[Noisebridge-discuss] Hardware donation?

jim jim at well.com
Tue Jan 3 20:03:25 UTC 2012 


    Now two meanings occur to me: "old stuff should never be 
recycled" (paraphrased) may mean either 
* don't put that toxic stuff in landfills 
* that old stuff is useful, keep using it. 

    my mention of components refers to power supplies, memory, 
hard drives.... 
    for example, a few years ago i had to find an IDE hard 
drive for an old machine that sat in a closet and hosted the 
company email server; it was difficult to find one, most 
places no longer carried such; i found a computer store that 
had a used one for sale (Actnet computer on Judah at 27th Ave, 
a place I like a lot 'cause they've got good expertise). 

    i suppose "recycling" can mean 
* any way of reusing something, including melting parts of 
  it down. 
* reusing whatever it is as it is, i.e. retaining its 
  functionality. 




On Tue, 2012-01-03 at 19:38 +0000, Ben M wrote:
> >
> >    please restate to clarify. Seems you believe old hardware
> > should never be recycled, but the balance of what you've
> > written seems unclear. i'd like to know what you mean by the
> > remainder of your response.
> 
> I need to clarify for myself what recycling is. I don't actually know. 
> When an item is "recycled" I assume it means all materials that can be 
> repurposed are stripped of the unit in question. I read an article some 
> time ago that stated the PC "recycling" market actually shipped really 
> toxic components to China where they were improperly disposed of in some 
> grossly unsafe way.
> 
> What I would like to know is what components are you referring to as well? 
> If I had a stack of crt imacs and one had an inverter connected to the 
> power supply fail then 1. I'm sure the parts could be taken from another 
> imac with something else broken to bring the machine back online. 2. If I 
> only had one, would it be worth it in any sense to repair?
> 
> I apologize for being unclear. That occurs often but less often than in 
> the past. It may continue to happen but it will always continue to be less 
> often than in the past.
> 
> A good example of hardware I would like to collect are education sector 
> throwaways. When I worked for a college every semester rooms full of Dells 
> or Macs would be yanked and replaced. They were donated to a non-profit 
> and I never knew their final destination. If one had 25 or 50 or 100 of 
> the same machines if parts failed then the components could be combined as 
> the total number declined by cannabalizing the units to keep the others 
> running. Purchasing components from manufacturers was not a part of what I 
> imagined when I posted.
> 
> My original post was inconsistent and not fully thought out but the 
> sentiment remains. For myself what needs to happen is an act of mental 
> brevity and clarity about things I only have a "feeling" or intention 
> about.
> 
> The points above were what motivated my original post. I hope that helps.
> 
> Ben
> 
> >    one problem with keeping old hardware is replacement of
> > components as they fail; after maturity, the industry does
> > not manufactured components perceived as obsolete and fewer
> > and fewer point of purchase businesses have old components
> > in stock for sale.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2012-01-03 at 07:13 +0000, Ben M wrote:
> >> I'm not sure old hardware should ever ever be "recycled" after watching
> >> this talk I did not hear at 28c3 where I did not attend but sadly I do not
> >> have the money to store your old computer junk and in 20 years people
> >> might be cursing everyone who threw a P4 away, like REALLY cursing them.
> >>
> >> I am going to invest in lottery tickets. Old Hardware FTMFW.
> >>
> >> http://youtu.be/HUEvRyemKSg
> >>
> >> "Sopa breaking the internet on this fundamental level in the name of
> >> preserving top 40 music, reality TV shows, & Ashton Kutcher movies"
> >>
> >> On Mon, 2 Jan 2012, Ben Kochie wrote:
> >>
> >>> Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 20:12:11 -0800
> >>> From: Ben Kochie <superq at gmail.com>
> >>> To: Ian McKellar <ian at mckellar.org>
> >>> Cc: NoiseBridge Discuss <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> >>> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] Hardware donation?
> >>>
> >>> Sorry, but these would be best put on ebay or added to the e-waste bin.
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 10:16, Ian McKellar <ian at mckellar.org> wrote:
> >>>> Hi hackers,
> >>>>
> >>>> I've got some old-ish hardware kicking around my small apartment
> >>>> getting on my wife's nerves. I'd like to get it out of here - I'll
> >>>> "recycle" it (ie: send it to developing world slums) but I thought I'd
> >>>> see if Noisebridge is interested in it. I have:
> >>>> - Shuttle SB86I
> >>>> (http://www.bit-tech.net/custompc/reviews/69796/shuttle-xpc-sb86i.html)
> >>>>  it has ram, a p4 cpu a hard disk and an optical drive. I estimate
> >>>> that it's probably worth about $150 based on ebay auctions for similar
> >>>> gear.
> >>>> - Dell Optiplex GX110
> >>>> (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx110/en/index.htm)
> >>>>  p3 with some ram, a cpu and an optical drive. The internet seems
> >>>> to think it's worth about $100.
> >>>> - CoolerMaster 500W PSU
> >>>> (http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=57). Probably
> >>>> worth $30.
> >>>> - Belkin F6500H-SER UPS
> >>>> (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Belkin-Surge-Protector-F6500-SER-/330559011607#ht_2388wt_1165).
> >>>> Haven't used it in years - I assume it works.
> >>>>
> >>>> Are there any Noisebridge projects that could use these fine vintage
> >>>> computing items? I'm sure sick of looking at them.
> >>>>
> >>>> Ian
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Ian McKellar <http://ian.mckellar.org/>
> >>>> ian at mckellar.org: email | jabber | msn
> >>>> ianloic: flickr | aim | yahoo | skype | linkedin | etc.
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>
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> >
> >

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