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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.

They will usually charge a fee of $10 for disposal.
http://www.repc.com/

If your around the seattle area, there is also RE-PC

Systemax pc's are pretty good, been around awhile, basic solid machines. If you already use AOL, thats a nice system with monitor for 299. Wonder how much the ink cartridges are... The mobo seems to be very cheap, would be nice for more specs.

Doing a quick pricewatch search shows the pc is an average deal, and system max uses quality oem hardware, your choice.

But I'd rather go over to Outpost.com (frys) and get something like amd200+mb for 100 bux, get a nice case for 40 bux, some memory, hd and gfx card for about 350 for that price. Pick up a used 17 inch monitor for 20 bux at RePC.

There are good deals, but you have to look. I found used dual P2's for 250 bux with scsi drives. Awesome linux/bsd servers.

1. Get something a couple years old
2. Load the OS and software
3. Pull the optical drive and replace it with your mirror HD
4. set up software RAID

I'm a big fan of IBM ThinkPads. A nice, small (5 pounds or so) ThinkPad 600X (P-III/500, 256 MB, 20 GB, 1024x768 (XGA?), DVD reader) should sell on Ebay for about $600. Also, it's quiet! (That's important if this thing is going to live in an apartment.)

If that price is a bit high, step a little further back. The P-IIs get REALLY cheap ($200 range, though you give up memory and HD size too), and if you find something with an 800x600 screen it will be a lot less. (Unless it's a 'palmtop'.)

If you're in New England, check out Kaplan Computers in Manchester, CT. If you're in the Pacific Northwest, check out Boeing Surplus or RePC -- both have stores (in | near) Kent. If you aren't near any of these, sorry, I can't suggest anything other than (shudder) eBay.

If your in the Seattle area, there is a company called RE-PC who will recycle old monitors for $10 a piece. Why $10? well because theyer are affliated with the county recycling program and the county charges $10 for each tube. Just be thankful they're not charging you storage space (since 6 pallets 6 ft high are required before a call to the county is placed)

While browsing through their printers, I found a HP 5si/MX with the printer test page taped to the top... the page count was over 500,000. When I remarked on its' long and presumably rough life, the reply was "Oh, that's a young one! They usually don't wear out until about 2 million pages."

DAMN.

I had the misfortune to have to install some of those monsters when they were new... they came in on a 1/4-size oak pallet, and had to be moved by (1) a pallet jack, or (2) two burly men or three IT geeks. (They weigh well over 300 pounds.)

Personally, I have a LaserJet 4+ upgraded to 16MB RAM, and a IIIP with 5MB. They've served me for... good Lord, almost 5 and 8 years, respectively! I bought the 4+ used, and I've never had to replace the toner cartridge... so for 5 years of use it has cost me $150. (I think that's what I paid for it...)

The only desire to upgrade that I have experienced is when I found HP's LaserJet 8550 series -- color, prints on 11x17 paper. The 8000 series is the replacement for the 5si, so these things put out something on the order of 25 pages/minute B&W, and perhaps 1/4 that when using color. The estimated cost per page? About 3 cents, not including the purchase price of the machine.

As for me, I'll be looking for a used one. (Probably about 3 years from now.)

RePC is a good No-Frills place for old/recycled stuff. You can sell them your old equipment too.

-- D.

"If you get a 100-kV power supply built in 1950, chances are you'll be happy. There is continual improvement, but no quantum leaps. Computers are the most useless--they are right up there with disposable diapers in landfill."

Oh, how true that is. And it applies on a personal level. I have a basement full of computer crap to prove it. I thought "Oh, I'll put them together and make some usable systems for a local charity." BZZZTT! The local charities won't even take anything less than a P5 or pm601 system. They say 486's and 040's cost more to test than they can sell them for. Frankly, it's hard to find a place to dispose of them.

But peripherals, cable and infrastructure stuff? That's a different matter. I picked up three fiber transceivers from Value Village a month ago for $5ea. Ditto ($7) for a HP Deskjet 1600 (the big 9ppm postcript color inkjet w/jetdirect). IMHO, local thrift stores are great for this sort of stuff IF you don't get sucked into buying more stuff to fix the great deal you got.

Looking for little stuff like power adapters, modems, printers, etc? Head for the local thrift store. Looking for wiring or shielding? Check out industrial supply places (like Pacific Iron & Metal in Seattle, where you can get castoff spools from the local telcos). Looking for bigger infrastructure bits? You can get rackmount cases, cable, sensors, and all manner of interesting bits directly from telco salvage units, places like re-pc, or if you're nearby, places like Boeing Surplus

A little time spent doing some smart looking can save a lot of cash. Otoh, A lot of time looking can be a huge waste. You just gotta know when to stop and pay retail.

Jon