What to do with an old, old PC?

[Flack]

A couple of years ago I ended up with a couple of really old PCs. Both are 386s, I think, and each only has a single 5 1/4" floppy drive.

I actually have a 486 DX4/100 that I used to use for DOS retrogaming, but even that machine has been decommissioned for the time being and relocated to the closet. For the life of me I can't think of a single use for these two old machines taking up space out in my garage. I've tried selling and even giving them away and can't find any takers.

Anyone have any thoughts before they end up in a dumpster? They could be yours for free*.

(*Plus $50 shipping ...)

[Jorpho]

You've even tried Craigslist?

Otherwise I would look into whether your municipality has special disposal services for this kind of thing.

[gdement]

Might be good for some old games that run too fast on pretty much everything. But I assume you're not having that problem.

There are slowdown utilities for faster machines of course, such as "moslo", but I always found that if I tried to slow them down too much they'd just lock up instead. So starting with a slower system was helpful.
Still, you can achieve pretty dramatic slowdowns by sabotaging the BIOS settings, without causing lockups.


There's collectors out there for almost anything. There's even people who collect old processors.
If you haven't already, maybe try posting them on some dedicated classic computer forums - you might find somebody at those places who wants them, hopefully local. Pictures will make them look sexy.

Failing that, you could strip them and sell the components. If you don't expect much money then at least the floppy drives and maybe the PSUs, possibly some removable chips would sell. People who just want a component don't want to pay shipping on the whole machine.
It would be slow moving stuff though, so you'd probably want to use 30-day listings on ebay (35 cents a month) or post them on other sites that don't have listing fees. Chasethechuckwagon.com has a classic computer category I think.

If they have IBM Model M keyboards - there's definitely a market for those as separate items.

[coreys429]

I take most old computer stuff that's like late 80s, 90s stuff to a local computer store which they recycle it for me and sell off what they can.

[Trebuken]

Dedicate one machine to text adventure games and one to CGA only games.

[jb143]

I know I've mentioned this on here before because it's something that I've always wanted to do. Replace the power supply with rechargable batteries(gel-cells from a power wheels should work), mount a motor/gearbox/wheel on each side(castors for balance), wire up a simple interface board through the parallel port, add a few sensors(light, bump, motion, etc...also through the interface board). Programming can be done in QBasic. Use "OUT 888, data" to send control data to the parallel port, "data=INP(889)" to read input. Then program it to be a robot...patrol the house for burglars/fires, serve drinks, make a team of them to play soccer, or whatever you want.

[Jorpho]

All of these elabortate projects are rather silly considering each computer only has a 5.25" drive. Retro computers are all well and good, but when there's no decent way to even transfer files to them, you have to know when to quit.

On the other hand, there are those compact flash/SD-card to IDE adapters out there. On the other hand, why waste time and money messing with something like that when the computer's hardware might not even support it properly?

[Flack]

Dedicate one machine to text adventure games and one to CGA only games.

At this point in my life, space is an issue. In my upstairs game room I have two small desks -- one houses my server, the other houses my C64 setup. (Until recently, I had my 486 set up over there too.) I also have a third machine upstairs that I'm building just for emulators, to connect to the large TV I have up there. In my downstairs office I have my main workstation. Scattered around the house are an assortment of other machines and laptops, so many that occasionally I'll look at my router and think, "Do I really have that many machines powered on?" In the upstairs closet I have multiple Commodore, Apple II and Amiga systems that I simply don't have room for. I'm out of space. If I want to play CGA and/or text adventures, and occasionally I do, I'll either do it on that 486 or through DosBox.

[Flack]

I know I've mentioned this on here before because it's something that I've always wanted to do. Replace the power supply with rechargable batteries(gel-cells from a power wheels should work), mount a motor/gearbox/wheel on each side(castors for balance), wire up a simple interface board through the parallel port, add a few sensors(light, bump, motion, etc...also through the interface board). Programming can be done in QBasic. Use "OUT 888, data" to send control data to the parallel port, "data=INP(889)" to read input. Then program it to be a robot...patrol the house for burglars/fires, serve drinks, make a team of them to play soccer, or whatever you want.

I will set one aside for my next trip to Chicago. I drive right through St. Louis and will gladly donate one for your impending robotic soccer team.

[Flack]

You've even tried Craigslist?

I've almost given up on Craigslist, especially when it comes to giving away things for free. The last time I tried it I had 10 people respond, 2 show up, and neither left with the item. For that amount of hassle I'll just toss them.

The weekend after next is OVGE (Oklahoma Video Game Expo) in Tulsa. Room permitting, I'll take those machines there and mark them "free" and see what happens. One way or another, they won't be coming back home.

[jb143]

All of these elabortate projects are rather silly considering each computer only has a 5.25" drive. Retro computers are all well and good, but when there's no decent way to even transfer files to them, you have to know when to quit.

On the other hand, there are those compact flash/SD-card to IDE adapters out there. On the other hand, why waste time and money messing with something like that when the computer's hardware might not even support it properly?

I think half the point is that it would be silly...and completely feasable too. In grade school I was making a balsa wood robot using a C64(it broke). In high school I used an old TRS-80 with a 5 1/4" dive as well. The old computers are more than adequate. Sure you could use a more modern PC and it would be quicker and easier and offer you things like webcams for facial recognition, and mics & soundcards for voice recognition/real voice playback...but what's the fun in that.

I will set one aside for my next trip to Chicago. I drive right through St. Louis and will gladly donate one for your impending robotic soccer team.

I've probally got enough old PC's lying around but I'm sure my wife would kill me. Have enough projects on the back burner as it is...but if you want to pick up some old PC's on your way back...

[Push Upstairs]

I have *two* older computer (aside from this one) and that is more than enough for me and my current living living quarters.

I'd spruce up the Dell I have (not terribly old...made in 2004) but I need to find some more ram for it first.

[Archangel]

I still have a dell system from 2001 that works beautifully since I was the one always working on it and cleaning it. I plan on using it as a server for a livestream soon but in the mean time its just there when I need it.

But I have some systems over my grandparents that date back all the way to the 80's, I do not know if they still work I bet given the chance I can get them working with a little time. Even have one that works with Windows 3.1 which I had not touched since I was 8..

[Gameguy]

I have a spare CGA monitor that I don't use, the only reason I have it is because I don't want it trashed. It just takes up space. I haven't tried the classifieds yet, maybe I should.

[Flack]

I have *two* older computer (aside from this one) and that is more than enough for me and my current living living quarters.

I'd spruce up the Dell I have (not terribly old...made in 2004) but I need to find some more ram for it first.

Depending on the age of the Dell, it may end up being cheaper to replace than upgrade. I don't know what it is with old RAM but prices have gone through the roof. I have a Dell Dimension (3000, I think) with a gig of RAM that I was looking to upgrade to either 2 or 4 gigs and it was about $80/gig, so 4 gigs was $320 plus shipping. I ended up buying the machine I mentioned earlier, a mobo, quad core proc and 8 gigs of RAM for ~$300 (I already had a case and hard drives).

I ended up moving machines around that that Dimension works great for 90% of what I do. It's a little slow for audio/video editing, but everything else works fine.

[c0ldb33r]

...program it to be a robot...patrol the house for burglars/fires, serve drinks, make a team of them to play soccer, or whatever you want.

THIS! or buy a box of wigs and build a harem!

[Ryaan1234]

THIS! or buy a box of wigs and build a harem!

Really?

[Push Upstairs]

Depending on the age of the Dell, it may end up being cheaper to replace than upgrade. I don't know what it is with old RAM but prices have gone through the roof. I have a Dell Dimension (3000, I think) with a gig of RAM that I was looking to upgrade to either 2 or 4 gigs and it was about $80/gig, so 4 gigs was $320 plus shipping. I ended up buying the machine I mentioned earlier, a mobo, quad core proc and 8 gigs of RAM for ~$300 (I already had a case and hard drives).

I ended up moving machines around that that Dimension works great for 90% of what I do. It's a little slow for audio/video editing, but everything else works fine.

The machine I found was a Dimension 2400. It's DDR ram which, isn't nearly as expensive as $80 a gig. I could probably find 1gig for around $30...but I have no real purpose for this machine other than its got XP on it.

[ubikuberalles]

Does OKC have a recycling center or a program for recycling/tossing old electronics? Albuquerque does and normally they charge you a nominal fee to bring it in. At least twice a year they offer the service for free. They accept old monitors, PCs, stereos etc and send it to a company that reclaims the chips and metals and then dispose the stuff in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Worth checking out especially if you will be tossing more PCs in the future.

[Archangel]

IF you are going to get a new system, watch out for dell.

I had a notebook from them which I got in 2005 new and ended up crapping out on me 2 years later, Plus it was much more than it should have cost. The older dell systems are more durable and worth the money they are compared to the newer ones. Hell my friend's dad has an XPS which is slower than my system which I have had since 2001.

Its just better building a system for much cheaper. Dell has gone the way of apple, charging $500 extra just to have their brand name on it..