My first "PC", a Commodore PET with 4K of RAM, a tiny built-in monochrome monitor and a built-in cassette recorder for long term storage still sits in a corner of our pole barn somewhere else in our state.
I wish i still had one of my early machines: a TRS-80 motherboard nailed to a plywood stand, compleat w monitor, keyboard, power supply, floppy drives, etc also screwed on. The cat hated it but couldn't stop staring at it.
It worked as well as any TRS-80 worked. I remember playing a text-based adventure game called "Asylum" on it.
It vanished in the room of Lost Possessions From The Past.
@f00l had one of those as well. Its nickname wasn't "Trash 80" for nothing. Nailing all the pieces to a hunk of plywood was a smart stabilization move! If you breathed on those ribbon cables connecting everything, it crashed.
@f00l While I was lucky enough to start with a Commodore 64 (with the 1541 disk drive, an Okidata dot matrix printer, and eventually an update to the kickass 1200 baud modem), my father had a TRS-80. Most important thing he ever asked me to do on that hunk of crap was to write a program to figure out the most commonly pulled lottery balls. Always looking for an edge he was...
If it isn't something easily recycled (if I can't load it by myself into my hatchback and deposit it somewhere not an asspain and a half to get to, basically), it goes outside on Sunday afternoon and it always disappears by Monday morning, garbage day. Chicago has tons of junk trucks that trawl the city alleys and streets looking for curbed appliances, electronics, metals, etc. to recycle (unfortunately, some bad apples also look for not-well-enough-secured bikes, but that's another story). They get a bit of money; I get ease of disposal. Win-win.
@hamjudo I only do that for stuff that no longer works. Either in an attempt to fix it or just for fun as you say. Great way to become fearless about tearing expensive stuff down.
I send most of my used electronics from home & work to one place: iFixit's device donation program Free shipping, and you get a repair guide for your item written up. Students in a technical writing program use your donated devices (among other devices on hand) to get technical writing experience. I highly recommend it, especially if you have any items that are physically fine, but don't turn on or have a software defect.
@dashcloud I'm filing this under "The Coolest Thing I Learned Today". Totally going to dig through the Drawer of Dead Stuff this evening and see if I have some of their Wish List items.
(And then probably spend too much time skimming their Repair Guides...)
I hang on to whatever it is far longer than is logical, until the wife finally loses patience with me. At which point we give or donate, sometimes sell (but the shit's usually worthless by then), sometimes trash. Within a few weeks I realize that I did have a use for it after all.
Freecycle!
Give/Donate/Closet.
My first "PC", a Commodore PET with 4K of RAM, a tiny built-in monochrome monitor and a built-in cassette recorder for long term storage still sits in a corner of our pole barn somewhere else in our state.
I wish i still had one of my early machines: a TRS-80 motherboard nailed to a plywood stand, compleat w monitor, keyboard, power supply, floppy drives, etc also screwed on. The cat hated it but couldn't stop staring at it.
It worked as well as any TRS-80 worked. I remember playing a text-based adventure game called "Asylum" on it.
It vanished in the room of Lost Possessions From The Past.
I think this room has an entrance at Hogworts?
@f00l "as well as any TRS-80 worked" LOL.
I used to love to play a game called Gwana Bwana on the TRS-80. And play with the synthesizer cartridge.
@f00l had one of those as well. Its nickname wasn't "Trash 80" for nothing. Nailing all the pieces to a hunk of plywood was a smart stabilization move! If you breathed on those ribbon cables connecting everything, it crashed.
@f00l While I was lucky enough to start with a Commodore 64 (with the 1541 disk drive, an Okidata dot matrix printer, and eventually an update to the kickass 1200 baud modem), my father had a TRS-80. Most important thing he ever asked me to do on that hunk of crap was to write a program to figure out the most commonly pulled lottery balls. Always looking for an edge he was...
If it isn't something easily recycled (if I can't load it by myself into my hatchback and deposit it somewhere not an asspain and a half to get to, basically), it goes outside on Sunday afternoon and it always disappears by Monday morning, garbage day. Chicago has tons of junk trucks that trawl the city alleys and streets looking for curbed appliances, electronics, metals, etc. to recycle (unfortunately, some bad apples also look for not-well-enough-secured bikes, but that's another story). They get a bit of money; I get ease of disposal. Win-win.
We really needed an "M) All of the above"
answer for the poll tonight
I put them in the garage, until I call the junk guys to come and take them, along with all my other unwanted crap, every other year or so.
Then I think they clean it off and sell it to deal-a-day sites, where I buy it back again, forgetting I owned it before.
Am I the only one here who takes stuff apart just for the fun of it?
@hamjudo I only do that for stuff that no longer works. Either in an attempt to fix it or just for fun as you say. Great way to become fearless about tearing expensive stuff down.
This poll gave me a strange feeling of deja vu.
Punt
I send most of my used electronics from home & work to one place:
iFixit's device donation program
Free shipping, and you get a repair guide for your item written up.
Students in a technical writing program use your donated devices (among other devices on hand) to get technical writing experience.
I highly recommend it, especially if you have any items that are physically fine, but don't turn on or have a software defect.
@dashcloud I'm filing this under "The Coolest Thing I Learned Today". Totally going to dig through the Drawer of Dead Stuff this evening and see if I have some of their Wish List items.
(And then probably spend too much time skimming their Repair Guides...)
I ship them to Woot and they sell them during a Woot Off.
Ain't like it used to be over there ;-(
I hang on to whatever it is far longer than is logical, until the wife finally loses patience with me. At which point we give or donate, sometimes sell (but the shit's usually worthless by then), sometimes trash. Within a few weeks I realize that I did have a use for it after all.