Old hardware disposed of

[tha]

My brother works at an institution that takes care of mentally and/or physically disabled people. One day they get a new guy to live with them who destroys everything around him. He does do that because he has learned that it is a sure way to get the desired attention. It takes them a while but finally they manage to get him to the point where he can find more acceptable means to get attention. Among other things they gave him a special room where he can still destroy things and learn him to disassemble electronics. Everything still gets broken and the guy has no clue what he is doing, but he enjoys it anyway. The institute told people in the community that they can bring their electronics to them instead of the waste transferium directly.

My brother called me this week telling me they had a surplus of 7 computers that they wanted to do away with because they take up too much space and the guy has now specialized in disassembling casetterecorders. I took the 7 computers with me, 5 of them where really old or already stripped. Two others were worth a second look. Both had Windows Vista on them. One was a very nice system with quality components, except for the processor being an entry level Celeron. Happily I had a spare dual core Core2 processor around that came with a broken motherboard someone gave me. I installed Ubuntu on the second HD to create a very acceptable system.
The machine has no PS2 connector for keyboard and mouse and although I have more than 20 spare keyboards, none of them have a USB connector. So I went to the local 'bring in' store. You can bring in things you don't want any longer but think others might find a use for. For $2 I bought a wireless keyboard. The keyboard was on a seperate shelf from the transmitter, the latter being labeled as a 'mouse' and costed $1. I tried to explain the assistent store manager that these two should have been wrapped together. I don't think they know anything about computers. I also bought a quality optical mouse for $2, downside though, it has a pink cable.

On the same shelf I saw a motherboard + unknown processor and unknown memory for $9,- I recognized it as an ASUS P5Q. So I now have three extra computers for $15. The processor turned out to be a quad core Q8200 with 2 Gb Memory.

The other machine with Windows Vista on it was filled with quality components and it is hard to image someone just disposing of it. But it needed a BIOS update to function properly and a better OS. I spent some lost hours on it and it works as a charm, it is a dual core Core2 @ 3.00 GHz and 4 Gb memory.

So many still good systems are thrown away, while a little time could make them very usuable for a much longer period of time.

[petrw1]

I used to work for the Local Telephone Company.
They have a program where they take all "retired" PC''s (about 1,500 each year) "wipe" and refurbish them and offer them to local schools for FREE.
Any that are NOT claimed are them offered for sale to the public CHEAP: About $250 for a 4 year old PC complete with Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse.

Several other large local companies have similar programs.

Then we have a local recycling company. They employ mentally challenged people (I hope that is politically correct).
Our Province has a return fee for several types of cans and bottles (i.e. 10 cents on a Beer bottle, 5 - 20 Cents for most Liquor bottles, etc). In the past 10 years or so they also started taking:

PAINT: If what is left is still usable they offer it for sale CHEAP; if not they empty, safely dispose, clean and recycle the paint cans.
ELECTRONICS: Including computers. They "wipe" and disassemble them, safely disposing anything hazardous and reclaim anything of value.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by tha

So many still good systems are thrown away, while a little time could make them very usuable for a much longer period of time.

I make good use of the local Freecycle community, and not only for IT equipment (everything from a HeNe laser to several sacks of chicken shit (good for the garden) and kilograms of used candle wax (which I melt and cast into fully functional candles)).

Over the years I've provided fully working systems and also collected very useful components. For instance, a school threw out a broken printer, compatible with mine. It included > £100 worth of wax ink blocks, as well as lots of mechanical and electronic components after it had been stripped down.

If you don't yet know about Freecycle, learn about it!

[garo]

Hurray for recycle and reuse!

[pinhodecarlos]

And we love to buy clothes (and books) on charity shops in UK. Well done UK!!!

[scraper]

Originally Posted by petrw1

I used to work for the Local Telephone Company.
They have a program where they take all "retired" PC''s (about 1,500 each year) "wipe" and refurbish them and offer them to local schools for FREE.
Any that are NOT claimed are them offered for sale to the public CHEAP: About $250 for a 4 year old PC complete with Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse.

Several other large local companies have similar programs.

Then we have a local recycling company. They employ mentally challenged people (I hope that is politically correct).
Our Province has a return fee for several types of cans and bottles (i.e. 10 cents on a Beer bottle, 5 - 20 Cents for most Liquor bottles, etc). In the past 10 years or so they also started taking:

PAINT: If what is left is still usable they offer it for sale CHEAP; if not they empty, safely dispose, clean and recycle the paint cans.
ELECTRONICS: Including computers. They "wipe" and disassemble them, safely disposing anything hazardous and reclaim anything of value.

well i buy lots of 50 desktop (and laptop - usually lots of 10) for $10@ from a local university. because they have student techs that work on these things, they are bound by the school's honor code, and therefore they are never missing any parts RAM, HDD, etc. the drives have been wiped but they all still have M$ hologram stickers with the activation codes. the desktops have all been Dells so it was easy to find OS install media. i bought a couple years ago 10 Gateway M275 laptop tablets. these uique critters are super heavy duty, enough so that you could throw one across the room, and run an OS i never heard of before - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. needless to say they don't support normal patches, but i use them on the WEB behind VPNs and have never had any issues with viruses or botnets, etc. i think 8 of them are running now, i gave 3 to my kids. they have a special stylus (can get on E-Bay for $10) and all sorts of weird buttons that rotate the screen, etc. i am not a web designer (but i am a programmer) and i have never used the tablet functionality, but it would be perfect for a designer to rough out a design, my 2 year old grandson uses it, maybe i need to ask him to show me how to do it.