What to do with an old, old PC?

[Sonicwolf]

Really?

"I'M AS HAPPY AS A GIRL CAN BE... END STATEMENT!"

If these old PC's are just taking up space, give them to a thrift store or something like that.

[Jorpho]

IF you are going to get a new system, watch out for dell.

I had a notebook

It is rather ridiculous to base statements about a company's desktop systems on one's experiences with a notebook! Notebooks have to deal with considerably more punishment, and I would never purchase one with the expectation of it lasting more than two years (assuming I didn't just leave it in the same place forever).

[dstone]

When I put a bunch of old PC stuff out on Freecycle, I had three people show up. One came in a car that was already packed full of stuff, one had a pickup, already packed full of stuff, and the third was able to cram everything remaining into their truck. The first guy tried grabbing all the good stuff, but I made him pack all the 386's and Mac LCII's first, told him he could come back for the rest. Come to think of it, I never heard from him again...

[cyberfluxor]

Flack, if you must get rid of them keep an eye out for electronics recycling postings in the paper or news. I donated 3 monitors a few months back I found on the side of the road last year with water damage, but the IBM PC that was with them worked fine so it's still in my possession. But until then try to spend maybe a few minutes a month posting free pickup if someone can reply to the ad about an interesting project to utilize them. That way you know if someone does take them they will get good use.

It is rather ridiculous to base statements about a company's desktop systems on one's experiences with a notebook! Notebooks have to deal with considerably more punishment, and I would never purchase one with the expectation of it lasting more than two years (assuming I didn't just leave it in the same place forever).

I have a Compaq Armada 4220T laptop that was given to me almost 2 years ago and is still kicking. It use to have NetBSD installed on it with coding to operate some lighting curcuits for demonstrations. I didn't have plans like that, but as an Intel 386 system it's a wonderful on the go DOS gaming and old school dev machine. It has some cosmetic issues and the sound doesn't work. I've thrown some stickers on it like Dr. Manblood and HRGeeks to at least give it some more character from the observers standpoint. I had a few people comment on me playing Wolf3D on it in a lobby the other night on campus.

[Flack]

I reposted these on Craigslist and also offered them up for free on my blog. I took some pictures too and thought you guys might like to see them.



The top one's a 286/10. The bottom one is a 386/16.

[GrandAmChandler]

Goodwill. Don't trash 'em. Goodwill goes by "Computer" so any working computer = tax deduction.

Better than throwing them out me thinks!

[gokugohandave]

i would take but the shipping would be killer.

[Kitsune Sniper]

God Damnit I'd take the bottom one if I could. T_T

[Soviet Conscript]

i would take but the shipping would be killer.

same here, at the very least i could use those disk drives and a AT PSU

[dnehthend]

I feel kind of bad, a few years ago on new years eve my friends and I took hammers and axes to about 5 early to late 80s computers and boxes of parts and cards

I did keep one of the cases though, thing weighs a ton, it's starting to rust in the back yard, has an interesting look to it

[Soviet Conscript]

did you ever find a home for them?

[Ed Oscuro]

Flack, look up 5.25" floppy drive prices on eBay.

With most of these you can just part them out as needed. A lot of the parts will be junk but some won't.

Unfortunately any pre-PS2 standard stuff should require some reworking (certainly of the back panel) to put in a modern PC case; junking the cases would be the biggest space savings otherwise.

[Flack]

did you ever find a home for them?

Goodwill called and said they would come by and pick them up. I put a bunch of clothes and books out along with two 21" monitors and the computers. When I came home the clothes and books were gone but the monitors and computers were still there along with a note that said they no longer pick up computer electronics.

The monitors went in the garage floor and the computers went in the trash. I actually did pull the floppy drives out for a different project (FC5025).

[phreakindee]

Goodwill called and said they would come by and pick them up. I put a bunch of clothes and books out along with two 21" monitors and the computers. When I came home the clothes and books were gone but the monitors and computers were still there along with a note that said they no longer pick up computer electronics.

The monitors went in the garage floor and the computers went in the trash. I actually did pull the floppy drives out for a different project (FC5025).

Dang, at least you kept the floppy drives. I've been working on a 386 build myself and many of the parts are somewhat hard to come by (RAM expansion, some ISA cards etc)

[JimmyDean]

I feel kind of bad, a few years ago on new years eve my friends and I took hammers and axes to about 5 early to late 80s computers and boxes of parts and cards

I did keep one of the cases though, thing weighs a ton, it's starting to rust in the back yard, has an interesting look to it

WHAT!? HOW... YOU HAVE NO SOUL! Please tell me one of those weren't an Apple iici... Been looking for one of those for too long now.

[c0ldb33r]

I just got an original 1984 Macintosh. It's got no keyboard or mouse, but works okay otherwise.

I'm not sure what to do with it. I was going to do mod it, make it current, add a 9 inch LCD to it. Any other ideas?

[Jorpho]

I'm not sure what to do with it. I was going to do mod it, make it current, add a 9 inch LCD to it. Any other ideas?

A current PC with a 9-inch screen seems kind of useless, at least if it's not portable - and I wouldn't call an old fat Mac portable.

Macquariums are kind of cool, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacQuarium

[JustRob]

I just got an original 1984 Macintosh. It's got no keyboard or mouse, but works okay otherwise.

I'm not sure what to do with it. I was going to do mod it, make it current, add a 9 inch LCD to it. Any other ideas?

For the sake of history and old mac fags like me, don't fuck with a working original Mac. Just, don't do it. Put it somewhere for decoration, find some use for it, or pass it on to someone who will appreciate it. Toooo many of these are getting chopped up.

If you want to mess with a compact mac, find an SE or a Classic and use that. The classic has almost the same exact case, and the SEs are fucking hideous and deserve to get chopped up. If interested, PM me and I'll send you a list of resources on figuring out what to do with the machine.

[c0ldb33r]

Please do send me the links. I actually thought it would be neat to make it current and use it to run a Macintosh emulator. How funny would that be?

My concern about leaving it as-is is getting a keyboard and mouse for it. The mouse seems to be a 9 pin serial, so that shouldn't be hard. The keyboard, however, seems to use a modem jack?

[Jorpho]

pass it on to someone who will appreciate it. Toooo many of these are getting chopped up.

Maybe because there aren't that many people who will appreciate it?

The classic has almost the same exact case, and the SEs are fucking hideous and deserve to get chopped up.

The SEs are actually vaguely, potentially useful.

If interested, PM me and I'll send you a list of resources on figuring out what to do with the machine.

Why not just post it here for everyone?