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Proper Disposal Of Old PCs?
IMNTPC writes "Over the years, I've advanced from a 386DX-33 to a Celeron 1.3 Ghz system. I've slowly been accumulating enough old parts that now I think it's time to start disposing of anything that predates a Pentium 166. Does anyone know of a good place that will properly dispose/recycle of these old parts and PCs for little or no money? So far I've found pcdisposal.com, but anyone know of any others, either online or physical dropoff points in major metropolitan areas?"
Those suckers will buy ANYTHING!
Just leave it out on the sidewalk and enterprising young people who are cash-strapped can build their e-empire using your old throw-aways.
It's the American Dream.
I have been pwned because my
You could give your old systems away to schools and such. The schools with younger kids (up to the age of 10-12) are still able to do a lot of things with older systems, like grammar and mathematics educational games, requiring not more than MS-DOS. Of course there are enough schools with a rather big IT budget, but there also enough school who have to do it with less, is my experience. And they will really be glad with your donations.
In need of reliable and affordable server monitoring?
... say throw linux on it [or wipe the drive] and donate it to a local school. You could post a bulletin in your local newspaper [usually you can find ways of doing this for free] and offer it for free.
I can imagine there are families out there that wouldn't consider a P166 [in working order] a "bad computer".
So I'd say as long as your older machines still work clean on up and offer it to someone needy.
That, or you could fill the thing with propane cylinders and explode it in a local abandonned quary. Make sure you tape it and post a url to your video later on!!!
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
When I lived in Sydney, one of the nearby dumps had an area where old computing equipment could be left. It -claimed- to recycle these properly, but I can't vouch for the truth behind that.
:)
There seem to be many places that will take ancient working machinery too, and use it as donation equipment - for some people, a simple 386 is heaven. In 2001 I helped shuffle some of this stuff around, and for students who had absolutely no access to a computer for doing university work at home, a 386 that could edit text was a godsend. No, it's no use for software development or comp sci courses, but for those students who do only need to type up essays and the like, a simple machine with floppy is well appreciated and more than enough. Not every college course is comp.sci or IT.
Personally, I just get a new one and push the old ones to the side. They seem to become part of the furniture and I don't notice they're there any more
I put all my old parts, working or not on ebay People are actually willing to buy them In fact I read an article a while back that NASA has been trolling Ebay for old computers to power our space shuttle.. apparently upgrading isnt as easy an option as it is for the average computer user
I remember seeing this report on tv or the internet or somewhere that alot of the stuff inside some old motherboards contains some valuable metals that can be melted off...? Like, silver or gold or something?
I'm sorry if I've repeated an urban legend or something, but I'm positive this was legitimate...
--------
Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
PC Disposal Dell, HP, and several other big players all offer various PC disposal programs also.
There's always Goodwill. They'll take it and put it up for sale for ya. I buy a lot of old Macs from there. Their pricing is a bit odd with regards to computers, the bigger the box the bigger the price, that's the way they do it here. So while I got a 600Mhz desktop for 90$ they wanted almost twice that for a huge ppro machine hehe. Oh, and don't forget your local Churches and boy & girl scout organizations - they have computer/PC merit badges and a used PC is a great way to get their feet wet!
Wil Wheaton? - What a self promoting whore.
Licensing problems, lack of support, and a myriad of other problems plague these old computers.
They will turn you away at the parking lot, let alone allow you to drag that crap in through the front door.
Here in sunny Minneapolis ther are several places that will take them - my fav charges 10 cents a pound, and then they part them out and have a salvation army type store next door for the parts. I regularly dumb off my old carp, and then go shopping afterward. Managed to get some great deals on stuff and the monitor prices cant be beat -(17" for $20, 19 for $50) all good stuff too
Sera
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
You have two options: donation and recycling.
:)
u ters/compdonations.htm
n dex.html
If the parts work, there's quite a few organizations that would like to ship your old components to places like West Africa for all the GN's there and so on. The trick, however, is to use it to write off some REALLY hefty tax deductions -- your old 386 is still worth the $3000 you paid for it in the eyes of the IRS
Links to donation places can be found here:
http://www.wastecap.org/wastecap/commodities/comp
But if they're broken, and you don't feel like giving away dead parts to cheat taxes either, recycle them and make a few bucks. Here's a list of places:
http://www.microweb.com/pepsite/Recycle/recycle_i
ACCRC
Salvation Army.
One weird thing is all the perfectly good monitors that end up in the trash. I've found two Dell Trinitron 17 inch units in the last few weeks alone. Not ragged out units but clean and in excellent working condition. I suspect the reason so many good monitors end up at the curbside is the move to flat screens.
The weeks after Christmas are a good time to keep an eye on your neighbors trash. They have to make room for their Christmas computer and the old one will end up by the curb. Happy hunting.
Use craigslist [craigslist.org] to get rid of pretty much ANYTHING--just make sure that you post in the nearest metro area. For those not aware, craigslist is are a set of free bulletin boards that one can post wanted ads, for sale ads, community announcements, and pretty much any other sort of bulletin--each major metropolitan area has its own craigslist board. Check out the computer section--it rocks!
Here in Switzerland we have an advanced recycling fee since a few years. You can bring any electronic device to anyone who sells electronic devices. They have to take it back for free, even if the stuff you bring back is older then the new recycling system. Before people were trying to evade costly recycling fees by dumping things into the wood or the like. From a consumer point of few I like this very much because it sometimes was quite difficult to find the correct place to dispose off something.
But if the device is still working or easily repaired, reuse it rather than recycle it.
The fees (German)
An english overview over the system
1. Go to the top of your dorm/office/apartment
2. ????
3. Tiny little peices smashed on the street
it's called eBay. :D
you'll find it under eBay.com.
they buy every piece of crap
Instead of hoarding and facing this problem, you should have done something about it a long time ago. I upgrade all the time, but when I do, I always find someone to sell the old parts to, or can put them in a machine I'm building that someone buys from me on the cheap (this is how I seem to upgrade my CDRW about a billion times a year). But you need to get rid of old parts before they become old, otherwise you end up with the problem you're in now.
;-)
If you sell the parts while someone still really wants them, and will pay good money, then you remove the whole problem of disposal. (Well, technically you push it on to someone else, but that's just as good) So next time you upgrade, go out and get those benjamins! It helps you rationalize the upgrade if you can get 50% of your costs back too
mogorific carpentry experiments
1) Donate to Goodwill and get a coupon you can use at their local outlet to buy more schlock
2) Donate to somebody needy
3) Scrapfest. Steel can usually be dropped off for free at scrap metal dealers. If you clean the standoffs, nuts, screws, and metal ends off the circuit boards, they should be worth about $0.75 a pound for gold recovery. If all the metal is left on, expect half that. Check the Yellow pages under Scrap Metal.
Destorying them, DON'T GIVE YOUR DATA UP. but have fun with it, See how long it will run as you pull it's parts out, see how long you can play Tuxracer while it slowly smolderes.
fat with the goodness of cheesy pie mmmmmmmmm pie
if you live in belgium, then you can give back the parts to electronics dealers, or dispose of them ecologically soundly at a community dump. we pay a small recycling tax on all electronics over here, and that is used for disposal. ps, this post comes from a p166. merry xmas, potor
Goodwill has a program where they use old machines/parts to train computer skills to teens. I'm not sure if it exists at all Goodwills... but I'm sure that they would take your old stuff and some of it could be eligible as a tax deduction for you.
I'm in the UK and make up computers from salvaged parts. When I or other people upgrade, there's a food chain the machines move down.
Not many charitys take old machines over here (to sell) because they become liable for damage (i think).
It's always nice to see someones face light up because they've just been given a computer, even an old one, that they couldn't afford anyway
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
If your state doesn't have one, push your legislators to start one too. Point at Delaware as an example! It beats it ending up in a common landfill without proper handling.
Take it over to the dumpster at you apartment building and dump it. I've gotten rid of car batteries that way.
Fast, and it works. Everything is just playing pretend with your friends.
Australia has an excellent network of hardware recyclers. Computerbank Australia Inc is a non-profit that receives donated computers and builds decent systems out of the peripherals and components, installs linux and gives the computers away to those who can not usually afford them.
I am involved with Computerbank in South Australia and we are always looking for hardware. We pick it up in the metro area for free and wipe any drives using dban.
>Donate the computer to the terrorist cell of your choice, you dumb fuckers.
You maen like the american talaban?
I wonder how many other slashdotters have closets full of computer parts. Sometimes I think to myself that this is ridiculous. I've got 3 closets in my apartment and I refer to them as "monitors closet", "case closet" and "parts closet"... Even invested in drawers for the parts closet so I can find what I need (IDE cable, PSU, mobo) quickly.
Why, oh God why do I keep 512KB SIMMs!! Someone just steal this stuff from me!
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
I'm sure the parent post will get modded into oblivion, seeing as how it's Christmas and people are looking for that warm fuzzy feeling.
Here are my suggestions : Convert anything with 16mb of ram or more into an X-terminal; load FreeDOS and maybe Windows 3.1 and use it for old games and legacy apps; use it to experiment with weird operating systems; if you program, test your code on it - your own impatience will improve your algorithms; attach it to some sort of household device, like a coffee maker, so you can control it over the network; make an IASD setup (irredundant array of shitty disks) and store all your important files on it;
...and last but not least : find a geek, preferably unmarried, who expresses interest in any of the preceding.
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
When I have a computer that is looking a bit worn, I wipe the drive, reload the OS, adn give to a local group that needs it. So far, that has included a local lawn bowling club, a scout troop and a senior's home. These people don't need a fast machine. Just someone that can dial up to the internet and print newletters or raffle tickets. I get more room at home and they get the machine. Works a treat.
When come back, bring pie.
Here in the Seattle area there are at least half a dozen places I know of that will either buy old crap from you or at least take it off your hands for free. If your hardware has any value at all (read: less than 3 years old) then usually you can make a few bucks or so.
Although I usually hold on to hardware well past the point of it being valuable anymore so I could care less about getting any money for old 15" CRTs or Pentiums.
But I ignore all the recycling stuff; I just got rid of a computer; I put it in a box, sealed it and put it out for the trashman. Boom. Its gone.
I do that for anything. I just got rid of a ton of old paint... put it in plastic trash bags. Boom. THey're gone.
That's how you get rid of stuff. I don't know about you guys, but my time is actually valuable. I guess when you're a kid with nothing to do, and you believe the crap they tell you in elementary school about "saving the environment", then you put up with nonsense like you're talking about. But for the rest of us, you just want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
The postman may only ring once, but the trashman just does what you need him to do.
I just noticed in one of their recent corporate brochure mail-outs, that they actually offer you a rebate on new stuff if you send them your old hardware.
Maybe worth if if you're looking to upgrade...
smash.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Mod parent up! +! insightfool!
Does anyone know how to recycle lead acid batteries? I've got a whole pile of dead cells from UPS's.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
In this day and age, we have insensitive people like you. Today, on the holiest of days, when our lord and savior was born, that you are destroying the world he (Jesus) came here to save.
No wonder the pope is old and crippled up...people like you are killing him.
Speaking of the pope, don't you think the old bag should just retire? I mean, do you think god really wants an invalid to run the most powerful religious instituion on earth?
I mean, if they got a young guy in, maybe the catholic church could actually be *relevant*. I mean, "No Birth ControL"? Who is he trying to kid? You know what you call a girl who uses the rhythm method? Pregnant. I guess the point is to knock up catholic girl to make more catholics, but everybody in the first world uses birth control. How else can you actually have fun when you bag your girlfriend without birth control.
My girlfriend and I like the pill; once you go bare, you don't want to go back. Even my girlfriend rather feel skin against skin. We are momogamous, and with the pill, we get to fuck like bunnies. Man, its sweet. No worries about condoms or the like.
Really, just sweet.
Here are the E-Waste that they'll take:
If you have numerous computers, monitors, printers, etc., the Recycle Center can put you in direct contact with the recyclers of these products.
In Portland, OR, there is Freegeek: www.freegeek.org.
They take all kinds of computer equipment. They refurbish what they can and recycle the rest with "responsible vendors" - meaning places that don't just ship it off to China.
Drop-offs are free, except for monitors, which cost $10 because of the difficulty in handling all the metals and toxic materials in monitors.
People can also volunteer there in their different programs and get "free" computers for their work.
Depending on where you are, Computer Aid International may be able to help. If you're in the Bristol/Avon or Reading areas of the UK, a great little charity called Computers for African Schools might be interested if the machine is at least a P75, 32MB RAM, 1GB HDD. These guys do some excellent work, refurbishing these machines and shipping them out to Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. I work with them on occasion, not so much because I want to help the third world (though of course that's important) but mainly because I hate to see good machines go to waste.
All you need is good, new monitor, because old one can be bad for your eyes. Other parts of computer are perfect to use with completly new software.
Nobody has mentioned what is often done here. Collect old equipment, mix and match parts until you have say thirty or more working PCs and send them to Africa or any other place that can use them. There are NGOs that will see to it they end up where they are needed.
It's your conscience what OS you use, and while they often think they want Windows, this is probably more harmful than good. It is important for people to learn how the machines work so Linux or BSD are far better choices. (Compile on your fast machine and install on the slower machines.) The i386 is more or less obsolete and also many old workstations.
In considering the operating system remember that getting even a single Internet connection in a third world village can be problematic. In the mean time a LAN will do. Some, if not all, should therefore have server capabilities. All but the poorest areas can manage to get electricity and eventually an outside connection, often by radio.
Despite all the nice pictures you see on your TV, starvation is not the problem the people behind this propaganda would want you to believe. It is unrealistic to believe any more than a tiny fraction of charity money ever makes it out of your own country. On the other hand the old PCs do and therefore that is a better charity choice.
...build PC for parents, they will love it and you get a warm feeling out of it*
*only profitable if you live out of easy travel distance
The American Dream is happening in India nowadays.
Now, IMHO, Africa wiould be a better place to donate your PC...
Merry Xmas to everyone!
Or give them to a robot enthusaist like me who will. The floppy drives, optical drives, and hard drives are a great source for very nice stepper and gear motors.
Yesterday afternoon I received a Dell ad in the mail. On the back cover, they advertise a new PC recylcing service. For $7.50, you can recycle up to 50 lbs of computer equipment, up to three items from any manufacturer. Additionally, they give you a handy 10% off coupon for use toward a new Dell purchase.
Furthermore, they have also launched a new Dell Donations program to benefit the National Cristina Foundation. If you have hardware (ad says 'above Pentium I'--ambiguous as to whether or not your P-166 would be accepted), they'll take it and fix it up for disabled/disadvantaged children and adults.
Instead of forcing you to drive or UPS it to a distribution center or a warehouse, they send an Airborne Express guy out to your house or business to pick it up. I have to admit, I'm rather impressed by this program.
More information available here.
says it right on the label: Gnu's Not Unix.
.asps, that mr's stallman, moglen, etc..., et al, constructed their recipe for freedom, with these daze of softwar gangster ?pr? ?firm? hypenosys in mind.
you can bet yOUR highly mortgaged
not that the felonious corepirate nazi execrable is planning to surrender/cannot cause considerable pairannoyance, whilst eXPeriencing their debt throws. since grandma's teacher pension 'shrank', due to 'lack of insight' ?"on her part"?, we don't put much stock in those phonIE payper liesense foulcurrs, dissguising themselves as "bankers". tell 'em robbIE?
just kidding about the dating service of course? a little more genuosity could be considered?
consult with/trust in yOUR creators.... as the lights come up, things will continue to progress at the speed of right. there's no going back, & no where/need to hide.
1) format harddrive (preferably with a utility that will overwrite data, at least, 7 times)
2) find dumpster/ toss old hardware in
3) ???
4) profit??? (or at least don't be charged)
ok... I know it isn't the most environmentally friendly or whatever, but (seeing as how I live in apartments and the like) it's the same as throwing out all the other garbage... if you live in a house (or other facility where you might incur costs for said hardware disposal) then find a WalMart or gracery store and use their dumpster
Jeremy Logan's Website.
It's hard to anticipate whether a person will walk under the falling equipment (e.g., by going out of a door you didn't knew was there). Also, broken parts (like large chunks of glass) could fatally wound someone passing by.
This also applies to explosions.
that's up to you guys, unless you can't figure it out? do onto... that kind of stuff. vengence never works for people.
Check it out at the Dell site.
I've used this program to recycle a dead 17" monitor, and it worked like a charm.
The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development
I recently volunteered to research how to get rid of an absolutely pristeen and hardly used 386 for a lady.
1. There is a place in Africa which will take anything _you_ pay to ship, but most of the 3rd world distribution centers I found on the net don't want anything less than a Pentium.
2. My Goodwill doesn't take monitors. Which, as an aside, led to an interesting discussion at a drive-up when I decided I really wasn't going to do anything "Computer Chic" with my 80s Mac. They already had the keyboard and mouse when they gave me, "We don't take monitors." "It's not a monitor, it's the whole computer." "Looks like a monitor." Well, give me my keyboard and mouse back!"
3. I think there is a lot to say for leaving something out on a busy urban sidewalk. But it doesn't address whether it eventually ends up in a dumpster anyway.
The 386? Well, she worked at a college. No problem finding a student who would take even a 386 -- even though it was a computer science student who thought it would be fun to learn assembler on a classic chip.
I donate my geek skills to a non-profit here in San Francisco (an experience which has given me new insight into the phrase "legacy systems")... I scavenge hardware for parts off the free listings on craigslist.org. The usability and quality is generally better than what we get from donations (usually from local businesses looking to get rid of ancient hardware at no cost, just like you).
If you live in an area covered by craigslist, just post a listing in the free section... someone will take it off your hands, I assure you. Or, take a few moments to locate a worthy local non-profit or charity and make a call or two. Even if the ones you call have no need for it, chances are they know some other org that would love to have it.
Recycling is just one part of resource lifecycle management... don't forget about reduction and reuse.
"We're an apex predator with the fecundity of a base level herbivore... We're a virus with shoes..." RazorJAK
We have recycling centers in every city. The one here around the corner accepts electronical devices for recycling for free from private persons. Companies have to pay some money to get rid of their stuff. That is in Hamburg, Germany. You forgot to mention where you are.
Nils
I would say a Charity would be happy to take them, I know at my church we still have alot of 486s and P90s (I am right now building a new back up server out of an old P133, using linux of cource) and we would be happy to take anything.
www.a2rt.org and lowtech.org to get those old pc's recycled into art installations or access spaces running linux.
;-) and drop by from time to time to party with wolves lug.
besides the blokes running these projects are cool
blog and junk
Look in the yellow pages under "Salvage". Where I live, there's a little place
called CTR just up the road in Crestline, about a five minute drive from here.
There may be something similar near where you live.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
I dont suppose you've considered taking them to a recycling center...?
...and that's all there is to it.
Am I understanding this correctly? That you have to pay a fee for every Pentium class PC you have, even if it doesn't have Microsoft crap on it?!
If so, find the moron responsible for signing such a contract, and slap him/her silly.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
Here in NY City, I used to just leave them in the back of my station wagon with the doors unlocked.
'Til the wagon got stolen...
In Ann Arbor, MI, the recycling center has a dropoff spot for computers. I'm sad they have a "no scavenging" sign there, whenever I go there there's a mountain of machines, monitors, and laser printers on the heap. But it's a college town, if they let people pick it they'd have husks with no RAM/etc. I don't know what they do with them but at least as dropped off they could send them to a refitter that could use the RAM, drives, etc to build machines for the 3rd world, etc. Some machines may even be fast enough to give to local schools; businesses are starting to throw away machines close to 1GHz. Our company has been throwing away older enterprise-class laser printers like 5Si's even if they have not been having maintenance problems; a school could make good use of those. Hell, I wouldn't mind one except it'd take up half my computer area.
No, I'm serious. I sell all my outdated computer parts via an auction site. Not only it doesn't cost me, usually I earn enough to send them and buy myself couple of blank DVDs or so.
This way someone who still has some use for them can buy it really cheap too.
Robert
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
Not even Goodwill will take computers here anymore because they're required by law to pay for disposal if nobody buys them.
The public schools around here have big deals with monolithic computer companies that give them a paid tech-dude all year for support. Like that guy's going to mess with an ancient PC to give the secretaries a computer they can complain about being slow.
contact me (my-slashdot-nick at email d0t com) and I'll happily give you the address. I am in desperate need of a new firewall appliance... ;-)
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Slap FreeDOS on them and check out the abandonware game sites. DOS on a 166 MHz rocks!
to a Mac user. They will appreciate having a good machine.
NOT!
I work for a school district in rural Lancaster, PA - and I'll tell you: We have an entire old schoolhouse building FILLED with skids stacked with old P166's - probably at least 1000 of them ... and monitors to go with them. We can't even give them away. No one will take them, and believe me - we've looked.
Strong words from someone who is clearly in Great Britain and/or Australia.
have you tried the trash?
Sure you both aren't French? You both have coward in your names.
Merry Christmas!
Maybe try this. Also good for non-computer stuff.
I'll echo another poster's suggestion of the "curb sale" approach. It may not work in homogenous suburbs where everyone keeps up with the Joneses, but in a mixed-income area, there are always people who can use the cast-offs of the middle class. Over the years I've gained and disposed of some great stuff on the local curbs.
But to directly answer the original question: CompRenew in Belding, Michigan is a good, not-too-expensive option for the recycling/salvage of computer gear in this area.
drop 'em off at my house.
--
The Bailiwick - DESIGNHUB2005
Donate them to someone in the computer forensics business (local cops maybe). It's handy to have old machines and old software when attempting to work with old (orphaned) files and floppy disks.
I've seen it a hundred times, people never want to give freebies to the poor in America. This is worse on the West Coast but it's generally true. They will give things away to schools, to nonprofits, to immigrants even, but native-born poor people are often cut out of the loop. I say, put an ad in the paper that says "free computers to any individuals who need them".
My son and I take old PC's and monitors out in the backyard and shoot them with rifles and pistols! Great fun.
is just take the celeron computer and leave it in an alleyway. oh, wait you were talking about getting rid of the 386.....my bad.
I've got a damaged computer system in my garage (StorageTek 9393-600) that weighs about 1000 lbs empty.
Any suggestions on getting this thing out? Maybe a salvage dealer would come pick it up?
We have a local Prison that works with Unicor to recycle old computers, and then sell what they can as usable computers, we often are able to get some good deals for our company there.
Unicor
Any farmers darange ditch between 1 and 3 am will work, or for 24 hour support simply drive deep into the nearest national forrest. :)
If you live anywhere urban the sidewalk is amazing.
I was walking down the street with my gf at the time in Oakland and there were these old 486's and p60's laying around. I busted out the cybertool and started harvesting ethernet cards. People came by with tools who had seen them 15 minutes or so earlier than I did and I started helping them build machines and pick the best parts.
However, you can't just abandon the machines or leave them for the dept of sanitation. The amount of lead and other nasties in computers is environmentally hostile. One thing to do is advertise that you're doing this. I see this on craigslist.org (or any other location based classifieds) a lot. Postings like: "I'm gonna leave this stuff on the corner of this and that at 5pm" are common and get the word out to people who need parts and can't afford them.
After the compu-hyenas have picked the carrion clean you should take responsibility for what's left and decide, based on what's there if you want to recycle or find a place to dump that will do so ethically.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
there is the Alameda County Computer Resource Center. They even have a list of fees that they charge to make sure they can properly dispose of the items. They take many types of electronics, "We want everything you can plug in that you don't put food inside of." They also turn around and provide computers and other things that work or are repaired to schools, charities, non-profits, and disabled folks. So it's a win-win situation, you get rid of your computer parts and they help someone else.
What the hell say do you have about the content of Ask Slashdot? It's an American site... I guess the reason that you hang out here is that wherever you come from must have extremely boring websites since you seem to have to hang out in an AMERICAN website to find interesting material.
And as far as laziness goes... America is the MOST productive country by far in the world. We work more hours per week than any other country (not sure about Japan... they are probably close to us). But Europeans? They are always on vaction... we work over 40 hours a week on average... while the lazy Europeans work 35 or less... but that's okay... as long as you guys stay lazy... we will maintain our economic superiority.
So go hang fire bloke
...they become appliances.
Just because the machine is no longer fast enough to be a general purpose machine of modern standards doesn't mean it can't do one specific thing extremely well.
A school or nonprofit could make good use of a donated 386 as a print server, pbx etc. You can find your favorite needy organization, ask them what they sorely need and use your hardware macgyver skills to do some philanthropy.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
In my city, we have formed a USENET group meant for the sale/swapping of old parts. I've used this group to buy my Pentium-class server which now runs Linux, the thing cost me $30 because it was someone else's junk. I don't know about 386s, but people still use the group to get rid of 486s because someone is usually interested in parts for salvage.
my house. :)
isn't that what openmosix is for ?
bust that *nix cluster out !
iF yOu WAnT to C YOUr iP agaIn gAThEr tWO MilLIon dOLLArS IN Non - cONsEcuTivE TweNtY's AnD AWaiT FuRThER iNstrUctIoN
the surplus exchange
www.surplusexchange.org
they will be happy to take your old computers & dispose of them properly. They are also a non-profit, so you can deduct your "donation" off your taxes.
they will charge you to dispose of that old CGA monitor tho
If your around the seattle area, there is also RE-PC
iF yOu WAnT to C YOUr iP agaIn gAThEr tWO MilLIon dOLLArS IN Non - cONsEcuTivE TweNtY's AnD AWaiT FuRThER iNstrUctIoN
You can dispose of everything there, be it toxic waste, old dirty socks, illegal weapons of mass destruction, your uncle's corpse, multi-tentacle monster, your younger sister, used up ballpens and post-it notes, collection of photos of you and your mare in compromising positions, some curious-looking blue thing nobody can identify, a roll of toilet paper, G. W. Bush or Eiffel's tower. So why not old computer parts?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
I like to take old PCs and set them up as single-purpose machines. My friends know this and dispose of their old equipment properly. :)
Never have to deal with compatability woes when a game never works on the latest OS, I've got more PCs than versions of windows.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I've got a 8088 PC sitting in my basement. I'm just letting it sit until it becomes a collector's item. Surely sometime in the future it will have some greater value. I remember paying over $1000 when I first bought the thing.
These 'upgrades' are filling up the landfills with potentially hazardous items (lots of heavy metals etc.). So when Microsoft (or Oracle or HP or IBM or whoever) forces you to upgrade the hardware because thier bug ridden bloated software will not run older equipment, they are making profits at the expense of our environment. In addition, individuals and businesses pay taxes and tip fees to dispose of the equipment. This amounts to a hidden subsidy of the profits of the software and hardware companies. It is planned obselecence of the worst sort.
We need, in the US, a system which charges the disposal fee upfront, so there are no hidden costs. In addition if anyone is looking to innovate, a truly recyclable computer would be a great goal.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Where I live (northern Illinois), the counties all have a "solid waste disposal agency", and they occasionally have a 3-day event in which they accept old electronics. They take pretty much anything except for large appliances, microwaves, and software. There's no cost- all you have to do is drop the items off at preset collection points. These are usually local community colleges or corporate sponsors. I've used these event twice now to get rid of broken monitors, computers too old to be useful for me, etc. They take the items and recycle them properly, where the normal trash pickup, if they take the items, will just dump them in a landfill.
The dry fish swims alone.
Another organization I know of is Oakland Tech, a public high school in Oakland California. They run a training program that teaches students how to repair broken computers. Once the machines are working, they're given away to students who can't afford to buy their own.
Okay, 80% of what ends up on the curb is junk, but it depends greatly on where you live and the areas demographics as to what you can find.
I wont go out of my way to look very often, but I have a few spots behind certain engineering firms that I do look, and if I happen to see a box when I'm out and about I'll grab it. I can always throw it away again.
I've found decent SCSI controllers, small and medium SCSI drives, tons of decent size EDO and SDRAM, plenty of optical drives, several 17" good monitors that were reasonably clean, a working Athlon system (that just needed the ram in it reseated).
Of course, 4 out of 5 I stop and it's a P100 or 486 piece of junk, but that other 1 out of 5 nets something that is still usable.
Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.
Bury it in the basement, next to the bodies!
About five years ago I gave an old Tandy 1000 to a local hospital for their after-school art program for disturbed kids. No tax deduction, but I knew the woman who ran the program, and the kids used and appreciated it for a few years.
I gave my 486 to my daughter's (then) boyfriend who made it into a Linux server.
I passed along my P200 to my sister, who only needs Word and AOL access.
Lastly, and most sadly, I recently got rid of my treasured TRS-80 Model III (my first computer, 16K RAM and a cassette recorder for storage). My county worked a deal with Lucent to be a pick-up area for old electronics, paint cans, chemical containers and other "hazardous materials." I think many areas run this kind of event periodically.
I HAD been saving the Model III until it as a "valuable icon of computing's early days," but when I checked EBay and found them going for $25 I said screw it.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn...
they accept donated computers and give them to the needy, and teach them to use it.
I'm in Japan, you insensitive (and dumbwitted) clod!
in some areas you can put it on the curb and it will be picked up overnight. a lot of cities/towns seem to have collection days for TVs and computers. I know Philadelphia PA (where i live) has collection days that bounce to another location every month or two. The have ones for old TVs, Computers and computer parts. They have a schedule for days like this for a lot of things, even "anmesty days" for things like old motor oil, oil based paints, and all kinds of chemicals you are not supposed to put in the trash or down the drain. check with your local town and see if they have something too. granted i think some cities are more advanced about this than some of the surrounding suburbs, and i am assuming it's to prevent the junk from ending up in an empty lot. when local suburbs have tight restrictions on trash volume and charge for trips to the dump, i can drag out a couch or air conditioner or refrigerator or whatever. granted the appliances have their own roving vehicles that pick them up, but i just push em to the curb. the city "large appliance vehicles" usually don't beat the scavengers to them anyway. i don't suggest driving into the local townsville and dropping everything on a curb (that's not legal), but if it's at all usable i have found putting it out with the trash means it will be scavenged 99% of the time. i generally don't feel bad throwing out old junk that may be useful to someone else (but not worth the Ebay hassle) because i know it'll be picked up. i guess that's more a trait of my neighborhood than a universal fact though. no, you can't send me your junk... sorry.
Once the "trusted computing" ala palladium takes off, if there will be a market for old hardware...
Ya think?
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
that'd be dimwitted, i assume?
If there is hope, it lies in the prowles.
i've found two good (so bad it's good) computers that way: an apple ii and a dgone.. so that's clearly the best way to dispose of an old computer. or in fire.
If there is hope, it lies in the prowles.
You can still use all this PCs!! (Or at leaste you can give someone a big present!!) ...
For example: get a good server (for 10 machines, 1000 mhz and 512 Ram and good swap will be more than enough). Then install a little OS on each machine (it's ok if they differ); you will have to choose the more convenient for each machine, for example: for a 386 4 mb no HD you can install Small Linux (it's GNU/Linux for low-end pcs) and TinyX, which will run fine on that machine. If you find a bigger machine, say 486 16 MB 200MB HD, you can install Slackware 9.1 on it, downgrade the kernel to somethin lighter, say 2.2.19, which is rock solid; and install TinyX too. Well, you will have to find out for each machine, some will be better with NetBSD (for example, i have an _old_ Powerbook, which doing very well with NetBSD, and GNU/Linux won't run on it since it doesn't have an FPU and it has a buggy motorola 68K which brakes the Linux's emulated FPU(AKA FPE)). Some of them will boot from Floppy, some from HD, others from the Ethernet (DHCP + TFTP). When you have all the machines ready, you can create an LTSP server [http://ltsp.sourceforge.net/] and using X11 port fordwarding for some machines, and just CLI through ssh for others, they will use the power on the server, and will run every app as a new powerfull machine!!!
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
I'm recycling old PC's and sending them out with Linux on them.
:) clean them up like new, install Linux on them and resell them for a very cheap price as a SAFE Internet appliance for browsing and email, and maybe other basic functions depending on the box and thier needs.
:)
I put up ads in all the stores (a sheet with tear off phone # strips) asking people to call me to pick their old computers rather than throw them in the trash piles. But I do drive around with my eye trained on every trash heap I see. I can spot a keyboard cable hanging out of a box at a 1,000 yards!
I pick them up for free
People throw away 20 million computers each year I'm trying to keep a few out of the landfills and make a few HONEST dollars for myself...
Now today it's Christmas and I have my cell phone, pad and pen and am will be driving around scanning trash piles for the next few weeks.
I will, as I always do, score on a lot of them.
As it is now, I have countless old ISA cards, SB16 anyone?? I have enough spare parts to repair ANY old ISA and most older PCI/ISA based systems. I expect the pickings to be much better this year as prices are even cheaper that ever and sales are UP!
And, I cull out the gems and keep the best stuff for myself... I found a PII the other day with a perfect ZIP drive in it. $15 for a new ATX power supply and bingo! I've lost count of how many older PC type power supplies I have.
Oh yeah, I also found a pristine IBM XT 5160 with IBM color display, 640k, mathco, and a 10meg "Plus Hardcard"... It runs all of my old Sierra games like the KQ and SQ games from the 80's just like I was beamed back 20 years!
Keep throwing them away folks, a guy can't have too many PC's....
That's the reason I've only recently parted with a 386 and 386SX I'd been harboring. I still have several 486 and low end Pentium machines. I figure low end beats "trusted computing" any day.
You could ship your old computers to Brazilian Telecentros, which use Linux terminal servers. It's a beautiful project.
486's are great machines... most of them are well built, and they can still be useful with the right software, CPU, and a healthy amount of RAM.
There's just one problem: there are a boatload of Pentinum I & II class machines out there. And these P-Is and P-IIs are already populated with a good CPU, drive, and memory. So although my 486 would be useful for someone, anyone can get their hands on a better machine.
Therefore, my old machines are only worth scrap:
0. Old machines better than a Pentinum 166 are redeployed to family, friends, or other folks who can use a PC. For lesser machines:
1. ATX-style cases are retained - they're still useful for even brand new machines.
2. Working ATX-style power supplies are still useful, and kept. Non-standard and AT-style supplies are either donated to the local trade school, repurposed for a home project, or scrapped.
3. Old working floppy drives and IDE CD drives are useful in modern machines, so I keep them. Dead or non-standard devices are scrapped. (OK, floppy drives are not useful, but I use them anyway!)
4. Small or broken monitors are scrapped. Larger monitors are given away. I wish it'd be easy & cheap to convert them into a TV.
5. Obsolete Motherboards, etc. I pull interesting CPUs (like 100+ mhz 486 CPUs) and higher density SIMMs. Obsolete motherboards are scrapped. Obsolete cables are scrapped.
6. Drives >= 3 GB are usable. All others are scrapped. I cannabalize some HDDs for the nice rare-earth magnets inside.
Heres a (French) Canadian Company that accepts/recycle anything from computers to printers, etc.
This company usually buys the used parts from companies, but they also accepts donation from people. Im sure you can arrange something (getting some $) if you have a whole batch of Pentium 166 and higher.
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
I am in Nova Scotia, Canada and although I can't think of their names right now there are two companies operating here that take old computers refurb them and send them to schools, the third world, and other places of need. They don't charge for the service and will even come to my door to get the equipment. They operate out of Halifax (the provinces Capital) so if you google search for them you should find them.
Currency valuation is a relatively inept way of judging a nations economy. GDP is the only true indicator of financial superiority. I guess you also judge a stock by it's price. Damn it's easy to see why we are cleaning your clocks in matters of finance.
:-)
GDP:
U.S. - 10.082 trillion
UK - 1.47 trillion
Russia - 1.2 trillion
France - 1.51 trillion
Germany - 2.174 trillion
Australia - 465.9 billion
Japan - 3.45 trillion
as you can see... it takes all of these countries combined totals to equal the United States GDP... whatever country that you are from... you have a looooong way to go to catch up economically.
Better stop taking holiday and get to work.
And yes we are fat
Really? If I couldn't afford a newer computer, I would gladly accept a donation of a 486, if the alternative was not owning a computer at all -- which is the situation most Africans are in.
What makes you think differently about this?
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
The city I live in (Chandler, AZ), every so often has a hazardous wast drop off event for its residents. I am sure some other Cities provide similar services.
They take every thing from batteries, electronics, and old paint. Basically anything they do not want in the landfill.
Probably not near the poster of the topic, but folks in the SF Bay Area can check out the Alameda County Computer Resource Center. They were /.'d a couple years back. They won't rebuild you 386, but they will strip it down and recycle everything inside without a single scrap going outside of the US for those purposes.
Don't Crease the Weasel!
Say no more. Some schmuck will probably pay you to take them off your hand... at least one at a time.
You could try the Regional Electronics Initiative (http://www.rei.org.uk </a>) and more specifically Airedale Computer Recycling (<a href="http://www.airedalecomputers.com">http://www .airedalecomputers.com<a>)
Lithandro.co.uk
Not only lazy... but stupid too. Vacation is written vacAtion, not vaction.
Go back to school, lazy murderer. I hate two kinds of people on this world: Americans (the most) and Jews.
Free Geek takes computers for free and teaches people how to use linux. freegeek.org is a good place to start.
Other problem is receiving. It's needed another ngo to receive (to don't pay taxes/customs for it) and it needs to be in a city with a major dock (in Brazil there is about 4 cities like that) to receive the computers. And distributing may also be a problem, like having contact with other NGOs in the country not just those in your city.
In Brazil I know two NGOs that recycle computers:
* CDI - but they use only windows (have a contract with microsoft), have some burocracy to give the computers to NGOs (like use only windows and need someone 40hours/week dedicated to computer courses) and often trow useful parts away (because can't use windows with them).
* MetaReciclagem - they use linux, have a nice structure but aren't national (altought it's located on a huge city that can absorb any amount of computers sent to them)
In US i know ACCRC - they use linux, i know they have sent computers abroad, but until what i know just to political organizations that eventually redistribute them (don't know if you have something against that)
Sending complete computers is expensive, although it's not very expensive to send small valuable parts, like you can send several memory modules or one motherboard with processor, or even harddisk and pay U$6. Use the usps site to calculate (and use Economy Letter Post).
It may look it don't worth to pay that much, but here hardware is more expensive, like, an used 1gb hard disk would cost no less than 25-30U$.
In my particular case I'm volunteer on a small NGO here in Brazil and we use some computers for teaching (in fact 4, we don't have room for more). They have low memory (32MB), so sometimes is boring wait for openoffice and other software loads. They also have 2 free slots each, so it would be interesting to receive some EDO memory modules, of over 8MB each. If you have many EDO memory modules around and is willing to send them, they're welcome :)
Okay... you've stooped to calling out names and typos... The last bastion of a weak mind... I guess that means I win this entire argument. Oh... and by the way... your initial gripe about the original post... it's generated at this point 251 comments... that's more than any current topic on Slashdot. Pretty good for a dull submission eh? Oh... and there is no capital 'a' in the middle of the word vacation :-P
one last p.s. I hate no one... and I have murdered no one. But my government does have my support in defending our country against terrorists and brutal dictators.
1. ebay
2. if it's a complete pc, give it to goodwill
3. if parts, offer them to your local LUG members
4. or to the computer dept / club of your local highschool / community college
5. give to cowboyneal
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
Just drop 'em off at my place. Hellooo kloppix.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Since eBay changed their privacy policy (and a string of idiot buyers who gave me grief); I stopped selling on eBay. I have researched ubid.com & Yahoo! auctions but have yet to try them.
Are there any computer fair & swap meets near you? It might be easy enough to get a table for $15 to sell your stuff - I normally share a table with a fellow geek splitting the table cost.
Some non-profit organizations will take excess stuff, but again you are sticking the disposal to them.
Have you looked in the phone book, or done a good Google search to find a recycler in your area?
Any of your fellow Geeks need the parts? Fellow Linux User's Group members, could they use the parts?
Heck, put a web page together listing the items (with part & model number) - a good Google search brings up those hard to find parts.
Easiest place to find is proably a "Wal-Mart Tire and Lube" or similar. Keep asking random employees until they agree to take the batteries. ;>
;>)
Failing that, any sort of car place that sells batteries may be able to take them, though they may charge some sort of disposal fee. (Wal-Mart possibly should, but random employee number seven doesn't know that.
Yes, because the last time a brutal dictator invaded your country..
.. well, a big chunk of Africa, the Middle East.. North Korea..
Oh, wait..
Yes, because the last time a terrorist strike occured, your nation struck the homeland of the terrorists and...
Oh, wait..
Now, just for a clue: Saddam was no more dangerous than his Iranian and Syrian neighbours. And no less a brutal dictator than
Another clue: Bin Laden's 9/11 hijackers were apparently Saudis. So was Bin Laden. You've really kicked some Saudi ass since then...
YAC (Yet Another Clue): Your economy is inflated by your inflated sense of worth in the world. Today, you have the highest GDP and your currency is the world staple. A nation of corruption and litigation full of fat lazy elitist snobs who sell their industrial capacities out to third world nations to keep consumer prices the same while increasing profits...... Well, just come back to me in 20-30 years when China has the same GDP. And tell me where the next 20-30 years of American Economic Dominance is coming from. Because it won't be technology, and it sure won't be biotech if the patent system doesn't see some reform.
Last clue: YHBT, HAND, etc etc.
Hi, I highly recommend www.siliconsalvage.com. They are located in Orange County and they take in all sorts of electronic stuff that might ordinarily go to a landfill. When they get your stuff they sort and properly dispose of it OR they may keep it and store it. They archive old equipment for set design in movies and TV. Recently the producers of T3 rented a bunch of PCs during the production of the movie. They also use old hardware for period pieces. I use this place for my computer junk from work and they even gave me a few bucks for the junk. Very cool.
there are american ninjas why not american talibans?
From the voice of experience I have lots of practical advice for both home users and administrators. I have had to get rid of a pretty fair chunk of hardware as a systems administrator so I have had to research this.
First: I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet so I'll say it. Wipe the drives with a wipe program. Don't just format them, it's too easy to get around. This is a good job for a pfy if you have one. If you give away information that leads to identity theft or the like your in for a world of trouble.
Do NOT donate old hardware that is obsolete to schools, goodwill or another charity. They all have to pay for the disposal costs, and people's charity in this area costs these institutions very real dollars. I speak from working with schools for a couple of years, experience as a systems administrator and having known people in charity work.
You can reuse / recycle them into continued use or dispose of them properly. Old Pentium class up computers make great firewalls. Between a friend and I we have probably gotten proper Linux firewalls to nearly a dozen households. Especially good when most of these people are not exactly full disclosure subscribers. If you don't have the skill to do this, you can always use something horribly mangled like the mandrake 9.2 firewall, but something is better than nothing.
You can do a basic enough breakdown for recycling if the box as a whole is propietary enough (Dell, Compaq, HP) that it isn't upgradable. Take out the disks and set these into your spare parts pile. This is very useful when someones firewall hard disk craps out as they are invariably led to do since the are almost always really old hard drives. The motherboard and old cards can be removed. If you don't have a recycle center that can take the circuit cards than throw those away. You can still recycle the case itself, just remove the plastics and the sheet metal shell will be taken by almost any recycling place.
If your doing this for an employer - don't just throw them away. If there new enough you can sell them to a wholesaler, give them away to employees (make sure you clear this high up to avoid the appearance of impropriety that can cost you your job). You can also sell almost anything on Ebay, some say this as a joke, but whoever is buying it is putting it back into use so you have recycled this. Save your receipts though and print out those auction pages. This is your proof that you have NOT thrown these away.
Important note about throwing away. Old circuit boards are full of a really nasty cocktail of bad for the environment chemicals. Old monitors are full of a pretty fair amount of lead. Both of these have the capacity to get your company in trouble for the future. In my case, working at the time for a company that once had a deplorable environmental record (nicely cleaned themselves up by the way), the costs for cleanup in the future for improperly disposed of company products was well known.
Since our old stuff (I had three facilities) was so old as to be no good to anyone, I scrapped what might be usable and found an environmentaly certified recycler for the old equipment. I paid them about 80 cents a pound, they gave me a shiny certificate absolving my company of environmental responsbility for those products.
- Keep in mind folks that this is the cost you inflict on charities when you donate obsolete hardware on them.
Important lesson here for companies - just because it's legal to throw away today doesn't mean your of the hook if it's deemed to have neccesitated an environementaly cleanup tomorrow.
If you're in Portland, Oregon, take it to Free Geek - They break down computers into various recyclable materials, and if its not TOO old, they may keep it, and use its parts to supply the Build Your Own Linux Computer program! Pretty cool if you ask me.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/computer.htm works if you're in Austin, TX.
I email my friends on what I have and sell it for next to nothing to them. Whats left goes to ebay and then to the trash can if it doesnt go on ebay. Case frames gets a sawsall treatment and then trashed. The metal case shell is kept for projects. MB older than PII are trashed, memory is held in a junk bin for some unknow reason. Anyone need a 2101 memory chips, Same drawer. I had a set of MFM disk and controllers with DOS on them for diag work, but few MB have ISA slots so those have been junked as well. Mice without roller wheels are history, but I have held onto a buss mouse and card for sentimental reasons.
In Toronto, Ontario, Canada there is a non-profit org called Reboot Canada which takes any electronic (ive given them old stereos, 386s, electronic typewriters, old walkmans, etc), they try to refurb it, then donate it to people that could use it, like schools.
http://www.reboot.on.ca/
You get a tax receipt a few months later after they've gone over everything and given it a value. They have a Value Calculator on their site to get an idea of what your computer systems are worth.
My last trip I took over 13 old computers and a van full of electronics I have no use for anymore, they gladly took them. They even thought I was a company, people no one person has ever gave them that much heh, I'm a pack rat geek. But when you have to move all that stuff from one house to another, you realize you have too much crap.
http://www.strut.org but that got shut down by the state after 8 years of providing exelent computers and recycling for school distracts across oregon. they accepted donations from anyone free of charge except for monitors there was a $5 or $10 disposal fee but now they appear to be reffering donations to a few other places now that struts dead.
Earth Protection Services Inc. http://www.earthpro.com (503) 620-2466
Free Geek http://www.freegeek.org (503) 232-9350
Total Reclaim Inc. http://www.totalreclaim.com (206) 343-7443
so here's a few places in the portland metro/seattle region
Being a college student at Tennessee Tech in the small ass town of Cookeville, we have nothing better to do (we being myself and other Computer Science and Engineering majors) than to find interesting ways of destroying old dead equipment.
For some reason, computer equipment is in a continual state of dieing in Cookeville. This past semester I lost a 4GB hard drive, and 8GB hard drive, a dual processor motherboard (Pentium II) and a single processor Pentium board, just to name a few. Coleman, a fellow computer science major, has lost a 200Mhz Sun Station, a 21 inch monitor (red color tube went out) and a wide host of other equipment.
We're not sure if it's just the bad power grid in Cookeville (I'm going more for the electric gremlin theory), but there is only one thing which can be done when equipment dies at the most inconvenient times: destruction fest.
We place all the equipment out on a lawn and then begin to pummel them with everything from baseball bats and crowbars to bricks and rocks. The stress relief of hitting a monitor can not be described in words. It's really great when you imagine a professors head instead of the monitor.
Afterwords we just throw all the equipment in a dumpster.
Sumit
Okay... so you apparently think Saddam was a fine upstanding gentleman and that mean old America picked on a nice world leader.
Saddam had 12 years to come clean... North Korea and some of the unstable governments in Africa still have time for diplomacy. This is apparent when you see the dictator Taylor from Liberia leaving and even Mohammar Quadaffi opening the door to WMD inspections and dismantlement.
War is the last resort when negotiation is no longer productive.
And the fact that most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi's wasn't as significant as the fact that they were part of a terrorist organization (Al-Queda) that was being nurtured by a fanatical government (The Taliban).
There's no question who was training terrorists (from many different countries including America) that were responsible for 9/11. And we really kicked some Taliban/Al-Queda ass and will continue to do so.
And yes there are some individuals in Saudi Arabia that support these murderers as there are people that support them in all countries. But rest assured that they will be uncovered and justice will be served upon them.
As far as China surpassing America as the worlds dominant economy... you may very well be right. China has a very strong work ethic and if they drop the socialism and the facade of communism then I have little doubt that they could achieve this.
...at least in Tucson, AZ, "Desert Waste Not Warehouse" accepts old computers/monitors. After they strip out the useful stuff (which they use to build PCs to give to low income families, or sell to local nonprofits), they recycle a lot of the more hazardous stuff like the lead in the monitors. Recent article about them in the local bastion of journalistic spiffiness... http://www.azstarnet.com/star/mon/31222RECYCLING.h tml
Worked for me when I wanted to rid myself of 2 big boxes of junk (486 SBC, anyone?).
Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
I just took a boatlaod of old hardware -- after stripping it for anything good -- to the City of Houston Recycling Center and they took it all, for free, no questions asked.
Dell Recycling will pick up your old computer for like $10 AND give you a coupon for Dell's website.
Dell Recycling
The last school I went to gave my brother a 100mhz Pentium w/ a 2.2gig drive. of course, he runs windows and didn't want it. it's now my mail server, running linux.
if you have broadband, this is a great way to use a junker.
I've got an old SS10 that's working but otherwise useless (only 32MB of RAM) that should get disposed of properly. Any suggestions?
List of Northern California / Bay area computer recyclers
I live in Portland, OR. and I've used Free Geek. They have reasonable prices for the return of things dangerous to the environment, like monitors. They also run some great programs as well.
http://www.freegeek.org>
http://www.usedcomputer.com/nonprof.htm
Waste Management has a deal where I live. For $15 per month they come every week and collect a 92 gal. size can of anything I put in there. No questions asked. I've put old electronics in there. Gone. Dirty diapers. Gone. Old newspapers. Gone. Dead cat. Gone.
Keep in mind that if you turn something in for recycling, it might not be very friendly to the environment. Paper is a good example. Also, grouping things together like that can be a bad thing because then you get high concentrations of stuff in the landfill or incinerator whereas if you just throw it in the garbage the stuff is spread out and doesn't do quite the damage.
. Quit playing Monopoly with Bill. Switch to one of many non-Microsoft products today.
My neighbors yard
I know people are saying, don't donate it to the school - but you just have to find the right teacher or club.
If there's a teacher you know (several at my school) who use old "crap" machines for typing (floppy drive still works) when they can't/don't want to reserve the computer lab - they'll take it. A ton of my teachers also have DOS-only programs - especially in chemistry and physics.
And the high school computer programs love these. They're old, and can't run much, sure, but Tom's rtbt and other, similar stripped-down, X-less BSD/Linux/etc stuff will run, giving them a cheap terminal to dial into (since many schools don't allow unofficial IPs to be visible outside the school, many clubs put a box in a member's home or the sponsor's, and let kids ssh in). It's a cheap, low-volume (non-/.-able) web server, etc. Maybe Java won't run - but python, perl, C[++|#], etc, will. And it's a good way to learn bash/csh/tsh/tcsh/korn, etc - machines with X often tempt new users to ignore the command line too much.
Even if they can't use it for that, they can use it to learn how computers are put together, dissect hard drives, or salvage the monitor, memory, etc. How do you think my club learned about software RAID? About half a dozen 500 MB hard drives in a 486. And then, we had a 1.5 GB machine (with way overblown redundancy, for our purposes) that we could use for the purposes above.
My computer club salvaged 2 or 3 old 486's the school threw into the dumpster (unofficially, as it was not technically an 'acceptable donation'). We were in seventh heaven ( Unfortunately, the MCSE techs we hired as the low bidders saw it in our room, and thought it was a piece of crap, ready to be junked, despite the clear 'computer club only - do not touch' signs, and pitched all but one, which we fortunately had at a member's house that night.
Anyway, check that out.
freegeek is a non-profit that recycles and refurbishes donated computers.
I volunteer at this place ACCRC (Alameda County Computer Resource Center). It's in Berkeley, CA. They're a non-profit that takes computers for a small fee. PIIs and above are turned into Linux boxes and are given to low income families. Some machines are even shipped to Africa to attempt to bridge the digital divide. They're a really great place. You can drop off software, peripherals and packing material for free. Computers, monitors, scanners, printers, fax machines, TVs, and stereo equipment has a small fee. It's a great place. They recycle everything, but they're biggest goal is to refurb Linux boxes. www.accrc.org
Tim Smith - Ramblings from Nerd Land
A pentium 75 runs OpenOffice "perfectly"?
If you checked out the grandparent poster's link, you'd see it for the Linux Terminal Server Project.
Thus, its safe to assume that the pentium 75 is acting as a dumb client (or, if you want to use X's terminology, as an X server), booting entirely from the network. Thus, the pentium 75 is displaying Open Office, and presumably some server with globs of ram and a fast cup or two is actually doing the heavy work.
There's a Des Moine, Iowa used computer store that has had advertisements over the past year about computer disposal.
You bring your old machine in and they'll give you $20 (or something like that) toward one of their computers. And they'll pay the disposal fee. Most likely they'll try and use as many of the parts as they can. But hey, at least you've got $20 worth of something and a clear conscience.
In Houston, you can take computers and other electronics to the Westpark center or the Environmental service centers:
http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/swd/recycling.htm
For instance, here in CT, computer recycling is *the law*. You can drop off old PCs at any town dump/recycling center, they have a special place for them.
Statistically speaking, there's a 99.998% chance that my IQ is higher than yours. Get over it.
If you live in the Bay Area you can contribute your old hardware to Infomed USA, which will pick up your refuse at your door and give you a receipt you can use for tax purposes. We accept any working Pentium-class machine as well as working monitors (14" VGA, post-1995) and send them to Cuba to be used by medical workers. Our group has sent something like 3,000 machines to Infomed Cuba, which provides on-line medical information to doctors from all over the world and technical support to Cuban doctors. You can read more about Infomed on the Stockholm Challenge award page for innovative and beneficial uses of technology.
Cuba has more doctors per capita than the United States and sends more physicians abroad to even poorer countries than the WHO (World Health Organization). Everyone on the island has free access to high quality health care (whereas in the U.S. where something like 40 million people have no access to medical care, including millions of full time workers). Cuba has the best medical care in Latin America, excellent life expectancies and infant mortality rates, and was ranked as having medical care comparable to the U.S. (39th world-wide vs. 37th) by the WHO in 2000, despite having a GNP per capita that is a fraction of what Americans spend for health care alone. Cuba also has a well developed medical technology industry that exports low cost but high quality pharmaceuticals, etc. all over the world.
Unfortunately, the United States State Department (along with Commerce & Defense) must grant export licenses so we can send hardware to Cuba and our licenses are not keeping up with Moore's "Law." Our most recent license only allows us to send 266 MHz or slower machines. Infomed-Cuba itself no longer wants our old crap, since they can do better buying their own equipment on the international market, so our next shipment will go to 5 Cuban hospitals, some of whom are still using 286 machines, I understand. However hopefully Bush won't be president forever, so we are stockpiling better machines until we can get a license to ship them.
To schedule a pickup email Dave if you live in the South Bay, Don in San Francisco or Ed if you are in the East Bay or North Bay. Also, we can also use anyone who can twirl a screwdriver to help us test and fix up the donated boxes. We have regularly scheduled work days in both Oakland and San Jose. Drop us a line if you'd like to pitch in...
If you are serious and not just blowing smoke...drop me an email. I need several for an inter-city youth computer training. If I had a couple hundred I could let the families have one. I would be more than willing to pick them up.
Vertical
vertical(underscore)98 'AT' NOSPAMPLEASEyahoo DOT com
72 CD D7 52 D0 7E D8 47 44 91 D5 84 D1 59 F1 A9-This is my 128bit integer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Free Bytes in Atlanta will accpet old PCs. It doesn't cost anything directly, but they do appreciate a contribution when they do (which they definitely deserve), as it is a non-profit that does an awesome job.
Free Bytes will take old PCs, and either refurbish them, re-use parts, or recycle them. Their refurbish program then sells the PCs to other non-profits at rock bottom cost, and the recycle program is also very good.
Keep up the good work Free Bytes!
http://freebytes.org/
JWall: GUI client for IPTables
Assume we don't go to donate the computer to a school, charity, or sell it to a used computer store .
What *does* (or should) a proper disposal facility do to ensure environmentally safe procedures for properly computer disposal? What should we look for if we are concerned? I figure since we're asking the question about proper disposal it would be a good idea to define what that means.
Hearing stories of city paper recycling programs sending the garbage to landfills because of low paper costs, I don't feel comforatble sending several pounds of lead & mercury to the landfill either (ie its in the computer and monitor).
They will usually charge a fee of $10 for disposal.
http://www.repc.com/
I'd like to point out that all the news I've seen in foreign countries lately (England, France, Spain, and Estonia) makes it seem as if we all love what our government is doing. Like whenever George W. makes on of his moronic moves we all run up to pat him on the back. I don't know a single person that approves of his actions as president. I wish the north east would secede. So in conclusion, just because our government is a bunch of idiots and is doing its best to f**k up our country and any foreign relations we once had, don't go thinking that all the citizens support it. --- America: Overthrow it or get out.
I mentioned this in a post about "Japan's War on E-Waste" back in July, but it seems to fit here also...
IBM offers a PC recycling service in the U.S. for $30. The PC can be from any manufacturer. It doesn't actually need to be a complete PC, it could be different parts and peripherals. They seem to charge by the shipped box, not by the system. They donate the system to "Gifs in Kind" if it qualifies. The service is offered on their Web store.
The machines are sent to Envirocycle, an electronic recycler. When you pay the 30 bucks, you get a prepaid UPS shipping label to send it there. You load your equipment into your own box (up to 26x26x26) and drop it off at a UPS dropoff location. If you fill out the included donation form, they will send you back a donation confirmation form you can use for tax purposes (if your machine qualifies). There is a lot more info in the FAQ.
IBM also has info on recycling IBM products in other countries, but I didn't get a chance to read through all the info, so I don't know if they have comparable programs in other countries or not.
Ever heard of goodwill?
Send them, postage due, to:
WHG
1835 73rd Ave NE
Medina, WA 98039
It seems to me that children might benefit from having spare computer parts. Even broken parts can be used to teach computer assembly.
Low end parts might not be the best, but they can certainly run science projects or make good platforms for learning programming.
Since Linux runs on anything, you could toss in a couple of Linux or FreeBSD CDs, too. Of course, this last one depends entirely on the ignorance of the teachers involved, but I think the picture is clear.
Computer parts should be used until they do not work, not until their Windoze licence or support runs out!
All data is speech. All speech is Free.
http://sidewalksale.com/ If you're near Dallas...or Something silimar in your area
Have you been DaMa9eD today?
Get baseball bats and sell shots at it at like carnivals. My organization did it and we hung computers up in a loft for 3 shots for a dollar and destroy-a-printer for 5. You'd be surprised how much damage a case can survive. It took the iron crow bar to really do any damage... After a day of use we broke a bat. It's Great fundraiser idea!
Donating computer equipment for reuse is better than recycling.
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If reuse isn't an option, recycling is better than throwing it "away" but it can still be harmful due to the many toxic components in computers and other electronic equipment. Some electronics recycling operations are better than others. The really bad ones involve such things as incinerating the toxic (PVC) plastic casings, using U.S. prison labor to handle the toxic process of recycling these materials (without the labor protections that might exist outside the prison system), shipping wastes to "third world" countries where weaker environmental laws exist, etc.
BACKGROUND ON THE PROBLEMS OF COMPUTER AND ELECTRONIC WASTES:
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's Clean Computer Campaign
http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/
Computer Take Back Campaign
http://www.computertakeback.com
Toxic Dude (Clean Computer Campaign targets Dell)
http://www.toxicdude.com
European Union Directives on Detoxifying Computers and Recycling Electronic Wastes
http://www.informinc.org/summaries_waste.
Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing Of Asia
http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinal
Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship
http://www.computertakeback.com/the_
E-waste related news
http://www.ban.org/ban_news/news.html
COMPUTER REUSE RESOURCES:
National Cristina Foundation (donated to people with disabilities)
http://www.cristina.org
TEN TIPS FOR DONATING A COMPUTER
http://www.techsoup.org/products/recycl
Nonprofit Technology Resources
http://ntronline.org (Philadelphia, PA)
COMPUTER/ELECTRONICS RECYCLING RESOURCES:
Consumer Education Initiative (industry website with pointers to electronics recycling services in your area)
http://www.eiae.org
Elemental, Inc.
http://www.eleminc.com (Philadelphia, PA)
Recycling Services, Inc.
http://members.aol.com/rcyclngsrv/ (Pottstown, PA - about an hour north of Philly)
[more responsible than Elemental Inc.; brings stuff to Supreme in NJ]
Supreme Recycling
http://www.supremerecycling.com (on the central coast of NJ)
COMPUTER ENERGY EFFICIENCY:
Energy Star Computer Equipment Standard
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=p
i will except any consumer electronics for recycling. i tear them down to the base parts and then it off to recycle. my only problem right now is bulk plastic and thoes darn CRT tubes. other then that, no problems.... it even pays my gas to drive the junk to my venders.
gary
me-AT-kausi.com
serving sioux falls, michell, yankton SD and the twincities MN.
i do charge to pick up the old stuff, no charge if dropped off.
I live on a busy street in San Diego near the beach, it's not a bad area, but I can put out ANYTHING on the sidewalk and it will be gone in a few hours. Old monitors, keyboards, anything. -M@
You always see on some TV show or newspaper article that throwing away PC's with the rest of the garbage is bad for the environment. Maybe so, but why do they always single out PC's ? Pretty much every electronic gadget in existence uses the same stuff found in PC's..
My best way to dispose of computer parts is giving them to the little brothers and instructing them to leave them in the toilets at school. It works out great for all of us -- the school gets from free parts, stupid kids at the school learn a lesson, principals have one more thing to worry about, and we get to LAUGH OUR ASSES OFF FOR DAYS AFTER. Yeah -- so basically you give them a mouse, and they throw it in the toilet and then pretend to have "just discovered it" and point it out to all their little friends. (Preferably AFTER having urinated on it.) Well one of those 2nd graders is SURELY stupid enough (yes, they do it every time) to reach in the toilet, pull the old logitech mouse or 286 mother board out, and hand it to the teacher... Then the investigation begins -- teacher passes to principal, principal calls the tech labs all worried that someone stole their "valuable" equiptment... oh GOD! And the funnest item to have your children throw in their school toilets has GOT to be keyboard keys in the urinals and a 250W POWER SUPPY in the shitter with a load of crap on top!
Open your eyes to the ongoing damage which continues to be inflicted by Microsoft.
The correct URL i presume is http://www.cbnsw.org.au
as www.cbnsw.com.au is not valid and a quick google search for computer bank nsw turns up the above url.
I donated a ton of old computer equipment by contacting the folks at www.computer-recycle.org
I feel good knowing that I am helping someone out, plus the donation is tax deductible.
I know I'm posting late, but in Chicago, you've got a couple options:
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
Is there a precompiled version of Linux that would fit on a floppy, USB drive, CDRom ISO, or boot from LAN that is designed to be an MP3 player? I would really like to downclock one of my old computers so that it doesn't need a CPU fan, strip out the HD, and set it up as a dedicated LAN MP3 player in my stereo rack. Some sort of slave setup where any computer on the LAN can send it commands to play MP3s from any networked hard drive. Or it could browse the shared directories on it's own, of course. Unless there's already a device out there for less than $100 that does this...
Why not either donate the old hardware to charity or set up the old machine in the kitchen and let the wife browse for recipes on the internet with it? :)
RebateFX.com - Spread rebates for Forex traders
The barometer no one mentioned on /. so far is how many PCs were sold?
In 25 years we hit 1 billion by 2002. And
2 billion by 2008.
I wonder what are the numbers of cars, tvs, stereos sold compared PCs? Don't they all eventually end up at the dump/junkyard?
I used http://www.earth911.org/ to find local places that would take my old (non-working) parts for free. They even took old laserdisc players and walkmans.
There is reclamre. http://www.reclamre.com
I know there is at least one in the Seattle area, but you didn't specify geographic location
"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night."
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
(2024, kid going to college) K: Dad, this is embarrassing ! how can i use this old computer of yours, it only has a terabyte of ram, and like, this measily attobyte hard drive. D: in my day we got by with a gig of ram and were happy K: yeah, well I guess you just want me to me like a social outcast from the other side of hte tracks or somthing. Like, I want to run MovRep (an app that takes a full[dvd+ quality] movie and replace the main character with you, seamlessly) D: Listen young lady....
If you happen to live in the NH/VT area, WinCycle is a nice option.
If its usable, they will fix it up and donate it to schools, etc. If not, they'll accept it for a very small fee (25 cents/lb or so) and make sure that it is properly disposed of (ie, working parts removed and reused, no working parts recycled).
U.S. - 10.082 trillion
France - 1.51 trillion
Well, al little too easy. You are bashing AC because he pull out random numbers, but you do the same. You could, with the same numbers, deduce that California is less wealthy than the US, even though it is not true, just because it has less people.
US: 263 million people
France: 58 million people
US GDP/people: 10,082/263=38.33
FR GDP/people: 1,510/58=26.03
Well, all of a sudden, US are 1.47x better than France, not 10x.
You just proved once more than you can make numbers tell you anything. Thanks.
Write boring code, not shiny code!