More tinkering with the Compaq - have 512mb of RAM installed and found a SSD it liked (thing is super finicky) - but hey, it plays Tyrian! :)

Here was the inside of the PSU and its fan - and the after to give some idea. Everything was taken outside and brushed/blown out while I wore a mask and gloves. The results are pretty good, though!

Too many projects to tinker with lately - I've been working on the Compaq rescue PC. THIS is why I usually won't full send a computer in my home until after I clean it out. I don't want this nastiness blowing around, bleh! I stripped the pc down to the metal and cleaned it all...

Flea market Friday time - picked up this one Toshiba PDR-M5 digital camera for $13 that caught my eye for how plain and blocky it looks and being Toshiba branded. It's a 2.1mp Smart Media camera, came with the charger and battery pack. Seems to work so far. :)

Despite the iffy weather Saturday, had a good time at the VCF East Swap Meet - I came prepared with a tent/gazebo thing so the couple times it drizzled was no problem. Sold most of what I took, which gives me back some space. I did lower some prices as the morning progressed. I'm surprised some things didn't go, given how cheap I had them marked (especially after marking down further). I do feel most of my sold items went to folks that will enjoy them/use them, makes me happy :)

Still need to update from the VCF Swap Meet yesterday, but have a flea market pickup from today - been wanting a VTech camera watch since seeing one on Cheap Camera/Pro Photographer Challenge - this was $12 at the flea, new! How could I not get it? :)

@uliwitness @kalleboo it's something to consider, but just in reading a bit - seems to be pretty beta-ish. I do appreciate the suggestion, though. For now, nothing is going anywhere and may not so perhaps I'll decide when something changes with this instance.

@uliwitness @kalleboo I have not/had not heard of it - what I'll say is, I'm iffy on using third party apps and granting them access to do thing things between social accounts - same reason I don't use apps that would post to all three socials via one app (thus why managing three is a PiTA for me) - just seems like asking for my accounts to get compromised.

@bakkus yeah - there's a reason most anyone that had the knowledge back in that era wanted to build their own instead of buy off the shelf. But, lots of folks have memories of these machines and want them because the parents had them or it was the first PC in the family home kind of stuff, so it's all flipped around these days :) I fondly remember playing Wolf 3D and Omega Race on my cousin's Packard Bell.

Just look at all that crap on the task bar (plus AOL Search) - Specs AMD K6 3D (233 MHz?), 88mb RAM, SiS 530 Graphics, ESS SOLO-1 Sound, Win98 SE

Found something interesting on the Compaq I picked up today - it still has the factory tamper seal. Funny it made it all these years without being opened. Against my better judgement, decided to just full send. It booted up into Win98 with so much bloat. Poor thing is so slow...

@Irishmasms @Markus I'll give it consideration - but I think someone mentioned that as an option before, issue is that the dates would not be preserved, it'd all look to be posted same date (unless something changed). I'm sure if it was an instance you own, you might have ability to go in and edit, guessing otherwise no.

@wedgestratos I'm sure he will make announcements before doing anything - I think he's exploring options of handing the torch to someone else. I'm just putting it out there now so hopefully folks will have time to consider following me elsewhere if they so choose.

@Markus it's just not that simple for me - that's the first account and has the full posting history, it's a journal for me if you will - Mastadon and the Sky came along a lot later, and don't have everything - it's something I care about preserving as long as I can (I do have the export backups as well). Plus that wouldn't resolve the issue here of the instance potentially going away.

Not at all surprising, the Mac Mini booted right up to a fresh install of OS X 10.11 - 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, NVidia GeForce 9400 256MB RAM, and 320GB Sata HDD. Not exactly sure what I'll do with it, have to get a PSU (borrowing one from my other Mini atm). Cool though!

PSA: I've heard some talk that Sean may not continue hosting Bitbang with everything he has on his plate. For the folks that follow me here, if this instance goes I'm unlikely to continue on Mastadon. I'd appreciate it if you follow me over on BlueSky or X, but I know some folks just don't care for either. Managing 3 socials is a hassle for me, I just don't feel like figuring out how to move this account if/when this instance goes away.

The flea market was packed today - picked up a Mac Mini (A1283) no psu and a bag of 4GB SSDs (good for DOS era setups) for $8. Also Duke Nukem 3D w/ a bonus strats and secrets disk for $2. Finally, a /free/ Compaq Presario tower (was abandoned on a table, had to rescue).

Out of curiosity - anyone else remember READ magazines? I only vaguely remember them from school, kept them for some reason (probably because I was a pack rat). They are kind of a Reader's Digest / Highlights type of magazine for young readers.

And some more electronics - that Panasonic 27" TV price O_O;;

Going through old paperwork/files crap I brought from home - found this Amazon Holiday 2000 catalogue among the stuff. Funny to think there was a time Amazon sent out brochures like this - the items and prices are a blast from the past, too. Thought I'd share :)