what to do with a really old computer

[wpeng]

My parents recently ran across our old 486 computer in the basement. They said we should just throw it out. What else is there to do with old computers? I've been told you can do *something* with it, but I don't remember. I can't donate it. No one would want to buy it. It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Should I just throw it out?

 

[Mermaidman]

Take it to the municipal or county hazardous waste collection site.

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Play old games on it. If not, has it got a Sound Blaster compatible card? If so, gimme it so that I can still play Star Control 2 and the loads of abandonware I still have around.

 

[babutiger]

Office Depot Recycles PCs for free - More Info!

Your PC contains hazardous chemicals that need to be disposed of safely. You'll be doing a community service

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: wpeng
It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Huh? I think you mean it's not worth anything now, but it will in 50 years.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Hardcore

Originally posted by: wpeng
It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Huh? I think you mean it's not worth anything now, but it will in 50 years.

Huh? I think he means that it will be over 50 years until it is enough of an antique to be worth anything.

 

[sharkeeper]

Put an airbag in it and activate it!

Cheers!

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: wpeng
My parents recently ran across our old 486 computer in the basement. They said we should just throw it out. What else is there to do with old computers? I've been told you can do *something* with it, but I don't remember. I can't donate it. No one would want to buy it. It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Should I just throw it out?

The important part is how much RAM it has. If you have a couple of old computers and you can get together more than 16MB of RAM, you can actually make a machine that runs Win95 plenty fast. Obviously it's not worth the price of buying more memory for it, though, so if it has less than 16MB, I'd just save the RAM and throw the machine away.

A full install of the original Win95 can fit in 20MB if you pull out a few stupid things like MSN. You'd be surprised how fast it is for using Office 97 or earlier stuff.

The real problem is when you try to install Internet Explorer. If you install IE4 or higher, the whole machine will instantly drag to a halt, even when you're not using the browser. As long as you don't do that, it's a decent machine for some things.

If you install something like Firefox without JAVA support, the machine should be decent for some web surfing.

 

[RyanM]

Scrap it for screws, fans, and misc useful hardware, and take the rest to a disposal site. Don't actually throw it in the trash.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: babutiger
Office Depot Recycles PCs for free - More Info!

Your PC contains hazardous chemicals that need to be disposed of safely. You'll be doing a community service

Thanks for the link! I'll have to find out if they're doing that in my area.

It's actually illegal to throw out computer parts here.

 

[wpeng]

Actually, I really like ming2020's idea. There're a lot of old games out there that can only be played with a soundblaster compatible card aren't there?

 

[Trey22]

Options:

1. Part it out for the freebie thread in the FST section.
2. Dispose of it properly.
3. Linux?
4. Smoothwall?

 

[M16Grenadier]

I had a 486 DX 33 that I dag up from my neighbor's basement. I gave it to someone.

They run Win 95/ Office 97 fine. I don't know about browsing or linux, but either way, you have a quality word processor.

 

[DarkAmeba]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Put an airbag in it and activate it!

Cheers!

Best idea in here!!!

Seriously, I wouldn't leave it lying around it'd just take up space. Take out everything useful and recycle the rest.

 

[Calin]

The sound cards of the oooold times were quite powerful - you could hook up some 2$ passive speakers and have music in a room. However, the processor is much too slow for mp3 (no math coprocessor).
You could try to overclock it
For basic computing tasks (that does not require the latest and greatest programs) it could be enough. Remember, it was almost top of the line 15 years ago. However, for Linux, you will need a very stripped down (and possibly old) distribution.
Hmmm, my brother set up (5 years ago) a OpenBSD for mail server on a similar computer. This could be it

The parts in it are usable only for someone who has a similar older computer. But there are the games that work on it, all the oldies

Calin

 

[Phooey]

Couple of ideas:

1. Install an older Linux distro (Red Hat 6.2) and configure the IPTables to make a decent Firewall/Router for your home network. Note: you will need a couple of ethernet cards.

or

2. Take out the motherboard and turn it into art!

 

[Twista]

throw it in the garbage

 

[aswedc]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: wpeng
My parents recently ran across our old 486 computer in the basement. They said we should just throw it out. What else is there to do with old computers? I've been told you can do *something* with it, but I don't remember. I can't donate it. No one would want to buy it. It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Should I just throw it out?

The important part is how much RAM it has. If you have a couple of old computers and you can get together more than 16MB of RAM, you can actually make a machine that runs Win95 plenty fast. Obviously it's not worth the price of buying more memory for it, though, so if it has less than 16MB, I'd just save the RAM and throw the machine away.

A full install of the original Win95 can fit in 20MB if you pull out a few stupid things like MSN. You'd be surprised how fast it is for using Office 97 or earlier stuff.

The real problem is when you try to install Internet Explorer. If you install IE4 or higher, the whole machine will instantly drag to a halt, even when you're not using the browser. As long as you don't do that, it's a decent machine for some things.

If you install something like Firefox without JAVA support, the machine should be decent for some web surfing.

No way in hell Firefox will go. Believe it or not, Firefox is still the slowest of the major three browsers. Try them on a low end Pentium or 486 and you'll see right away.

 

[sisooktom]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: wpeng
My parents recently ran across our old 486 computer in the basement. They said we should just throw it out. What else is there to do with old computers? I've been told you can do *something* with it, but I don't remember. I can't donate it. No one would want to buy it. It probably won't be worth anything in the next 50 years.

Should I just throw it out?

The important part is how much RAM it has. If you have a couple of old computers and you can get together more than 16MB of RAM, you can actually make a machine that runs Win95 plenty fast. Obviously it's not worth the price of buying more memory for it, though, so if it has less than 16MB, I'd just save the RAM and throw the machine away.

A full install of the original Win95 can fit in 20MB if you pull out a few stupid things like MSN. You'd be surprised how fast it is for using Office 97 or earlier stuff.

The real problem is when you try to install Internet Explorer. If you install IE4 or higher, the whole machine will instantly drag to a halt, even when you're not using the browser. As long as you don't do that, it's a decent machine for some things.

If you install something like Firefox without JAVA support, the machine should be decent for some web surfing.

Uhh, no. I had a 486SX 25. The thing was a POS from the day it was released. It's not even a true 486, as the data bus is only 16 bits wide. Hence the SX moniker. I seriously doubt the box will run Win95, and even if it did, even Firefox would be unusably slow.

 

[So]

Break out DOS 5 and Wolf 3d! (seriously).

Then Doom!

DOOOOOOOOOMM!!!

 

[paendragon]

Dunno if this is your cup of tea - but here's what I did once -

One year while I was working at a medical center in Houston, we were given dozens of out-dated computers (386's & 486's with an occasional odd pentium 100/133 thrown in the mix) and told to discard them. So we took them out to the industrial trash dumpster out behind the facility and made a day out of experimenting on how those suckers came apart when dropped, beat, kicked etc etc.

We all spend so much time protecting our precious, expensive rigs, so it was just such a wild experience that cut against the grain, destroying all those machines...very surreal...and half way into it - the beast inside comes out and oh man is it fun! like being 10 years-old again, shooting B*B's at glass windows (ohyeah - don't do that...parents don't dig it...not to mention the cops).

pd

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Or you can use it to play solitaire at very high frame rates!!!

 

[DarkKnight]

see if you couple make some $$ from it on ebay. won't be much, but would be better than just getting rid of it. You'll be suprised at what ppl will buy

 

[Phooey]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
Or you can use it to play solitaire at very high frame rates!!!

I wonder why AnandTech doesn't use Solitaire as a benchmark...

 

[otispunkmeyer]

my college has a big clean out of junk computers every couple of years......we jus got all brand new dell pc's with TFT's and CD-Rw, the old dell's (celeron 500's) go in the basment..called the bunker, and the ones that were in there....286's and 486's n a few pentium pro's simply went in a skip! all 100+ of them

so much fun.......how high can u throw a 286?, how far away from the skip can u manage? mine was the best i threw a 486 and it caught the corner of the skip an jus exploeded in a shower of dust and PCB