online, but when you need that last minute firewire cable or replacement mobo, it can't be beat.

Other good neighborhood bars include Arrow Bar (6th and Market), Pow (an Anime themed bar) at 6th and Mission, Julie's supper Club (retro-styled bar and restaurant) at 7th and Folsom, and for late night revelry the strip at 11th and Folsom (including JWZ's DNA Lounge).

Agilent Articooler Price

(Disclaimer: I only dealt with them once, when a big company was buying lots of stuff for our startup, and I'm just a satisfied customer of Central Computer with an unpaid endorsement.)

-jhp

OT: Does anyone know any sites where I might actually find cases such as this?

One of my favorite places to shop for hardware is Central Computer Systems. I don't know if they have exactly what you are looking for, and they don't have detailed specs on every case, but they seem to have a really good selection, nice specs for the ones they do detail, and decent pricing - so you might be able to find what you want.

OT: Does anyone know any sites where I might actually find cases such as this?

One of my favorite places to shop for hardware is Central Computer Systems. I don't know if they have exactly what you are looking for, and they don't have detailed specs on every case, but they seem to have a really good selection, nice specs for the ones they do detail, and decent pricing - so you might be able to find what you want.