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What Do You Do With Old Computer Parts?
yoyoma writes "I am planning to rebuild our desktop computers. What do other slashdotters do with old computer parts? I would prefer to donate them. These are some old parts that I will end up with: two GA-686LX motherboards with PII 233, greater than 224 MB RAM (the new computers will take DDR), some video cards (Matrox) and possibly two ATX cases with 300 watts powersupplies (looking for quieter, smaller cases). Decent enough, but they will have no hard drives, floppy drives, or CD drives. TecsChange, and this other place accept donation of parts. Has anyone done this? What about the receipts for tax purposes?"
Your local school district would probably be happy to receive the parts. Anything older than that probably wouldn't be useful, but these sound similar to a number of systems (200+) that we donated to the San Francisco Public Schools after our last round of upgrades.
I don't know for a fact that the schools can give you receipts for tax purposes, but knowing my employer it seems a good bet.
Wait... you mean you still haven't joined the ACLU?
Typing "computer recycling" in google led me on the FIRST LINK to:
The national directory of computer recycling programs
Scrolling down, I found the second link:
The computer recycling center
You can take it from there....
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
freegeek.org takes donations in Portland, Oregon. They also teach linux for free and give you a free computer if you complete the course!!!
I'm out like Elian.
S. ALan(TM)
My local community college offers a course for building computers. It helps people understand computer hardware, AND it helps people obtain a useful, low-cost machine.
Components like the ones described by the poster are in demand - reasonably modern equipment, and with a few extra pieces (like drives), the builder can save hundreds of dollars and have a useful and potentially upgradable home PC for the kids.
Other options include the local school district or the local place of worship - whatever floats your boat. Or give it to the neighbor kid who is interested in such things.
The only thing I ask you not to do is to let it rot - by storing it in a closet until it's useless, or by putting it out with the garbage.
right if you want to donate a machine
put manuals in plastic bag along with driver disk and phyically attach it to hardware
(those plastic ties are nice )
this is to prevent it getting lost if they seperate the box from board
FORMAT HARD DISK
(do it with a linux distro for a laugh and root pass =password)
HOW Many machines Have I boot to find letters to tax man porn and such is quite unbeliveable
those 2 steps are really nice
my advice is walk into a primary school with a linux box and X up and running with a edu game on it and the teachers love you (-;
regards
john jones
Their Thrift Stores take old computers and give you a receipt. Not sure about parts, but old complete systems are fine. (Just donatated one recently.)
Check your local geek clubs. UFO (Users of Free Operating Systems) Chicago has a list of its members' idle hardware. I sold an old SCSI drive and video card that I've been holding onto for a few years for just about market value to another UFO member.
I like to play children's songs in minor keys.
"We're all sons of bitches now." --J. Robert Oppenheimer
I work for a non-profit group here in Michigan, The Geek Group, that is always looking for donations. We run quite a few classes to teach kids about computers and keeping a steady flow of systems to have them rip apart and learn tends to be a strugle.
akaylor@thegeekgroup.org
http://www.thegeekgroup.org
"The Geek Group is an American based, 501-c-3, non-profit organization with members from all over the world who have been brought together for one simple purpose, to have fun while learning and sharing knowledge for a positive impact on mankind.
We educate the public with fun and interesting science projects. From our Tesla Coil to Geekmobile Unit 3, our projects catch the eye while demonstrating scientific concepts in a fun and interesting manner. In addition to this, we also conduct classes on various areas of computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering, high voltage physics and more.
The Group also offers services to the public. Current on-line services include computer repair and web design. We are also capable of security advising, prototypical design, and software development. We also hold private demonstrations of our projects for schools and other groups.
To learn more about The Geek Group, please feel feel to browse the site. We promise to keep you entertained. Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!"
Once upon a time before acquiring Real Employment[tm], I worked for the Computer Renaissance in Paradise Valley, AZ, so I can speak based on my experiences there.
The CR stores are a franchise that gives each store owner pretty much free reign over what they will/won't buy and what prices they'll offer. At the one I worked for, the owner is a strong believer in blind margin points and the PC Hardware Bluebook. He'd generally offer slightly less than bluebook, assuming he was even interested, and he'd only take things of PII class or higher....so no really old parts-for-pennies there. Then, he'd go by what the bluebook said the item was worth and put some insane margin of 20-50 _points_ above that. Suffice it to say that the used hardware in that store has a _lot_ of price stickers that have browned with age from idling on the shelf for months/years. There are still items that I took in years ago that are still out there, and still with the same pricetag placed on them at the time.
At least in my (now dated) experience, the Paradise Valley store does put together a decent low-end ~$500 PC and provide good "for beginners" support in getting it setup for those who are new to owning a PC, I'll give them that. But for buying/selling old parts, there is no way I could fathom recommending them.
The table I am working on right now is made from an old wooden door, covered with a thick blade of transparent glass. The many layers of paint, some of them decades old, were sttripped out almost, but not quite, back to the original wood.
:)
Inside the door carvings there are 5 1/4" disks of various colours, some memory chips, a internal modem, some other unidentified chips, some serail and paralel ports. There are also other raw eletronic components.
The final effect is very good.
There are lots of programs like Charlottesville's Computers4Kids out there. We'll take any processor at or above 130MHz, drives over 1GB, and other things of that generation. I don't know of any central directory of similar programs, but if there's not one, I know that we'd love to have 'em!
-Waldo