Geek Gift Ideas 2001

Once again its time for Slashdot readers to chime in on what they think would make good gift geek christmas presents. Please put approximate prices in the Subject so Santa can more easily decide your gift ;) I'm still stuck for ideas for a few people yet. Of course I'll have to post my ideas anonymously so people don't know what they're getting ;)

Comments

Gamecube + Rogue Leader

[Raster Burn]

A new game console, plus a Star Wars related game... what else could a geek possibly want?

Strange ideas...

[Krapangor]

..most ideas I've read here are rather strange.
The ultimate geek gift is a computer.
Always.
Ever.
All the time.
If a geek has 1 computer he can always use another one.
If a geek has n computers he can always use n+1 computers.

In fact, the necessary (but no sufficient) condition for being a geek is to have always use for another computer. If someone hasn't he isn't a geek.

For the knowledge whore

[lordbyron]

30 discs of the Complete National Geographic from 1888 to 2000.

Every article, Every picture, and of course every Cool ass map

Lordbyron
www.wylywade.com

Re:A girlfriend -- priceless

[OmegaDan]

hehe ... freedom from a bad woman, priceless ... endearment to a good one, also priceless.

Unconventional gifts.

[Christopher Thomas]

I'm sure we'll have hundreds of suggestions for nice hardware in short order, so I'm going to post a few gift suggestions that can't run Linux but still have geek appeal:

• A good soldering iron, a stack of vector board cards, and a bucket of BJTs, resistors, caps, and LEDs.
  
  Every once in a while I pull out a soldering iron and rediscover the fun of building widgetry from the ground up. Project books giving an introduction to electronics and a set of simple but neat building block circuits are still kicking around, and would be a useful addition to the pile as well.
  
  
• A very large pile of Meccano or Construx.
  
  I'll dig out my own pile of each someday. Geek appeal comes from trying to build things that most people would never think of (a working mechanical clock out of Construx was my biggest accomplishment with that medium).
  
  
• Decent origami paper and a couple of books on the subject.
  
  This falls under the "intricate hobbies" category, and so has a good chance of being welcome. I know I'm not the only geek with folded paper critters gracing his cube (a dragon, a Pierson's Puppeteer, and a Federation starship - yes, it can be done!).
  
  
• Gift certificates for the nearest bookstore that has a decent computer reference section.
  
  At $50-$100 Cdn apiece, one reference book costs as much as a large stack of sci-fi books. Help with getting new ones is always welcome, and I'm sure I'm not the only geek who likes documentation on the nifty tools I'm thinking about using (or am already using, for that matter).
  

There's no need to stick with hardware that will be obsolete in six months :).

Caveat with most of these - make sure your recipient is interested in them first. Yes, it ruins the surprise, but it's better than getting a bucketful of transistors when the sight of copper and lead make you cringe.

Robot cockroaches?

[peter303]

I pased through the mall yesterday and saw many toy store pushing "robo-bugs". The gift for little boys, or shelf-filler on Dec 26?

A nice Chess Set

[SCHecklerX]

Hand carved stone, stone board, etc.

Re:Gift ideas that are good...

[FatRatBastard]

An 80's Arcade Game. One of those real-life 6' stand-up arcade games. Any self-respecting geek wouldn't snub his nose at one... well, unless it was a really bad title. "Oh, wow! Pit Fighter! I've always wanted one of THOSE."

Or a pinball machine. The best god-damn disposable income purchase I ever made. Lots of fun to play, and lots of geeky TLC needed to keep it in tip top condition.

Beer.

[supabeast!]

I just want an entire keg of Guiness, and a keg-er-ator that can hold it!

Re:A girlfriend -- priceless

[aidoneus]

I almost agree, except in my case it would be getting my almost fiancee back. She broke things off right before my birthday, and since that time we've been trying for a friendship, but there's too much hurt for things to be working right. So what am I doing? What any self respecting geek would do. I stopped pouring my money into her and instead am redirecting it to hardware. Sad, but hey I've got some neat new toys to play with so I can try and forget what happened.

Hint for anyone in a serious relationship: if you and the one you love start taking it for granted that you have each other, you'll lose each other. We stopped treating each other as the most precious things in each others lives (instead we just would talk about work, not how we really were) and that was the beginning of the end. Guys, when you're in a place like that listen to your girlfriend and let her know how much you care and respect her. Respect is vital.

Ok, too much off-topic rambling.