Cool item here 110180379649 .. no way I am going to pay $90.00 to ship it here to the USA though.. Must be nice to live
"Down Under" there are a lot of good commodore items for sale it seems
Linkage (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110180379649) for lazy (like me.)
It's got a little chink out of the upper right corner of the logo tag. That's at least 75% off fair market price if you're a collector.
Really, how rare are these things if some guy way out in the Outback has got one? I'm sure they're piled hip-deep in the streets in Toronto. You guys got boatloads of everything Commodore made. :)
I see Andrew's bidding for it.
If one of you guys in the U.S. or Canada win this drive, don't forget to swap out the transformer as it will blow up when plugged into 110Volts :)
Quote from: MangeloreI see Andrew's bidding for it.
If one of you guys in the U.S. or Canada win this drive, don't forget to swap out the transformer as it will blow up when plugged into 110Volts :)
Yup... I already did this on one that I got from Austria. I just put a 110V transformer from an otherwise dead 1541 in it, and it worked great. :)
As for being piled hip-deep, no... The 1570 was only sold in Europe and Australia, and not for very long. As soon as the 1571 was released, the 1570 was discontinued.
-Andrew
actually it will not blow up.... 220 plugged into 110 = not enough juice. 110 plugged into 220.... look out....
Quote from: Dragosactually it will not blow up.... 220 plugged into 110 = not enough juice. 110 plugged into 220.... look out....
Yep, spot on. Sorry about that.
Quote from: MangeloreI see Andrew's bidding for it.
If one of you guys in the U.S. or Canada win this drive, don't forget to swap out the transformer as it will blow up when plugged into 110Volts :)
I was too - but I got outbid :(
Quote from: adminI was too - but I got outbid :(
Hmm... I guess that means you're "commodore_avatar" on eBay, eh? That was me that outbid you... Sorry about that... If it makes you feel any better, I was outbid, too. I bid up to AU$30, but due to the high cost of international shipping, I'm not willing to pay any more than that.
-Andrew
Quote from: wiskowQuote from: adminI was too - but I got outbid :(
Hmm... I guess that means you're "commodore_avatar" on eBay, eh? That was me that outbid you... Sorry about that... If it makes you feel any better, I was outbid, too. I bid up to AU$30, but due to the high cost of international shipping, I'm not willing to pay any more than that.
-Andrew
That's me :)
Did you see that Mangelore, who lives in Australia, had exactly the same problem when bidding on something he wanted in the States? He dropped out because of shipping costs. You guys just live on the opposite sides of the world from where you need to be. :)
I'd actually love to live in Oz... I've been lucky enough to be able to visit there during my time in the navy. I've been to both Perth and Sydney. Both are very nice. While in Perth, I rented a car and drove as far south as Mandurah. Beautiful... I'd really love to see more of the country one day... :)
-Andrew
Quote from: airshipDid you see that Mangelore, who lives in Australia, had exactly the same problem when bidding on something he wanted in the States? He dropped out because of shipping costs. You guys just live on the opposite sides of the world from where you need to be. :)
My favourite moan as well - although in my case, most of the stuff I want (PEt related) is in Europe - oh well, maybe next life I'll be born in the UK :)
cheers,
Lance
Quote from: adminQuote from: airshipDid you see that Mangelore, who lives in Australia, had exactly the same problem when bidding on something he wanted in the States? He dropped out because of shipping costs. You guys just live on the opposite sides of the world from where you need to be. :)
My favourite moan as well - although in my case, most of the stuff I want (PEt related) is in Europe - oh well, maybe next life I'll be born in the UK :)
cheers,
Lance
Yes, there's a lot of cool stuff in Europe. I've been trying to score a 1551, C116, C64GS and a few other goodies but the shipping cost for heavy items from countries like the U.K. is horrendous when having to pay using Aussie dollars...
Quote from: MangeloreQuote from: adminQuote from: airshipDid you see that Mangelore, who lives in Australia, had exactly the same problem when bidding on something he wanted in the States? He dropped out because of shipping costs. You guys just live on the opposite sides of the world from where you need to be. :)
My favourite moan as well - although in my case, most of the stuff I want (PET related) is in Europe - oh well, maybe next life I'll be born in the UK :)
cheers,
Lance
Yes, there's a lot of cool stuff in Europe. I've been trying to score a 1551, C116, C64GS and a few other goodies but the shipping cost for heavy items from countries like the U.K. is horrendous when having to pay using Aussie dollars...
On the other hand, with the US dollar looking so poorly, shipping from the USA is starting to look attractive. Of course there's the issue of power with US items. Dunno why they never followed the standard 240 volts like just about everywhere else :( (which is one of the good things about European equipment, plug it in & off you go).
I also envy you somewhat, a lot of cool retro stuff comes up in Melbourne & so many sellers there allow pick up only.
Any chance I can do a deal with you ?
cheers,
Lance
Quote from: adminQuote from: MangeloreQuote from: adminMy favourite moan as well - although in my case, most of the stuff I want (PET related) is in Europe - oh well, maybe next life I'll be born in the UK :)
cheers,
Lance
Yes, there's a lot of cool stuff in Europe. I've been trying to score a 1551, C116, C64GS and a few other goodies but the shipping cost for heavy items from countries like the U.K. is horrendous when having to pay using Aussie dollars...
On the other hand, with the US dollar looking so poorly, shipping from the USA is starting to look attractive. Of course there's the issue of power with US items. Dunno why they never followed the standard 240 volts like just about everywhere else :( (which is one of the good things about European equipment, plug it in & off you go).
I also envy you somewhat, a lot of cool retro stuff comes up in Melbourne & so many sellers there allow pick up only.
Any chance I can do a deal with you ?
cheers,
Lance
Sure thing Lance. Happy to help out.
Cheers
Fotios
Quote from: adminOn the other hand, with the US dollar looking so poorly, shipping from the USA is starting to look attractive. Of course there's the issue of power with US items. Dunno why they never followed the standard 240 volts like just about everywhere else :( (which is one of the good things about European equipment, plug it in & off you go).
Actually, with a few minor exceptions, if you look at the voltage standard for the world, it looks like a map of East vs. West... ;)
Check it out here (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/Map_of_the_world_coloured_by_voltage_and_frequency.png/800px-Map_of_the_world_coloured_by_voltage_and_frequency.png).
-Andrew
Looking at that map, it becomes clear why the US bombed out the power infrastructure when we invaded Iraq. We wanted to replace it with 110 volts! With Saudi Arabia being our only voltage allies in the Middle East, converting Iraq will be key in advancing our energy aims further.
Pity the poor buggers that live in countries with multiple standards.
Quote from: adminOn the other hand, with the US dollar looking so poorly, shipping from the USA is starting to look attractive. Of course there's the issue of power with US items. Dunno why they never followed the standard 240 volts like just about everywhere else
The reason why that North America uses 110 VAC is because we had large power grids before anyone else and were on the bleeding edge of technology. After we paved the way the rest of the world took the lessons learned and applied it to their own power grids.
Also, there's a myth that North American homes don't have 220 VAC power, which is by no means true. We have lots of appliances such as kitchen ranges, clothes dryers, freezers and refrigerators that require 220 VAC and all homes are wired with both 110 and 220.
The really difference is of course the frequency of our power which is of much more importance to device manufacturers. I bet a lot of people don't realize the first power grids in North America were actually high-voltage DC systems, but it's a lot harder to push DC over large distances and AC won out for the power grid because it's cheaper to distribute.
Quote from: plbyrdThe really difference is of course the frequency of our power which is of much more importance to device manufacturers. I bet a lot of people don't realize the first power grids in North America were actually high-voltage DC systems, but it's a lot harder to push DC over large distances and AC won out for the power grid because it's cheaper to distribute.
Interesting, Basslink here in Australia (Tasmania to Victoria) is around 300km & it's DC.
cheers,
Lance
Quote from: adminoh well, maybe next life I'll be born in the UK :)
cheers,
Lance
Sheesh! Don't wish that on yourself! ;-)
Quote from: adminQuote from: plbyrdThe really difference is of course the frequency of our power which is of much more importance to device manufacturers. I bet a lot of people don't realize the first power grids in North America were actually high-voltage DC systems, but it's a lot harder to push DC over large distances and AC won out for the power grid because it's cheaper to distribute.
Interesting, Basslink here in Australia (Tasmania to Victoria) is around 300km & it's DC.
cheers,
Lance
Do they have really old infrastructure there? I wonder what the driving force for using DC there was.
Quote from: plbyrdQuote from: adminQuote from: plbyrdThe really difference is of course the frequency of our power which is of much more importance to device manufacturers. I bet a lot of people don't realize the first power grids in North America were actually high-voltage DC systems, but it's a lot harder to push DC over large distances and AC won out for the power grid because it's cheaper to distribute.
Interesting, Basslink here in Australia (Tasmania to Victoria) is around 300km & it's DC.
cheers,
Lance
Do they have really old infrastructure there? I wonder what the driving force for using DC there was.
No - Basslink is new (less than 10 years old).
cheers,
Lance
Evidently some advances have been made in DC distribution systems since Westinghouse and Edison were duking it out in New York in the mid 1800's.
The problem with early DC was that you couldn't boost it using a transformer. For that you need AC. With today's technology, I'm sure DC is more than competitive. In fact, big transformers are one of the highest-cost (and biggest power loss) items involved in AC power transmission.
Anyway, Tesla and Westinghouse beat that bugger Edison, so it was cool. :D