I got bored and now I’m looking at tiny phones on aliexpress
TINY PHONE!
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/04/06
This was an awesome thread: [WayBack] Thread by @Foone: Someone (I think in the replies to the LGR “no thrifting during the crisis” tweet) suggested we do VIRTUAL THRIFTING! which is a great idea… saved from this [Archive.is] Twitter thread.
Someone (I think in the replies to the LGR “no thrifting during the crisis” tweet) suggested we do VIRTUAL THRIFTING! which is a great idea and also what I’ve been doing for a while. So I’m gonna link to some of these ali-express focused threads…
INCOMING METATHREADthe most recent one was yesterday’s “tiny phones” one. I managed to make it all the way through without even mentioning that most of these are so small so you can put smuggle them into prisons! in your butt!
I got bored and now I’m looking at tiny phones on aliexpress
TINY PHONE!
166 people are talking about this
Last monday I was looking at breakout boards and found a lot of weird electronic components that I’m not sure why you’d need, including a PCI-over-DVI one that made me fall out of my chair:
have you ever seen a breakout for a DB37 port?
No? TOO BAD YOU HAVE NOW, ALIEXPRESS HAS THEM80 people are talking about this
Back in February I found a bunch of weird adapters, like a 10-micro-SD-cards-to-SATA adapter:
so I was looking for a MicroSD to M.2 adapter (shut up, it exists, and I have reasons to want it) and I found something way more cursed:
M.2 (SDIO) to SD card slot!475 people are talking about this
In January I found USB OVER FIBEROPTICS because why not have a USB device a kilometer or two away?
431 people are talking about this
Back in November I had a bad day and tried to get aliexpress to save it. and that USB-3 to angular industrial micro-usb B helped, as did the 120-port USB charger.
361 people are talking about this
Earlier that same week I was also looking at industrial shit on aliexpress.
“industrial” seems to be a code word for “has screws”whenever I get bored and think my life is going too well, I google “industrial USB-C” and now everything is back to shit
1,162 people are talking about this
and I did one back in january of 2019 that started on amazon and mainly involved weird USB connectors, like the USB shark
it’s always weird when you can go on amazon to look up cable adapters and get the same options as with romance novels
268 people are talking about this
I also finished out the year of 2019 with a thread where I looked at aliexpress sex toys, which are hilarious because they have to keep their ads SFW so there’s a lot of fruit metaphors. More than you’d expect.
in February I went through some auction-related-sites and found a bunch of weird novelty phones:
173 people are talking about this
in December I looked up weird keyboards on aliexpress and found Weird Things, like a keycap that uses a meme from a yaoi manga from the early 2000s?
I went on aliexpress for Foolish Reasons and who needs a 10-key on your keyboard when you can get a separate external 9-key?
103 people are talking about this
and this thread where I went through all the industrial keyboards on ebay.
there are a lot. they all look painful to type on.this keyboard is great.
It’s from a Computer Identics Scanstar 326 bar code system https://www.ebay.com/itm/Computer-Identics-ScanStar-326-Bar-Code-Terminal-New-old-stock/123637940269 …See foone’s other Tweets
and a bunch more in august, for custom devices, the kind which don’t have QWERTY, they instead have buttons like “HOME BONUS”:
I love custom keyboards.
This is for a scoreboard from TransLux and it has lots of fun buttons, like HORN and VISITOR INJURY TIMER and WEIGHT GAME39 people are talking about this
and one time I went through GovDeals and found some computer stuff and a lot of weird stuff like a machine that tells you not to use bleach near it, but has no explanation why…
someone reminded me of http://govdeals.com and boy there’s some fun categories on there.
like “driving simulators”50 people are talking about this
and there was a time I was bored and stuck at a Guitar Center so I took pictures of various things and got a (musical!) keyboard to ask me to agree to the GPL:
This one is awesome looking. It’s got the whole button-thing and all the dials and the keyboard.
See foone’s other Tweets
And for a less “virtual” sort of thrifting, there’s the threads where I go to the monthly Electronics Flea Market (currently canceled because of the crisis)
Here’s the one from May 2018:The monthly Electronics Flea Market (formerly at De Anza) was today.
Here’s some pictures!
First off, an InternetPhone Wizard!(And check @TubeTimeUS‘s posts, they were there too and took pics)
See foone’s other Tweets
and the one from April 2018:
So today was the first day of the Electronics Flea Market at the new location, the Sunnyvale Fry’s (instead of De Anza college).
Did I feel like death? YEP! Should I have gone? NOPE! Did I go anyway? YOU BET!
Here’s my thread of pictures of junk I thought was neat.
17 people are talking about this
April 2019:
128 people are talking about this
August 2018: weren’t many pictures this time, for some reason:
See foone’s other Tweets
June 2017:
Today was the Electronics Flea Market @ De Anza College. First up, here’s the thread for stuff I saw but didn’t get.
See foone’s other Tweets
May 2017:
Cool Stuff at the De Anza Electronics Flea Market that I didn’t buy, part 1:
A TRS-80 Coco 2 & IBM PC jr, in box!
A PS/2 portable, and an XTSee foone’s other Tweets
March 2017:
Things I saw at the fair but didn’t get : a special effects generator, and a trs 80 coco 2
See foone’s other Tweets
June 2019:
This is terrible. I’ve been at the electronics fair for like 45 minutes, I’ve spend half my money, and I’ve seen ZERO LASERDISCS OR FLOPPIES
28 people are talking about this
May 2019:
September 2017:
De Anza electronics fair time! Incoming live tweeting of old electronic crap
See foone’s other Tweets
That one has a followup thread for the stuff I actually got:
Here’s the cool stuff I got at the electronics fair.
First up, an Osborne Vixen! This is the 1985 model.
It’s a CP/M portable.See foone’s other Tweets
August 2017:
See foone’s other Tweets
and here’s a “stuff I got” thread for the July 2017 fair:
Another De Anza Electronics Fair has come and gone, and I have many pictures. First up, stuff I did buy.
Rollercoaster Tycoon, in box!See foone’s other Tweets
September 2019:
Me: wow, a Hybridizer!
Seller: oh yeah, want to do some CRISPR?
other guy: I’ve actually got a CRISPR kit in my fridge, haven’t done anything with it yet.
Me: yeah, that’s why you’re not a catgirl yet!
Seller: what’s a catgirl?
Me:76 people are talking about this
And here’s the didn’t-buy from the July 2017:
The longer of the two De Anza Electronics Fair picture threads: The stuff I didn’t buy!
First up, this network tester. Solidly built thing!See foone’s other Tweets
and here’s the stuff-i-got thread from August 2017:
So I also went to the De Anza Electronics Fair yesterday. Here’s what I got:
A book on building your own PC!See foone’s other Tweets
and here’s a stuff-i-got from June 2017:
De Anza Flea Market Thread Part 2: Stuff I did get!
First, this sweet stylish CRT TV (color).
Lovely knobs. Knobs are good.See foone’s other Tweets
this one isn’t a thread, but I feel I should share it anyway:
The September 2018 Electronics Fair Corgi:I’m not at a real keyboard so I’m not yet ready to share all my neat electronics fair pictures and pickups so here’s just a hecking big corgo.
See foone’s other Tweets
and for the September 2018 one I got so much neat shit that I did a video of it, which is 25 minutes of me pointing at shit and talking about how cool it is
then here’s a thread of standard goodwill-style thrifting back in 2018, when I got my tires slashed:
Some neat stuff I saw while thrifting: a mixer that can record to minidisc
26 people are talking about this
Another time of thrifting. I found barbies that were wrapped in plastic. it’s weird.
I went thrifting today. Here’s some pictures I took of stuff I saw.
I saw this and started breathing heavily. Educational? FOR DOS? and it’s empty. of fucking corse.See foone’s other Tweets
I went antiquing and found some weird VHS tapes and tiny toasters
My roommate and I went out antiquing today, and she picked up a sweet telephone https://twitter.com/gewt/status/1033929103877885952 …
contents under pressure@gewt See foone’s other Tweets
another good time at good will, which starts with tijuana christmas and ends with pregnant yoga (as do most good weekends)
The best thing to do in a Goodwill is check out the vinyl.
If you’re lucky, you’ll find laserdiscs.
if you’re not lucky, you’ll at least find vinyl like this.20 people are talking about this
another minithread on goodwilling, which has some air force vinyl albums and UNISEX ROCKING
15 people are talking about this
and a time I went down to Santa Cruz and found laserdiscs and VHS tapes and a monopoly dress.
I went to a few Goodwill thrift stores today. And as always, there were laserdiscs in the vinyl pile.
Like Hollywood Vice Squad or Courage MountainSee foone’s other Tweets
back on the subject of virtual thrifting, there’s that time I got bored and looked through every VHS tape about Satan on ebay:
and a similar thread where I looked through Jesus Tapes, mainly 90s prophecy stuff:
See foone’s other Tweets
one of the sad threads from the good ol’ days when Weird Stuff Warehouse still existed:
Today at the junk shop: A bunch of small-box Mac games! Mostly boxes, no discs. A SIX PORT IDE controller. Old school RAID, I guess?
See foone’s other Tweets
Another time involving GIANT HARD DRIVES:
Went to the junk store today, and saw some hard drives. The one on the left is 80mb, I suspect the right one is even smaller.
28 people are talking about this
the time with a pile of PC/XTs:
I went back to the junk store to test those PCs/XTs and OH SHIT THERE’S EVEN MORE NOW
See foone’s other Tweets
junk stores and pinball:
Today @gewt and I showed @LuigiThirty around some of the bay areas FINEST JUNK STORE and the pinball museum. it was fun. Here’s some pictures of the stuff we saw:
This lovely 70s(80s?)-era walkie talkie from Radio Shack. Originally 99.95$!See foone’s other Tweets
another time with the PCs:
I went to the junk store and HOLY SHIT A PILE OF 5150s? And 5160s? and a clone? And even more old PCs?
64 people are talking about this
More times at Weird Stuff
Here’s the last two junk store trips merged into one.
First, this neat suitcase-sized Network Tester.See foone’s other Tweets
the time I went to weirdstuff and found plotters and mpreg:
Some fun stuff at the junk store today, like this HP 9836C computer! This is the 1983 color monitor version of the 1981 machine.
390×512 display. 8mhz 68k CPU. 512k-2.5mb RAMSee foone’s other Tweets
and another time, which featured a STEALTHY CRT:
I went to the junk store again. (I’ve been off work for 5 days and gone on 3 of those days. I may be an addict.)
First thing I see: PCMCIA SCSI card! naturally, doesn’t match any of my SCSI dongles.
and a big pile of mini-discs!See foone’s other Tweets
The time with the Noise Machine:
Went to the junk store again. It turns out the Dot Com era is definitely over, they’re throwing out all the CueCats!
16 people are talking about this
The Time I Didn’t Get A Vic-20:
Some really good stuff at the junk store today, that I didn’t get
A VIC-20, in box, with power supply and Datasette!
And a bunch of IBM Model M keyboards.See foone’s other Tweets
the time with the TRS-80 CoCo2:
Hit up the junk store today. First up, a laptop in the “as-is” section that’s VERY as-is.
See foone’s other Tweets
The time with the 8-port VGA KVM:
It’s a day ending in Y, so the chances I went to a junk store or two are pretty good.
First up, a Powerbook 3400c! Sadly, no power adapters on hand so I couldn’t easily test this. looked to be in decent shape, though.
See foone’s other Tweets
The time with the minidisc recorders:
Went to another junk store today.
Here’s Excess Solutions in San Jose!
THREAD O’ PICSSee foone’s other Tweets
the time with the 200amp fuse:
Junk Store Thread!
I love the look of prototyping boards. They’re like those baby activity centers, but for people of soldering age.17 people are talking about this
The time with the pile of 486s:
Things I didn’t expect to see at the junk store: an entire car dashboard
See foone’s other Tweets
Starcraft 64 Time:
Neat things I saw at the junk store: A mass EEPROM programmer. This thing is huge, like 4 feet across.
See foone’s other Tweets
Another time, with a Sphygmomanometer
Here’s the stuff I saw at my local junk store but didn’t get. First up, this awesome mixer panel. Look at all these controls!
See foone’s other Tweets
OK I’m gonna stop now.
Please enjoy the thrifting.
–jeroen
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