[Seth-Trips] Robert Austin show, March 10

[Seth David Schoen]

I'm planning to go to the Robert Austin computer show at the Cow
Palace on Saturday the 10th, because Don Marti said so.

There is a Linux installfest there at the show.  My wrists are in
pretty bad shape at the moment, so I can't actually help carry things
or type.  I would, however, be interested in bringing bagels for the
CABAL volunteers at the show.  And I can _talk_ about Linux and free
software.

If you're a computer geek, Robert Austin shows are a pretty good
source of cheap hardware.  (A lot of it doesn't have any warranty, so
you should beware.  But you can get a working and relatively modern
computer for $100... or almost any kind of computer card or
peripheral.)

Of course, no computer geeks I know would want to buy software in a
box from a software vendor, right?

The best deal in my opinion is Roger's System Specialist, which is a
_huge_ cable/adaptor booth where you can get almost any kind of cable
that exists at very good prices.  (The prices are usually 10-25% what
Radio Shack would charge.)  If you want to build up your collection of
cables or adaptors, you should go by Roger's.

For example, they have audio cables, telephone cables, Ethernet
cables, serial cables, parallel cables... lots of nice stuff.

The reason I've gone to these things is the CABAL:

http://linuxmafia.com/cabal/

Sometimes BAFUG will do a FreeBSD installathon in co-operation with
the CABAL installfest.  Then you can meet Joe Grosch, which is always
nice.

You can read about the shows here:

http://www.robertaustin.com/

The show organizers are not technical people, and you can see this in
their advertising.  The small-time exhibitors at the show are
generally very technical.  Most of them make a living by reselling
small, expensive items in high volumes at pretty low margins.

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>  | And do not say, I will study when I
Temp.  http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/  | have leisure; for perhaps you will
down:  http://www.loyalty.org/   (CAF)  | not have leisure.  -- Pirke Avot 2:5