Do you ever look at old stuff...

[BIF]

I despise clutter, but only because I have so much of it and because it is something I will always have to fight fight fight against, until the day I die.

Where I live, we don't have crawlspaces or attics or basements to speak of. People with too much junk end up paying to keep the local U-Stor-It facilities going strong, or they end up with garages they can't walk in. Forget parking a car! Some people just give up and make the garage into another room of the house, so when they open the big garage door, all you see is a 2-foot space where there's a lawn mower, weed wacker, and a wall! I know one person who actually installed a window in that wall. It's too bad they have to open their garage door AND THEN open the window if they want that room to get any sunlight or fresh air. WTF!

Long ago I promised myself (and mostly do a decent job of it) that every time I build a new computer, one of my post-upgrade activities is to rotate out old parts that are no longer relevant. My last two computers did not use floppy ribbon cables, parallel PATA cables, or removable PATA drive bays, so the next community garage sale attendees will have lots of my old mercury-laden equipment to choose from. And I'll happily charge them an extra 50 cents just to let them have the privilege of moving my junk into their homes!

At any point in time, I still have 6 boxes worth of old equipment, plus some stuff on the shelves in my home office. I'm happy if I can avoid adding to that number and even happier still if the stuff in the home office is relevant, current, and occasionally gets used.

[Starfalcon]

Well I have a lot more than 6 boxes of stuff in my place. I did do a lot of tinkering around with my stuff when I was out of work though, got around 10-12 complete systems I built out of parts just for fun.

[just brew it!]

People with too much junk ... end up with garages they can't walk in. Forget parking a car!

That's us! There's a path through the mess just wide enough to get to the shelves with the tools on them, and to take the trash out. Though a significant percentage of the junk in the garage is actually my wife's, not mine. Having two hoarders in the family is a problem...

My last two computers did not use floppy ribbon cables, parallel PATA cables, or removable PATA drive bays, so the next community garage sale attendees will have lots of my old mercury-laden equipment to choose from.

Nit-pick: It's actually lead, not mercury (unless you've got a pile of old dead LCD monitors). But yeah, it's a toxic heavy metal either way.

Well I have a lot more than 6 boxes of stuff in my place.

Heh. And some of it even used to be *my* old stuff!

[ludi]

I finally had to forcibly declutter. The audio hobby and the computer hobby were fighting each other for shelf space.

Now that StarFalcon has the Super7 box, and following some recent New Year's housekeeping, I'm down to one Tualatan P3 system (Win2k) and a Northwood P4 (WinXP), plus about two cubic feet of miscellania.

[just brew it!]

Now that StarFalcon has the Super7 box,

His collection must be truly monstrous, he's got some of my old Super7 (and Socket 8...) stuff as well!

[mdk77777]

While I appreciate the value your perspective adds, nobody was making this particular argument.

Yes, when someone says that an object is "designed to be readily disassembled for recycling"

The implication is that the process is efficient, or at least feasible.
It is neither.

Can they be recycled with a great deal of effort? Yes.
Is it "readily" available? and a significant factor in the initial design?
No.... Maybe 1/10,000 of the design as an after thought.

You think have any recycle value?


Yes -- the glass face, the metal and plastic elements of the frame, and the battery are generally designed to be readily disassembled for recycling.

It is exactly the insane difficulty in "recycling" electronics, that makes the accumulation and waste disposal problem a serious concern.

I have a great deal of old computers...I have nothing against technology...It is just completely wrong to state that any part of them is "readily disassembled for recycling"

[Scrotos]

Old case covers typically are. A few screws and it's one sheet of metal bent in 2 places.

I just got OS X 10.5 installed on a PowerMac G4/466. Did an OpenFirmware trick to make the installer think it was a G4/867. I pulled it out of the recycle bin at the bottom floor of this building, 31 floors and a communal recycle bin for electronics. Their genius method of wiping the existing drive was to take it out, leave it in its Mac-specific drive caddy, and place it next to the actual machine. After I snagged some songs and images (machine was for making brochures?) I wiped it and installed 10.5 over... dunno what was on it, they had a user account with login and I didn't care enough to try and reset the password.

Good times!

[just brew it!]

Old case covers typically are. A few screws and it's one sheet of metal bent in 2 places.

Yeah, but that's not one of the pieces with toxic materials in it, so the fact that it is easily recyclable matters less.

[derFunkenstein]

Man it's fun to reminisce, but there's no way I'd want to actually USE any of that old hardware in a productive manner today. 486SX with 8MB of RAM on today's internet? Scary. A Macintosh SE for a modern publishing gig? No way. They're just relegated to playing old games nowadays.

[Scrotos]

Old case covers typically are. A few screws and it's one sheet of metal bent in 2 places.

Yeah, but that's not one of the pieces with toxic materials in it, so the fact that it is easily recyclable matters less.

I disagree for two reasons. First, why is there a relative value to iron versus lead? As a response to

It is just completely wrong to state that any part of them is "readily disassembled for recycling"

...it's a simple counterpoint.

And second, you've tried lifting that old stuff so you know this... I'm not so sure the cases weren't made outta lead back then! (and crafted for maximal opportunity for metal cuts on the insides of the cases)

[Scrotos]

Man it's fun to reminisce, but there's no way I'd want to actually USE any of that old hardware in a productive manner today. 486SX with 8MB of RAM on today's internet? Scary. A Macintosh SE for a modern publishing gig? No way. They're just relegated to playing old games nowadays.

Oh yeah, to be sure. There are still some fanatics about old stuff but they seem to be more like Amiga users or some old Mac diehards. It's old games and old productivity software, say that version of dBase IV that has all your vinyl cataloged. But online? Too far behind, especially with video.

...I'd still be interested in getting a PCI modern card working in a 486 running XP, though, that'd be a hoot!

[just brew it!]

Old case covers typically are. A few screws and it's one sheet of metal bent in 2 places.

Yeah, but that's not one of the pieces with toxic materials in it, so the fact that it is easily recyclable matters less.

I disagree for two reasons. First, why is there a relative value to iron versus lead?

The relative value is in keeping the lead out of the waste stream.

[kvndoom]

Heh, Final Reality was a product of Remedy's game engine which spawned an offshoot project under the guise of MadOnion called 3DMark; You may have heard of that before somewhere

It stopped being fun, but I used to go back and run Quake2 timedemos every time I upgraded, also Aquamark which eventually just started crashing (probably an x64 issue).

Dunno, I'm actually playing Quake 2 again... I was up in the attic digging through old boxes and found the Quake4 special edition I bought from paulWTAMU 3 or 4 years ago. Damn my memory! It dawned on me that I never finished the Q2 mission packs, so I found a mod that improved the graphics and restored the music, and I've been Quaking like a fool the past couple weeks!

15 years later, that damn game still rocks.

[shaq_mobile]

We used to have doom lan parties where we would get on Zdoom (or whatever we used) and play that on lan. That was super sick. I love watching the quake speed runs. The 100% complete quake video on youtube is a lot of fun to watch. I love the quake sounds. I used to just turn it on in the background and work with it playing.

[Scrotos]

QDQ? Quake Done Quick? I always stunk at Quake.

[Scrotos]

"Old case covers typically are. A few screws and it's one sheet of metal bent in 2 places."
Yeah, but that's not one of the pieces with toxic materials in it, so the fact that it is easily recyclable matters less.

I disagree for two reasons. First, why is there a relative value to iron versus lead?

The relative value is in keeping the lead out of the waste stream.

I guess it rubs me the wrong way because the tone seems to be, unless it's toxic, don't waste the effort to recycle. I'm no hug-a-tree recycling freak or nothin', but it seems to me that anything is better than nothing even if it doesn't make economic sense and will destroy the free world.

[mdk77777]

Yeah, I may have also over-reacted.

That how it is now days.

There is so much high tension Political back-fighting that you start to take everything as fighting words.

Not to pick sides...but some seem bent on not finding true solutions...just to gain political advantage.

Wish they all would think of the true good for the country/environment...instead of defending extreme positions...on either side.