Sun

Won another Solbourne S3000 on eBay. These are one of my favourite weird SPARCs, not just because Solbournes run their bespoke unusual version of SunOS 4, but also because of the literally hot hot hot gas plasma display. I have one, complete with case, but wanted a spare, and this one appeared to be in great shape.

Box arrived, with some obvious shipping damage (bad sign). Opened it up. It was floating in packing peanuts (worse sign), though it was in its carrying case, which was a nice surprise. Opened it up to discover ... the DISPLAY WAS CRACKED. No padding around the glass display at all!

Thanks to this idiot's carelessness, there is one less S3000 in the world. I can probably raid it for parts, I guess, but the display will not show an image at all. And the flaring orange gas plasma display is the best part of these things.

Damn dude I'm sorry, that totally blows.

Horrible!

Hope you get your money back from that idiot. Maybe next time he'll learn to pack kit properly if he expects it to survive transit.

In fairness to the seller, they have agreed to refund. So, while I'm unhappy with the fact that a rare S3000 is ruined, at least this person is honest.

Yeah after the G5 incident you and I had, and a few other systems getting damaged in transit, I've learned how to pack systems much more wisely... its a shame this information I learned is just not widely discussed or taught.

TeamBlackFox wrote: I've learned how to pack systems much more wisely... its a shame this information I learned is just not widely discussed or taught.

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/postingadvice.html

I'd recommend sending Ian's packaging instructions to anyone you're buying valuable/delicate kit from

I've had a few bits from him and his packaging is armageddon-proof. About the only downside is that it takes a good half an hour with a Stanley knife to cut through all the re-enforced cardboard and ream upon ream of duct-taped bubble wrap to get to the goodies inside. But on the plus side, they're always completely intact and damage-free!

It always worries me how many people are selling XIO boards with no protection of the compression connector. How do they know some guy in customs won't cop a feel and ruin it unwittingly?

I didn't notice it till yesterday but there is a small dent in the back of my Octane in the top left corner above the video boards, apparently somebody dropped it, which is why the skin at the very back corner shows slight signs of manglage. It came in a practically destroyed home depot box with those stryofoam chips around it and in another bigger FedEx box. Fortunately there's no other damage to it and it's completely functional except for the flaky TRAM module.