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Computer/Tech Flea Markets?
Spamlent Green asks: "The recent 'Cashing In On Antique Computers' thread, and the PBS Flea Market documentary made me all misty-eyed for the MIT Swap Fest. I moved from Cambridge to D.C. last year, and haven't been able to find anything like it down here, and I don't mean those bogus 'Comptuer Show and Sale and Monster Truck Rally' events advertised constantly on cheapo UHF stations. So I was curious -- do any DC-MD-No.VA-area Slashdot-ers know of events like this down here -- or anywhere else in the country for that matter? They must be out there ..."
There's something called First Saturday in Dallas, too, and a google search turned up a number of interesting possibilities. What recommendations can you make for the seeker of swap?
Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop
It's not in DC, but in Fort Lauderdale. It's a huge place, selling most anything on roughly 30 acres. Due to its sheer size, you'll probably find most anything you need, even though it does not specialize in computers or electronics.
Come on down and check it out. At least it's in a good vacation town!
There are two good swap meets I know of in or around Silicon Valley. The first is at Foothill College on the second Saturday of the month. It's impossible to miss, just show up early.
The other one is on the first Sunday of the month in Livermore at a college off of Airport Blvd (I forget the name).
Of the two, the Foothill College one is the biggest. There's a lot of trailing-edge technology there as well. I've seen all sorts of things there. The last time I saw some HUGE CCDs for astronomy. A couple of times I've even seen electron microscopes there.
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There is a largish swap meet that happens near the TRW building in the Manhattan Beach area on the last Saturday of every month. It's free admission, with effectively unlimited parking. It's located on the Northwest corner of Aviation and Marine.
It's frequented by a lot of amateur radio operators and hardcore electronics specialists, so don't expect to find helpful salesmen ready to sell you a system fresh off the boat from China. Expect vaccum tubes, used parts, legacy hard drive controllers and random electronic components you've never heard of.
More info at: http://www.csz.com/w6trw/swap.html
I know this is redundant, but I haven't seen the ARRL link posted yet:
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html
If you can't find it at a hamfest, it may not be worth finding at all! I have seen the following at hamfests:
- piles of C-band satellite gear, $5 or so
- DSS receivers and dishes for next to nothing
- 286 and 386 desktop PC's, FREE! (sans monitor and keyboard)
- old computer/language manuals of all descriptions
Its not just radio stuff!
8 bit computing - It may be 2007 out there, but it's 1983 in here!!
As a resident of the D/FW area and a regular at First Saturday I can attest to it's coolness on a first hand basis. It's been called "The largest open-air electronics sidewalk sale on the planet" and has had writeups in everything from local newspapers to the Wall Street Journal. Here's the scoop. On Friday night the vendors start to roll in, they sell all night and are gone by noon the next day. Mostly these are people who own computer shops throught the metroplex, but we get some of the larger vendors from further away too. Everyone pitches tents, sets up generators, cash registers, etc and sets tons, I mean TONS, of OEM and retail hardware on conference tables in the middle of a parking lot just west of the freeway. The prices are really amazing too. Every time I go to First Saturday I make it a point to go to Fry's the next day and browse for exactly the items I just bought off the street the night before. I've been stopped several times by people asking why I was laughing, and one time escorted from the store for laughing too hard at their prices. I've never paid more than half of what Fry's was asking for anything. Memory, motherboards, CPUs, CD burners, ANYTHING. Same brand names, same models, everything. I've never paid retail for any piece of hardware I've bought in any situation other than impulse buying. I've built three systems from parts purchased at First Saturday in the past four years and I intend to do it again as my current machine is over two years old. Cost me about 1200 bucks for the parts to build it at the time, and is just now starting to get a little behind the times. Think extreme bleeding edge two years ago for less than 1200 bucks.
I've introduced people in the office to First Saturday. The last time my co-workers went they all came back with factory refurbished 21" Sony Trinitron monitors for $325 the first time and the next month the price was $275. They got business cards and three year warranties from the companies. One of them had problems with it, took it back to the shop and they gave him another. They have 15" flat-panel HP monitors with integrated sound for about $300. I got my 120 watt, powered, shielded speakers for my workstation at the office for $6. That's not a typo. Six dollars. They sound good too.
I've also sold items there. My brother was a SA for a company who did a bunch of upgrades a while back and we hauled all the old desktop hardware out there and sold it out of the back of the company van. Good stuff, could have made some nice little BSD boxes, dirt cheap. Mix and match all the stuff you want. You want extra memory? Five bucks a stick for the simms you need.
That having been said, I am kind of disappointed with First Saturday recently. It's been going on for 30+ years now and originally you could get anything, I mean anything, electronic there. From single resistors to full computer sets. I saw military codebooks and collections of Magic cards there too. Now it's shifting from component-oriented to package oriented. They'll sell you bare-bones systems for $575 for a nice MB and Athlon based system, but without any of the toys like a DVD-ROM(bought mine there about a year ago for $85 for a 6X, damn fine price, and a major brand name too) You can still buy the component level stuff, but it's not the emphasis anymore. I guess it's just the world that has changed. The resistor is no longer a component, the board is a component. Sigh, I'm showing my age apparently.
Steven
-- I have marked myself unwilling to moderate-- I don't have other accounts to artificially inflate the karma of
Not everyone has an MIT swapshop nearby, so why automatically phase out those computer shows that you diss.
IF you actually KNOW your stuff about computers then you will get a better deal at a computer show because the vendors are there to make money and sell hardware. Build up relations with these vendors and they will get you anything you want at the best price and most likely support you better then anyone else.
Watch out for those shady "Pentiom Processor" dealers. And never buy a computer from the back of a monster truck. Ever.
New Jersey has the Trenton Computer Festival every year. The outdoor flea market there has just about everything imaginable. The latest hi-tech gadgets on one table, Commodore-64's on the next.
There is a *huge* HAMfest every year at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium (take the exit for Padonia Road off 695). Basically, three big buildings filled with HAM & old computer stuff, plus the parking lot is *filled* with people selling/trading their old equipment. I am a link to the website. The event is generally in April or May and costs $5 to get in. Check out the site for more info. I've gone a few years and picked up a lot of good equipment.
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
You're going to miss ComputerFest for some silly wedding. I'm sure your fiancee will understand your need to put off the wedding until another weekend.
"Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or dead." -Kurt Cobain
Being from the DC area, if you want inexpensive computer components I would urge you to actually try the Market Pro Computer Show and Sale. You can find information about the shows at this link.
Although they are advertised as you said "'Comptuer Show and Sale and Monster Truck Rally' events advertised constantly on cheapo UHF stations," they are mostly filled with local (DC/MD/VA) vendors and some out-of-area (PA/NY/NJ) sellers who sell computers and computer compenents. I would not recommend this show for any novice computer user. I do extensive research of the product(s) I want to buy before I go there; because the phrase caveat emptor is very appropriate.[1]
However, since you mentioned you wanted more of a swap fest, this may not be for you. You might try...
There are also fedral auctions at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) which sell many components. However, most of them are really old government surplus. My step-father once picked up three 9 inch floppy drives there (it was part of a pallet where he wanted the plotter). I don't know the URL of the auctions but you can goto the GSFC Website and search for it. Google may work as well.
Finally there are HAMfests in the DC area you can go to. Not being a HAM operator/user I don't know of any. Once again, google may help.
[1] My friend once claims that he bought a motherboard from a computer show that was not FCC compliant (made in China) and interfered with radio devices. I have only bought a bad harddisk once which the (local) vendor was happy to replace. Again, caveat emptor.
[managed to get a refurbed 21" trinitron for $300 a couple of years back, some APC 2200s for $600 each, etc.]
For more info, see:(As it's coming up at the end of the month)
I highly suggest getting there as early as you can on Saturday, and if you find a deal, go for it, as it might not still be there by the time you go around the entire place (it's a massive computer show).
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Ever since computers started invading Hamfests in
the mid 80's, they have been a great place to buy
new and used parts at the lowest possible prices.
For a list see:
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html#listing