Trying to get old tech

[Skelitor]

Linus makes it look and sound easy to find old workstations and parts, and maybe it is where he lives and in the states. But I dont know who to contact to try and get useless, or even broken laptops or computers. I mostly want them for practice in putting together and taking apart, but for functioning ancient things I would try to learn Linux on them/

How do you guys go about trying to find old computers and parts?

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, Skelitor said:

How do you guys go about trying to find old computers and parts?

eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace. There are equivalent classified sites that are popular in other locations (Gumtree I know is popular in Australia and I think somewhere else), but they're generally the best ways to find used old hardware in my experience. 

[Skelitor]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace. There are equivalent classified sites that are popular in other locations (Gumtree I know is popular in Australia and I think somewhere else), but they're generally the best ways to find used old hardware in my experience. 

Yeah I've tried that, its barren in my area. how far do you usually drive? shipping costs are too crazy for me right now

[RONOTHAN##]

1 minute ago, Skelitor said:

Yeah I've tried that, its barren in my area. how far do you usually drive? shipping costs are too crazy for me right now

I'm in the US near a metropolitan area, so I rarely have to drive more than 30 minutes to get something. A lot of things I've bought were within 15 minutes of me, with only a handful of my more crazy deals being 1-2 hours away. 

[Skelitor]

4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I'm in the US near a metropolitan area, so I rarely have to drive more than 30 minutes to get something. A lot of things I've bought were within 15 minutes of me, with only a handful of my more crazy deals being 1-2 hours away. 

those are some of the positives of living in those areas, there's no computers on any of those sites within 50km and only a couple ok deals within 100

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, Skelitor said:

those are some of the positives of living in those areas, there's no computers on any of those sites within 50km and only a couple ok deals within 100

I won't deny that, though usually eBay is still an option and you can usually find something that doesn't have ridiculous shipping prices. 

 

If you just want something cheap though, sometimes you can go to an electronics recycler near you and see if you can snag some hardware that's destined to be recycled. It's worth calling one up at least.

[Skelitor]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I won't deny that, though usually eBay is still an option and you can usually find something that doesn't have ridiculous shipping prices. 

 

If you just want something cheap though, sometimes you can go to an electronics recycler near you and see if you can snag some hardware that's destined to be recycled. It's worth calling one up at least.

I did this the other day and am waiting on a response from my email. they are so weird though. the lady faked an automated message and directed me to an email they haven't responded to lol. thanks for the advice

[Kisai]

7 hours ago, Skelitor said:

Linus makes it look and sound easy to find old workstations and parts, and maybe it is where he lives and in the states. But I dont know who to contact to try and get useless, or even broken laptops or computers. I mostly want them for practice in putting together and taking apart, but for functioning ancient things I would try to learn Linux on them/

How do you guys go about trying to find old computers and parts?

"Dumpster Diving"

or go to places that sell them. Like I kid you not at least one of the places selling these is just a DHL/Fedex/UPS drop off point. 

 

If you work for a computer store/best buy it's also possible to just take things that the store wants to get rid of and doesn't want to pay to dispose of. Data centers are another option, since customers will abandon hardware.

 

Most of the stuff you find on eBay, when you see a seller with dozens of the same item, basically bought it from a bankruptcy auction/estate sale or government auction.

[da na]

Local governments, public libraries, and other municipal programs will sometimes auction off old hardware. Continuing the government theme, sometimes police stations will auction off impounded computers just like they do for cars. 

Dumpster diving is your best bet, though. 

[Skelitor]

5 hours ago, da na said:

Local governments, public libraries, and other municipal programs will sometimes auction off old hardware. Continuing the government theme, sometimes police stations will auction off impounded computers just like they do for cars. 

Dumpster diving is your best bet, though. 

How do you usually find government auctions? any tips on dumpster diving? Thanks for the suggestions

[da na]

1 minute ago, Skelitor said:

How do you usually find government auctions? any tips on dumpster diving? Thanks for the suggestions

I personally use the site GovDeals, sometimes a local auction is mentioned on the news though.

 

For dumpster diving, success varies. Had the most luck behind schools (universities) and large organizations. Just be aware of laws - even though it's in the trash, dumpster diving can be considered property theft under certain circumstances. Be careful, if someone tells you not to touch a dumpster, don't.

[Skelitor]

4 minutes ago, da na said:

I personally use the site GovDeals, sometimes a local auction is mentioned on the news though.

 

For dumpster diving, success varies. Had the most luck behind schools (universities) and large organizations. Just be aware of laws - even though it's in the trash, dumpster diving can be considered property theft under certain circumstances. Be careful, if someone tells you not to touch a dumpster, don't.

Yeah its legal here so long as its not on private property so I'm mostly good. Thanks for all the help, the site looks promising

[RollyShed]

Drop round at 9.00 a.m. tomorrow and you can have a few computers.

 

You are just round the corner from here... aren't you? You didn't say you weren't.

 

And yes, to make old computers fast and usable install Linux on an SSD. Over 50 laptops and over 60 desktops done and now in use around here.

[Lurking]

No one is going to ship old hardware to you unless they are in the business of parting out computers.

 

Contact all kind if companies' IT departments or IT companies. I bet they have to get rid of tons of old PCs. You will have to pick them up. Just be prepared that many will use proprietary parts like Dell. So the tinkering will be less joyful. There also may be electronics recycling companies. 

 

At my work I always see tons of old PCs IT gets rid of. I bet they pay a recycler to take them. We are barred from taking them and it would be considered theft. But I bet if you talk to the right person, they are happy to get rid of them. 

 

I have two 6000 series quad-core HP PCs with 16GB at home from my wife's company. They probably are worth something, but no one bothers researching how to sell them. They basically just give them to recycling. I'm sure if you look hard enough you find similar.

[Qrdello]

I'd go for an oral message. Just get off of someone in need and the whispers will spread. For starters you  go fo any of the local marketplaces, be it online or offline, some pole hoardings and leaflets maybe? 

Also, if you go to a school or a mayoral building in your vicinity I'm sure they have warehouses full of spare old PCs and parts, just waiting to be taken by companies that have contracts on such demeanor. 

Just remember that in that last case you're obliged to phiscally damage any harddrive that comes with a PC for data protection. 

No wonder people mostly sell their PCs short of HDD storage.