Hang out with the retrocomputing people. Also to some extent the ham radio people, at least some of them. The business model for the $200 Wyse-60 is OMG our C

Hang out with the retrocomputing people. Also to some extent the ham radio people, at least some of them. The business model for the $200 Wyse-60 is OMG our CNC milling machine's terminal is down and every day of production we miss on the missile contract costs us $50K, so I don't care how much it costs, ship one here by tomorrow morning, etc etc. Or you can haul away a Wyse-60 for free because the previous owner won't have to pay electronic recycling fee. That's the model I have. Its pretty nice for a dumb terminal. Aside from plugging into a linux box and having another cheap screen for scrolling logs or whatever, I mostly use it for exotic hardware. Software terminals are generally not as compatible as hardware terminals (despite hardware terminals mostly being SBCs with exotic firmware) and if a hardware fault puts 220V on a connector and vaporizes my "free" terminal I'll be much less unhappy than if it vaporized my expensive main computer or even a rasp-pi. Also they boot very quickly, 3 seconds from flip the power to work, whereas a "modern advanced" computer takes maybe 5-10 minutes. So from a stopped condition, "I just wanna know if this PLC is alive or dead" can be answered in 6 seconds instead of 6 minutes. Given that you can haul them away for free, depending how many dumb mistakes I make, I have roughly a lifetime supply. Restoration of old hardware can be entertaining as a hobby in itself, I have to rip out the (inevitably leaking) dead nicads and replace them with a diode and dual AA battery holder, at least on my Wyse-60's.