# new uses for old computers



## dustyjay (Jan 24, 2003)

> One mans trash is another mans treasure!!!!!!!!!


I am always on the lookout for computers that others have just thrown away or are will ing to give away. I even pich them up for 5 or 10 bucks at yard/garage sales.

sometimes you can make them work sometimes not. There are a lot of really young kids out there who would love to have a computer but can't afford one dor one reason or another. Giving them one of these old relics really can make them happy. Especially if you can give them a few old games to play on them too. I personally have given 12 of these machines away so far and other than the time involved and maybe about 15 or 20 bucks in a couple cases it really hasn't cost me anything.

As for the machines that dont work, gut em! I have a closet full of <1Gb hard drives and everyone of them work fine. They are great data storage drives when set up as hot swap drives. Ever needed to use your floppy drive only to find it dont work? I have a bunch of those too. An older 14" SVGA monitor makes a great emergancy or testing purposes monitor. I have thousands of screws and Jumpers should someone I know or even I some how lose one. I have drive rails that fit almost everything. I even scammed a 350W atx power supply out of an old server that I am now using in this computer. I have a ton of old processors and memory. I may never use any of them again. Then again I might too. Sometimes even the cases can be usable them selves.


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## brushmaster1 (Jun 15, 2002)

It's great to see a kindred soul! I have a room (lliterally) filled with old computers... everything from XTs to P266s. I seldom have to buy parts, and I have set up basic computers for several friends.

Sometimes it pays to be a packrat!


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## Dan Mc (Nov 8, 1999)

Try taking one of those PCs to a Veterans' Hospital or a Convalescent center...many of the older folks can type real well and can write letters (the staff can help them save to a floppy and print on the facilties' printers)


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## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

We use the old cases in the kitchen to hide the coffee maker and the toaster.  Old hard-drives can be disassembled, the plates make very good craft supplies, the magnets that come from them are super-strong rare-earth magnets that are great for science projects. Am looking in to useing the old cases as building material to build a storage shed. They seem to stand up to the elements extremely well.  You can always find empty cases at any waste disposal site. Bigger and cheaper than bricks. Just super-glue the suckers together. Fans's out of older cases are a must, as most are oversized and can be used to reduce noise levels in modern PC's, plus, they seem to be built better than the stock fans of today. Many people still have old 286's,386's with the fans still running like new.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

Heh...I have an old EGA Wonder 800 by ATI from 1987...I think it has 128 or 256 kB of video memory. If only I had a computer to use it in... Oh, that, and my old Apple IIGS. That thing was awesome back in the day.


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## mischiefschild (Apr 20, 2002)

The village that I live in just upgrade their systems last year, and every year they hold an auction, getting rid of things that the police department has acguired, and miscilanious things from town. Last year I got all of their old computers for 10 bucks, 4 computers 2 printers. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
( they all were operational and had'nt been cleared out either, got the entire villages tax records on hard drive in the garage. LoL)


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## dustyjay (Jan 24, 2003)

You would think that they would have at least wiped the hard drives before the sale. But they probably didnt even think about it. I am waiting for our local property disposal sale to happen here. Unfortunately it doesnt take palce until September. Last year I was out bid but there was only one computer in the lot so I didnt lose much. Estate auctions are another good place to find in-exspensive computer equipment. I say this from experience. I used to work for an auction house and we had several computers sell that way. I was not allowed to bid on them as I was an employee and it would have been a conflict of interest.


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## Monstrous Mi (Jul 20, 2002)

Here are two great uses for older PCs:

Network printer server: http://pigtail.net/LRP/printsrv/index.html

Hardware router/firewall: http://pigtail.net/LRP/


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## Talamasca (Mar 23, 2003)

Dedicate one to a shared/distributed computing program of your choice:
http://www.distributed.net/
http://www.aspenleaf.com/distributed/distrib-projects.html


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## websurfer (Jun 24, 2002)

And for the fisherman out there they make good boat anchors, especially the really old heavy ones


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## KEITHANTHONY (May 1, 2003)

Use the over clocked suckers to keep yo' feet warm


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## Cosmic (May 5, 2003)

A super use for old computers is to turn them into control machines.

As in automation of your house or anything else. Being super cheap, you can use your collection of parts to tailor together a super nice control machine.

With what is called X-10 technology, you can set them up to control lights, fans, or any other such load. Also can measure all sorts of parameters and work that into the scheme. Automate the watering of all house plants, greenhouses or such.

Also make nice weather station monitoring machines. Same deal, design and build the sensors, have the old puter do all the data logging and drive a fancy display panel.

Another good use is to dream up projects for science fairs. Use the old puters as the brains for all sorts of projects. Great for adding sound and voice outputs to interactive projects.

Lots of applications where you turn the old puter into a dedicated machine that does a special application that was not normally intended.

Set them up to do inventory control of parts for your workshop.

The other thought is a few years down the road, certain old puters may become valuable again as collector items. If enough of them get destroyed, that might start the cycle.

The old Timex computers are now collector items, as are the older calculators and slide rules. All bringing good money on E-Bay.

Some old software is now selling for more as a collector item than it did orginally. The trick is will you be the guy who has the cherry model with orginal box and all the documentation. I have an orginal Timex 2068 cherry, full documentation including all the aftermarket gear and big factory manuals. Museum grade gear is what will bring top dollar. I check E-Bay every now then. My old slide rules, calculators and puters only go up in price. To the careful patient organized packrats go the spoils.


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## Cosmic (May 5, 2003)

To follow up on the first post, I am especially interested in acquiring obselete point of sale computers for very low price or better yet nothing.

These are the puters used in stores, retail type outlets and the like that sometimes are also used as cash registers. You see them in liquor stores, hardware stores, etc.

It is a computer with either a separate monitor, some have them build in, very beefy power supplies, keyboard and a lot of gear, you don't normally find on a computer. Maybe a card reader or barcode wand. Having an ability to be in a LAN setup would be super.

Some machines were also set to do inventory control. I would like to find them in as removed condition complete with all the documentation / software if possible. Hopefully without the software being totally gutted.

These machines are set to run silent for very long lives and take a real beating. Exactly what I want for turning them into a control machine.


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## bassetman (Jun 7, 2001)

Back when I did SCUBA training assisting, we had what we called POI's (Points Of Interestest), some ppl would put old PCs on the bottom to create a POI! 

Not environmentally friendly from what I hear!

John


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