PowerPC parts exchange?


I have had this idea for a while, but it somehow always went to the back of my mind.  What would you guys think of me adding a parts exchange area to this blog?  I'm asking my fellow authors as well as all the readers.

It would simply be an area on this blog where fellow PowerPC users can give and receive any spare parts they have, especially if they don't really have a use for it themselves.  If we do this, I would like to start it as a pure parts exchange, where the only real money involved is for shipping.  If it goes well then we could even add the ability for people to use it as a sort of PowerPC-specific Craigslist of sorts, but parts are MUCH cheaper to ship compared to systems.

I'm not talking about you all sending spare parts to one place, then making them available to others, as that would be horribly inefficient, but rather a page here to put people that have and/or need parts in touch with each other.  You would then work out your details with each other in private, in your preferred method of communication.  A central parts portal, if you will, for our always shrinking little PowerPC community.

So tell me what you guys think.  I don't want to add this here if no one will really use it.

Since none of the Apple PowerPC parts can be bought new any longer, I think an exchange could really fill a parts void for many.

15 comments:

  1. I think that would be a great idea! I do spend a lot of time window shopping in craigslist for PPC machines. Alot of times I find things that make me wish I had more roon ;)

    It would pretty cool to have a place where we can exchange parts.

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    1. I hope you have better luck with craigslist than I do. My craigslist market is usually very disappointing. It's usually people wanting $300 plus for powermac g5s or powerbook g4s.

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    2. I got my powermac G4 for about $75 from craigslist.

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    3. I guess the Vancouver (Canada) Craigslist is much lower price-wise, because I have seen and bought systems much cheaper than that.

      My personal records:
      PM G4 Digital Audio - $15
      PM G4 Sawtooth (delivered to my home also) - $25

      Also, I have seen MDD's for $25 and G5's as low as $40.

      I did once see some douche selling an iMac G4 for $1600. Seriously.

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  2. Really good idea. Most of us have a lot of unused powerpc hardware that would be quite useful for other users. If we want to keep our machines working for daily basics we should be working together.

    I am for the idea of a place to share and exchange parts.

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  3. This is a great idea! I am in favor of this.

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  4. Thanks for the feedback everyone, but I want to wait to hear from a few more first before I decide to create the parts exchange. I really want to know what Dan and B-rock think also.

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  5. Sounds like a plan to me. People are constantly giving me old PPC hardware free of charge, so my collection of machines grows frequently. I'd would be more than willing to help donate this as needed. And you are right. It's getting much harder to find parts and I want nothing more than to keep my PPC machines going for years to come.

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  6. It had better not require a Google account. The very successful LEM Swap has two problems in my eyes: requires public disclosure of name, town, postal code (not deal-breaker for me, but it is discomforting), and requires a Google account. 68kMLA Trading Post is not nearly as trafficked as lemswap, but it is worth a look.

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    1. Did you require a Google account to comment here? No. So you won't need one to use the parts exchange here either. Any personal details will only be given to the one you're sending or receiving parts from.

      This place is so far from what LEM is that we're not even in the same universe.

      LEM = ignorant fanboys faking their way through it

      PowerPC Liberation = people that actually know WTF they're doing, and do it for a living on top of that

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  7. I think it's a great idea. Are most of the readers from the US? fairly available here in the UK. Incidently what would you recommend for a new purchase? running on one of the 1st eMacs at the moment but always wanted a G5

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  8. My advice... Stay away from G5 systems. Main reason for keep Powerpc running is reliability, with the exception of G5.

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  9. I suppose everyone will have their own opinion.
    If you are after a powermac g5 tower, bear in mind they are all at least 10 y.o. hardware. The most powerful processor configs have liguid cooling for the processors, so most will need to be rebuilt by now and might have leaked coolant.
    Now, I have 3 powermac g5 quad's, they all work but all LCS need to be rebuilt. Not impossible, but requires tools, patience and some parts (e.g. hoses, o-rings, clamps, etc).

    My opinion, Powermac G5 11.2 with 2.3GHz Dual core processors.
    You get dual core processors, DDR2 ram for bandwidth, PCIe bus for expansion and still is air cooled.

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