I just got my Webplayer, installed 98micro (I wanted Linux, but I'm not yet up for building my own kernel), and started looking for the other bits and pieces I need. I figured that other folks might appreciate some notes on cheap sources.
SMC USB ethernet adapter:
Buy.com has this for about $37. You can get a coupon for $10 off (if you're a first-time buy.com customer) if you start by going to www.dealmac.com's coupon page. (Look for the $10 off $30 purchase coupon; it's good until February 2001.) It's a bit confusing, because buy.com has two SMC USB Ethernet adapters, one for $37 and the other for $40. The descriptions are worded differently, but the product appears to be the same 10/100 USB adapter. Buy.com sucks in many ways, but it's cheaper than even Ebay.
Hard drives:
www.cablesonline.net has a clearance sale right now (21 December 2000) on 2 GB IBM Travelstar hard drives. They're selling for just under $50, and they're 9.5 mm thick, which should fit in the Webplayer with no problems.
Hard drive cables:
www.cablesonline.net, as has been noted in other postings, sells 44-conductor ribbon cable for $1 per foot, and female 44-pin connectors for less than $1 each. They sell assembled 10" cables for $8, but other posts to this bbs suggest that the Webplayer requires at least a 12" cable. I'm told the cables are easy to assemble yourself, especially if you have a bench vice.
2.5" to 3.5" hard drive adapters:
www.cablesonline.net has the offset kind (the ones that have to flipped around backwards and move over two rows of pins to work in the Webplayer) for $8. www.compgeeks.com has the same thing for $3.50, and someone else reported that they do have the easy-to-use straight-through adapter as well. I haven't found out yet if it's the same price.
If I find other stuff, I'll add an additional post.
"It's enough to put one off war." - Graham Chapman
