h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think every person who throws away a computer should be thrown away themselves. Last week I was calling some local used computer stores in the area, trying to locate an old Apple // series machine (my first real computer was an Apple //c; we sold ours years ago, and I'd love to own one again). I finally found one dealer who said something like this:

"Oh! Really? Sorry, man, I just throw about 40 of those away last week."

I simply hung up. I was kind of surprised, then saddened, then very, very angry. What kind of a man throws away perfectly good computers? Especially an entire *classroom's* worth?

If the man in question had sold cars instead of computers, it would be different. You'd never hear someone say "Oh, I just pitched a dozen '57 Chevys last week; sorry pal." Cars are considered an investment, and are thus generally treated as such. Same goes for jewlery, baseball cards, etc. People don't just throw these things away, because they have a sort of value attached to them that doesn't seem to the owner like something worth losing.

But with computers, it's different. I'm convinced that people today are seeing them differently. Like, well, like Kleenex or something. Use it, then get rid of it. There are others, and the others cost less and less each time you buy one. Like Kleenex, computers have become a regular part of our lives; we're just too accustomed to them. It's hard to come acrosss a '57 Chevy, or a rookie Babe Ruth card, or a Cartier watch... but computers are everywhere. I can assure you that 20 years ago, when they *weren't* everywhere and they were the size of entire city blocks, nobody would have considered throwing them away when they were done with them.

Sorry for carrying on like that.

A sad story you relate

Sad, indeed. But I think "disgusting" is a more appropriate word.

I think I'd agree with you there

D.T., Shops will throw out computers when the cost of the space they're taking up exceeds the value of the machine. If you're REALLY desperate for an Apple II, get in touch with me at [email protected] - I've got three (I think - I haven't unboxed them since I moved in to this house five years ago...) plus assorted peripherals.

Personally, I rarely throw out anything which is still working, which is why I have very little space to move around my flat

I maintain a sort of mental tally of the class of machines which companies are giving away/throwing out - I call it a "State of the Skip" system (!), and the current "State of the Skip" here in Aberdeen is around a P166 with 16MB of RAM and a 540MB HDD - i.e. if your machine is significantly less powerful than this, it's probably not worth while selling it as a system - you'll get more for the monitor, keyboard and mouse than for the machine itself.

Sounds about right... although personally I have a lowly 486DX-33 in my bedroom - still, it's to be replaced in a few weeks with a mailorder superbudget PC; the value for money you can find nowadays is little short of amazing.

Still, we've never thrown anything away... we still have a 286 (minus the monitor - sold it to a friend for £15), the 486, and a PII 233. We did have an Amstrad CPC at one point, but it died .

Oh, and we have an Amiga of some sort.

From where I'm sitting I can see 4 Amigas, a C64, a Spectrum and an Acorn Atom... That's just the debris in the living room

wot, no Amstrads?

For some reason, they never seemed to sell as well as the other 8-bits... however, I was only born in '84, so my perspective on the matter ain't exactly very clear

I had an Amstrad 464, but I swapped it for a BBC Micro. I've got assorted Amstrad PCs in the stair cupboard, 3 or 4 at least...

Speaking as someone who buys puters from tips, I like people throwing them away. Reasonable stuff like early pentinums are easy to fix, still useful to a degree, as has been said, and I've got spares. Even so, in a few years, it won't be worth the bother. Anything less than a pentinum, for example.

I've also thrown away apple II's, vic 20s, amstrads etc. At some point they simply are no use anymore, and take up space. I turned down the chance to buy a Dec Microvax II, even though I know a fair bit about VMS, and probably could of got it running again. It wasn't worth the effort.

People have always thrown stuff away when its value is less than the effort involved in doing something with it. Even cars. In '65 you couldn't give a '57 chevy away! The future value of things is not of interest to business, because it's such a random variable.

H&K
Z

Yo, Big Z!
My pal Ammonite has a DEC RT-11 minicomputer with 3 terminals in his spare room - we had days of fun writing a program in DEC BASIC to display the Mandelbrot set at a resolution of 160x96 on a VT-100 compatible terminal in character-graphic mode... He wrote the Mandelbrot code, I worked out the point-plotting routines!

Sounds like a real hoot! I always wanted a microvax at home, but it just wasn't worth the effort for a mvII. Know anyone with a mv3000 series? that would be fun!

H&K
Z

Well, Z, funny you should mention that - I believe our local cable company use a cut-down MV3K to control their "Jerrold" cable boxes... It's the same model the military use (without the toughened case and radiation-hardened chips), about the size of a small steamer trunk, with handles so two people can carry it.

I have a suspicion that when the new UK legislation preventing them from "Bundling" channels comes into force, they'll have to have a software rewrite, and that may mean a new machine... Watch this space

Bonza! I'll be right over with the pickup!

H&K
Z