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$30 for that?! Just spend $8 on the actual part that needs replaced. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/...

The most common cause is a weak or flaky power supply. MCM Electronics sells a nice 2.4 Amp supply for a 6 dollars.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/...

I've got 6 of them and I've had zero power problems.

has had the Raspberry Pi available for several months now.

It seems that the article only refers to sales from Allied, not any of the other dozen places you could get one in the US from.

It's like hearing pretzels are sold out and unavailable in the US, only to read closer and see that just one store sold out of their initial inventory.

Actually, $50 is kind of a ridiculously high price for this. A raspberry pi is $25 and can do more than act as a dumb terminal.

Dell isn't going to reinvent itself by convincing everyone to stop buying $300 laptops from them and start buying $50 USB sticks. They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service.

$41.99 - Rasberry Pi with enclosure
$9.99 - Rasberry Pi Wifi adapbter
$7.99 - Mini bluetooth adapter

Total: $59.97, not including Dell's software.

They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service

Well yeah, that's the point - to get out of selling low-margin laptops and get into a higher margin service business.

Actually, $50 is kind of a ridiculously high price for this. A raspberry pi is $25 and can do more than act as a dumb terminal.

Dell isn't going to reinvent itself by convincing everyone to stop buying $300 laptops from them and start buying $50 USB sticks. They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service.

$41.99 - Rasberry Pi with enclosure
$9.99 - Rasberry Pi Wifi adapbter
$7.99 - Mini bluetooth adapter

Total: $59.97, not including Dell's software.

They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service

Well yeah, that's the point - to get out of selling low-margin laptops and get into a higher margin service business.

Actually, $50 is kind of a ridiculously high price for this. A raspberry pi is $25 and can do more than act as a dumb terminal.

Dell isn't going to reinvent itself by convincing everyone to stop buying $300 laptops from them and start buying $50 USB sticks. They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service.

$41.99 - Rasberry Pi with enclosure
$9.99 - Rasberry Pi Wifi adapbter
$7.99 - Mini bluetooth adapter

Total: $59.97, not including Dell's software.

They're going to have to charge a decent amount for service

Well yeah, that's the point - to get out of selling low-margin laptops and get into a higher margin service business.

I am sure he would enjoy a GERT board for his RaspberryPi http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/RASPBERRY-PI-/83-14460

Meh.

Nobody here seems to actually be discussing purity.

At work, the guys in the shop use 99% isopropyl alcohol, and often joke that the contents of the bottle is likely 100%, but that it rapidly drops to 99% after opening. (I presume that it is intentionally adultered with poison, like most other industrial forms of ethanol, but I must say I've never tried to drink the stuff.)

The best denatured alcohol I can find at a drug store is 93%, which is pretty good (though full of poison), but there's better options (above).

According to the Wikipedia, distillation alone cannot increase the purity of alcohol beyond 95.6%. Everclear itself is only 95% pure.

My suggestion: Buy a container of Techspray "99%," and a container of 190-proof Everclear. Use the former to cleanse the drive's heads, and the latter to cleanse the spirit, while possibly substituting the latter according to taste.

Rinse and repeat as necessary.

Indeed. Keeping the connectors clean is paramount. These days, I'm a huge fan of DeoxIT DN5 for recovering electrical contacts that have seen all types of abuse, including video games, but alcohol by itself works reasonably well for stuff that is merely filthy.

Back in the day Nintendo would send out cleaning kits if you called to complain about the system not working properly (or at least they did for us). The kit consisted of some swabs for the games, a widget that could be used to easily clean the slot, and a small bottle of particularly smelly alcohol. It worked OK, though the amount of black crud the system seemed to generate by itself was amazing.

Meanwhile, new cartridge connectors are still available for the NES for cheap, and replacing them is just a matter of some basic disassembly/reassembly work (no soldering required).

Don't forget Agway (farm supplies), Digikey (far better electronics and gadgets than Radio shack), MCM Electronics (Ditto), RC Warehouse (Radio Control stuff), etc...

All sorts of places to get off-the-shelf technology and/or parts to build your own. Just about any tool or technology can be used for good or evil. I'd be concerned if someone was asking questions about weapons delivery or other issues where the intent was fairly clear, but even then, do you respond by clamming up, thus indirectly telling them of your suspicions, (and greatly increasing the chances that they will work to avoid attention), or do you maybe notify the authorities so they can use the situation to their advantage?

MCM Electronics has the part for $5.99 (US) here is the url
NES Connector
The best part is no case mods required.

1. Order a replacement 72-pin connector from MCM electronics. Go ahead and slashdot them, but BUY ONE. If enough people buy them, hopefully they'll keep making them.
2. If you don't have one, order one of these tookits too. You'll need some of the bits to open your NES without destroying it, and it's got lots of insanely useful other bits too.
3. Take your NES apart, carefully, and replace the connector. It's all screws once you're past the cover. Take a few digital photos along the way so you can back up if you get lost. It's not hard.
4. Be happy.

1. Order a replacement 72-pin connector from MCM electronics. Go ahead and slashdot them, but BUY ONE. If enough people buy them, hopefully they'll keep making them.
2. If you don't have one, order one of these tookits too. You'll need some of the bits to open your NES without destroying it, and it's got lots of insanely useful other bits too.
3. Take your NES apart, carefully, and replace the connector. It's all screws once you're past the cover. Take a few digital photos along the way so you can back up if you get lost. It's not hard.
4. Be happy.

Would have been nice if I had put in the web site..www.mcmelectronics.com