c'mon, i can't be the only one here who dumpster-dives on occasion for free parts. as it stands there is a pile of computers just waiting to be vultured on the other side of this building. >:3
one of the things i like about my personal home setup is that everything was free, either by trash-pickin' or via donation. anyone else scour one man's trash for some treasure? :3
*raises hand* That's actually been my job before, in a way. Not just computers; books, other electronics, and anything interesting looking. Buying old computers for a dollar or so at yard sales is fun too.
*raises hand*
I always keep an eye open for stuff like that. Sometimes you can get real gems.
I'm currently in the process of doing this myself.
This is especially viable when you're dealing with an older computer.
Sadly, people don't seem to dispose of their computers that way around here. I've known people with old computers on the fritz, but I've always been to shy to ask for them/ ask to buy them. -///-;
There is a used electronics store in town; I've always felt like going in there with a few hundred and leading a minor exodus of old computers~! (They have, like, a half-dozen old iMacs and eMacs. *drools*)
I've found that the best thing to do, usually, is just ask. They'll probably wind up just throwing it away anyway (where it will mostly likely pollute a landfill, or wind up being melted into noxious fumes in China), so unless they're greedy pricks, they'd gladly give it to you. It helps if you know who it is, as you're more likely to know the condition of the parts and less likely to have someone trying to rip you off.
DEMON ONLY WORKS WITH FRESH MEAT. =w=
One of our school tech guys carries around an old Mac Classic. He does not know he dances with fate having it near me. But yeah, there's a couple of local electronic stores that seem likely to have old computers hanging around. One place has a 1st gen iMac sitting on a table outside >>.
Lucky bastard. We don't get stores like that over here...
All I have is eBay, which kinda sucks for this kinda stuff tbh.
At my college, when they renew the CS lab computers - the ones we open/break/(hopefully)fix/put back up - they just put the spare parts in the hallway where the CS courses are at. Then, they magically disappear as some students scavenge what is usable and others take the rest for various uses (mainly opening hard drives to see how they look inside, grabbing an old Pentium CPU just for the sake of saying you have one laying around, starting floppy disk fights and such). Needless to say, we have fun around that time of the year.
I wouldn't take any of the pieces for my main comp, though, as they are at the bottom of the college computers life-cycle so they date a few...hum...decade back? =P
today (or yesterday, as it is 3 am) i and my friends scavenged the pile. i got a FUKTON of ram, though it is all pretty low rating, and several hard drives, the biggest i believe was 80 gig. ^^ a few other parts made their way into the pile as well, so i ended up with a few sound cards, i believe what is a wired net card, and a cd drive with a card attached, as well as plenty of screws.
almost took some power supplies that were still in the boxes, but decided against it (as power supply is something you almost ALWAYS want fresh).
we're going back for moar on monday. >:3
Hmm, I've dumpster diven only once for computer parts, or more like, a whole computer box. It was some ancient HP vectra from '95, but liked the case size and though it could be used for something...
Though, generally I dont scavenge "scrapyards" as people here dont seem to throw away things so hastly.
But I have salvaged a few wristwatches that been on their way to the dumpster.
:3 lots of nice things can be found in unlikely places. last weekend i got a lovely coat from a room in the flea market that looked like cross between a dump and a garage sale.
it's a nice coat. i had to sew up the sides (big rips) but i got it for ONE DOLLAR. :3
and the new drives and such really helped out. with a friend's help, i have re-constructed ol' shitty into "Glazia: the computer as fragile as glass." (aka shitty)
Mm, I love coats.
But its still a computer, and that's what counts!
she's working fairly nice, my friend even volunteered to treat me to a gig of ram. ^^
and since she has 2 drives, i'm considering dual-booting. ^^
you won't find things like pc parts in a landfill over here. those things are quickly taken into junkshops and processed. poverty you see?
tho me and my brother do take old pcs from pretty much everyone we know. we rip them apart, take the good stuffs and throw the rest.
we went to the dump today and threw out the old casings. bye bye, shitty..... ;___;
on the "poverty" note, i hate this town. everywhere i look there's mercedes and lexuses and beamers and saabs. this isa podunk little town full of richie-rich types who think they own the world. my family is one of the ones that falls on the poorer end of the scale (we're not "poor", but close.)
sorry, i'm ot. anyone find any real gems by scavenging? (doesn't JUST have to be computer parts i'm talking about.
one of the compys i hacked apart gave me an 80 gig drive. :3 another gave me a stick of 512 meg ram. ^^
A couple hundred National Geographics from 1960-1995 and a bike. Worst bike ever.
A Kris. Couldn't take it though since my friends say it would be either poisoned by snake venom or just the gunk from the dump.
kris?
most of what i've found in the trash is computer parts, though i found a gold earring on the ground once
got 5 bucks for it. :\
I would totally do it if I knew where to do it (or had any idea wtf I was doing lol)
recently i raided the pile again, though it is less of a pile and more of a puddle these days.... (the recycling guy must have come.) however, i got 2 casings, both of which work (they're just ANCIENT.....one actually has a sticker that says "y2k compliant" xD) and i turned one into a pc for my mom. ^^
the other is a HEAVY fuker'......solid as anything, if ya know what i mean. the guy who said it was ok to take it thoght it was broken; it's just old, and they NEVER defraged it. i have since defrag'd, and it has 2k sp4 (which i might leave on there).
:3
Any good grapgics cards in there? Like a 3dfx Voodoo5? They are fucking looong cards with two fans on them.
it's a SCHOOL pile......mostly 98 through the occasional XP.
oh wow, lots of nice stuff you get there D:
actually, it's not terrible. :3 alot of halfway decent stuff gets thrown out. it still works, it's just old.
No dumpsters where I live (Australia).
do they throw the garbage down the toilet? in the streets? :\
Quote from: "Chocofreak13"do they throw the garbage down the toilet? in the streets? :\
(http://www.southernmallee.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/images/Garbage_Bin_.JPG)
We use these.
In the case of too much garbage for the bin, we actually take it to the rubbish tip. That or leave it on the nature strip for either the council or the looters to get it.
to be honest, there's not even a dumpster for these computers...they're in a giant (i mean you could fit several children in there) cardboard box(es) under a set of stairs in a back corner of the back of the school.
Here I was thinking Sora was about to say Australia recycled most of their waste (like Japan).
In Austin, they're on a huge recycling kick - they still have waste bins and all, but they have two recycling bins to each waste bin. I'm sure there's folks (read: assclowns) who use all three as waste bins without bothering to sort, but it's nice to have the option to recycle be so convenient. On topic, they also had special days where they picked up larger waste (furniture, appliances, and electronics), and on those days it wasn't uncommon to see computer stuff near the edge of every street. I was tempted to salvage, but since I was traveling by bus... bad idea.
I bought a commodore 64 at goodwill for $5 once. now all I need is a floppy drive and a power adapter and I'll be in business.
Quote from: "IanDanKilmaster"Here I was thinking Sora was about to say Australia recycled most of their waste (like Japan).
Australia has yellow bins that recycling is put into, one to each garbage bin, but they are only collected once every two weeks.
Well, at least, in Brisbane they are. Other states and cities probably have different setups.
Quote from: "PizzaDrill"I bought a commodore 64 at goodwill for $5 once. now all I need is a floppy drive and a power adapter and I'll be in business.
i got more floppy drives than i know what to do with. you're welcome to one :\
also, I HAVE BUILT SUPERCOMPUTER OUT OF JUNK. well......almost. but it's better than before (i kinda detailed it in topicless by accident) but i replaced the motherboard (now has 4 ram slots instead of 3 at the cost of 3 pci card slots instead of 5), got some new cables and such, and am working on giving it a new drive (i don't have the proper cables, but will obtain since this is a 150 gig drive)
STILL waiting on copy of win 7 and ChocOS, but it's going well so far. sadly, i can't figure out where to connect the cable for the power switch.... ;____;
and me and my best friend meliss made a shocking, disgusting discovery on friday. the box where we were raiding, um, it's supposed to be for computer recycling ONLY, but you know lazy high school students, they just throw their food wherever it's convienient (we found half a soft pretzel and a nacho cheeze cup, and that's not even the worst part), which leads to:
MAGGOTS
IN
BOX
NOT
MOVING
O________O i shit you not.
THANKFULLY we didn't actually touch them (makes me sick thinkin' about it) but upon discovery we went and got some clorox wipes for our hands.....
i'ma tell the janitor about it on monday :[
Quote from: "Chocofreak13"Quote from: "PizzaDrill"I bought a commodore 64 at goodwill for $5 once. now all I need is a floppy drive and a power adapter and I'll be in business.
i got more floppy drives than i know what to do with. you're welcome to one :\
If you've got a commodore 64 floppy drive I'll be on that faster than a fat man on a baconator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64_peripherals#Floppy_disk_drives
I've got a bunch of normal floppy drives too though. :/
hah, you're on your own for that one. ebay, i might recomend?
Quote from: "Chocofreak13"hah, you're on your own for that one. ebay, i might recomend?
Boo. Thanks anyway :3
QuoteMAGGOTS
IN
BOX
NOT
MOVING
THIS IS HERESY
KILL IT WITH
THUNDERRR
THIS
IS
SPARTA
but yeah, i shrivel at the thought. >___<