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Author Topic: Old Computers  (Read 3693 times)

Offline Magus

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Old Computers
« on: October 11, 2009, 08:30:06 PM »
I cleaned out my closet today and discovered that I have a lot more old computers than I thought I did. Three towers, a laptop two laptops, some printers, and a bunch of other... junk.

But the thing is, even though nobody would buy this prehistoric crap, I really don't want to throw it away. That would be such a waste. And besides, the thought just depresses me for some reason. :'(

As far as I know, everything works (well, will at least turn on). So what can I do with a bunch of trashy computers? Would it be possible to use them as external harddrives? The extra space would help me a lot. Also, does anybody know if it's reasonably simple to make a home webserver, and if it can be done with something that ran 95 back it its day?

Remember the picture Trevelyn posted a while back showed his room (or perhaps office? brothel?) that had the whole leeto setup with like a million machines running? What are you using all them for?

Any help appreciated.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2009, 09:51:24 PM by Mr. Anderson »
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Offline RushPwnsX

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2009, 08:44:59 PM »
They are great for throwing out of really huge buildings and watching who dies. Taking pictures of this is recommended.
But that's unrealistic.

The stuff could be used as paper weights.
But that's too cliché to propose.

http://oldcomputers.net/ or something similar.
 
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Offline Magus

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2009, 08:59:55 PM »
Quote from: RushPwnsX on October 11, 2009, 08:44:59 PM
They are great for throwing out of really huge buildings and watching who dies. Taking pictures of this is recommended.
But that's unrealistic.

Well, I was happy that someone replied to this thread, but then I saw that it was you. :P

Anyway, yeah, not as old as the ones on oldcomputers.net -- these all at least run Windows 95.
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Offline handl3r

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2009, 09:20:05 PM »
Give them to me, I love taking in strays and caring for them.
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Offline rbcp

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2009, 09:33:08 PM »
Drop them off at Goodwill.
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Offline RushPwnsX

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2009, 09:41:39 PM »
There are many people who would pay so they can take them apart and experiment with them, mainly the hard drive (most people don't want mercury poisoning from the monitors, and they are generally not as interesting). This hobby isn't all that uncommon.  But the shipping would probably cost a fortune, so you would have to advertise in your local area.

The fact that the computers still work is very important. A lot of the experimentation with the hard drive is to see how it affects the computer.

I don't know why this wasn't my original post.
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Offline Magus

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2009, 10:00:26 PM »
I thought about giving them to Goodwill but the ones that they already have for sale are pretty new and already fairly cheap. I doubt they would even take mine. :-\
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Offline RTF

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2009, 11:34:18 PM »
If you do end up giving away or selling your hard drives, be sure to do the scrambley wiping thing on them first.  Some of us have odd hobbies involving used media and undelete software.
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Offline ApprenticePhreak

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2009, 07:55:53 AM »
I can't imagine old systems running Windows 95 having too much 'OMG INFOZ' on them. At least if he was around 9-10 when it first hit the world. But insofar as what to do with them, I'd keep an old 95 machine around if you can get one of the old school legacy-out-the-ass ISA videocards. Play a bunch of old games on it. Space Quest, King's Quest, Mega Race. Shit like that. I've got an old 98 machine kicking around my house with an Rage 128 PRO videocard in it that I use exclusively for old games and just general tinkering around. It's an OS I don't have any dependency on; a machine with it's own independent hardware structure so it's not playing in an ethereal state of existence in a virtual machine.

Or if you know of someone with kids around who would use it as an education tool, do it. You could pirate a dirt-old copy of Math Blaster or some such non-sense.
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Offline SpaceBison

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2009, 08:21:46 AM »
Just pick the best of the litter and use that as a gaming rig. Games like Kings Quest, Willy Beamish,  Space Quest, sim city, warcraft I, etc. have timeless appeal and are still fun and delightful. Or just install dosbox. Whatever works for you.
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Offline MattGSX

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2009, 08:31:44 AM »
Charities like the Boys and Girls club, domestic abuse crisis shelters, vocational rehabilitation, etc, etc are always happy to get working computers of any sort both for use as word processing and Internet and to teach people how to assemble and work on computers.
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Offline legend813

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2009, 05:39:07 AM »
Clean them up, fill them with games, slap a wifi card in them and give them to a old folks home.
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Offline PHISH-PHREAK

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2009, 06:15:01 AM »
Build a fort!
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Offline SpaceBison

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #13 on: October 15, 2009, 10:31:53 AM »
Fill it with candy and make a piñata :nonsense:
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Offline MattGSX

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Re: Old Computers
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2009, 01:34:29 PM »
Quote from: SpaceBison on October 15, 2009, 10:31:53 AM
Fill it with candy and make a piñata :nonsense:

This
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