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Why in the world do we hang onto this stuff?

bobtomay

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Attempting to do some cleaning in the home office. I have a whole shelf dedicated to 3.5" floppies. HAven't even had a machine that had a floppy for at least 8 years. At least the 5.25" floppies are gone.

I've got MS DOS 6, 6.22, Win 3.1 along with Norton, and recovery discs and boot discs (one for every game I played back then I think).

And then 2-3 copies each of Win 95, 98 (looks like I have both of those two on floppy and CD), 98SE, ME, 2K, NT4.0, Exchange 5.5 along with Transcender software for cert testing for half of them.

And yeah, still have another shelf full of software for 95 & 98. Will 98 even install on one of today's systems? Or is my memory of those games better than they really are and I should let them be?

Oh yeah, I've also got a Compaq, HP and an old Dell (I know that one's 9 yrs old). Old pieces of junk that I convinced the owners it was time for a new one instead of pouring money into that piece of... So, why are they sitting in my closet???

What do I do with this stuff? It's still good stuff. That is, if you want a 12-15 year old computer to play on. Toss it, give it away (where?), sell it?

Will my HDTV card from ''04 still work on a new machine? It's one that was made before they started putting the flag recognition in them.

So, what in the world do ya'll do with this stuff?

(edit: I even found OS 9 drivers for stuff on a couple of those floppies. Never even looked at a Mac back then. Why do I have Mac discs?)
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Hey I still have disk for zip drives that I don't even have or use anymore. >_>"

I use them to boot Windows sometimes. >_<"
 

chscag

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Believe or not, I just cleaned out my closet a month ago with just about as much stuff that you mentioned. The old PCs I dropped off at Goodwill.

The several hundred floppies (all 3.5") were a different challenge. I went through them and decided on what I wanted to keep. Used my Sony USB 3.5" external floppy drive and copied what I wanted to keep to the Mac and then burned them to CDs. After that I destroyed the floppies and threw them away.

However, I still have power supplies, various graphic cards, and other cards. Also a bunch of memory modules that I don't even know what they would fit anymore. Oh, almost forgot - I gave away several good working monitors, all CRT type.

(edit: I even found OS 9 drivers for stuff on a couple of those floppies. Never even looked at a Mac back then. Why do I have Mac discs?)

Maybe you were dreaming of getting a Mac someday? :p
 
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I save just about anything in the way of electronics. I am not a hoarder, but I just can't seem to part with them. Working or not.
 

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What Dell model is it? I like messing with some old Dells. I have 2 Optiplex Workstations I still use for some video work! :D Still decent machines.

Then there are all the old Macs and Ataris and Amigas and Commodores! :D
 
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bobtomay

bobtomay

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...
However, I still have power supplies, various graphic cards, and other cards. Also a bunch of memory modules that I don't even know what they would fit anymore. Oh, almost forgot - I gave away several good working monitors, all CRT type.
...

Yep, all that stuff also. Although, most of mine is from the 90's. So not even worth it's weight. Don't have the CRTs, I gave those all away 2-3 years before the final switch over to digital o-t-a.

I still have the empty box for an ATI All-In-Wonder 9600 and the box for a motherboard from a system I built in '03 and sold 3 years ago. I still have the stock heat sinks from several CPUs since I always upgraded those for overclocking.

And we haven't even started talking about adapters and cables yet... No shelves for those. Had to buy several of those plastic stacking drawer units for them several years ago.
 

RavingMac

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Thanks a lot guys!

I read this thread to my wife and now she is eager for me to start pitching the stuff I have been keeping--especially all of the snarled cables and adapters, several boxes worth. :p
 
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I've got a floppy somewhere that has software for an old Atari PC (which I never even owned) on it, my windows machine can't even read it (& I doubt a Mac with an ext-FDD could either) because the file systems's not supported - I only know what's on it from the label - but for some reason I don't have the heart to throw it away! :p
 
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bobtomay

bobtomay

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What Dell model is it? I like messing with some old Dells. I have 2 Optiplex Workstations I still use for some video work! :D Still decent machines.

Then there are all the old Macs and Ataris and Amigas and Commodores! :D

The Dell is probably the only one that may still be in working condition. It's a P4 2.8Ghz from '02. Was thinking about maybe installing the latest Ubuntu on it, but already know that won't work with whatever video card is in it. It does have a floppy drive though. Hey, I could try putting '98 on there and check out the old games?

Have you still go a Commodore?

Thanks a lot guys!

I read this thread to my wife and now she is eager for me to start pitching the stuff I have been keeping--especially all of the snarled cables and adapters, several boxes worth. :p

You should know by now, not to let the wife see these sort of posts. ;D Much less, read them to her!!!
 
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I was digging through a bag of old electronics I accumulated while working various IT jobs last weekend. I found a ~2007 Palm Pilot Tungsten T3 I used before the iPhone came out. Even crazier was the ~1993 Apple Newton Message Pad (complete with stylus and leather sleeve) that was in there. I may have to toss them out on eBay for giggles!
 
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I loaded Mint on my old stuff and gave it to my friends that have kids on the better
ones Ubuntu of some flavor depending as was said earlier on the video card and gave
that to my friends that were fed up with Windows but could not afford a Mac. I got a new rule if it has not been used in a years time part with it.
 
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The older we get the worse we get.

And Razormac very dangerous thing to do read clean up suggestion to wives take my word for it. After you get the office cleaned up, you can then start on the tool shed and garage and..and..and.
 

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I can not forget my old Powerbook Blackbird 540c with Power PC Upgrade card! :D Still works great. Running OS 8.1 or so on it. :D
 

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The older we get the worse we get.

And Razormac very dangerous thing to do read clean up suggestion to wives take my word for it. After you get the office cleaned up, you can then start on the tool shed and garage and..and..and.
LOL
You are so right there! :)
 
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With all that junk lying around, has anybody got any 30 pin simms (min 120 ns speed) that would fit my 1989 Mac SE 30?
 

dtravis7


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The Dell is probably the only one that may still be in working condition. It's a P4 2.8Ghz from '02. Was thinking about maybe installing the latest Ubuntu on it, but already know that won't work with whatever video card is in it. It does have a floppy drive though. Hey, I could try putting '98 on there and check out the old games?

Have you still go a Commodore?

Cool on the Dell. Yes, I still have my Commodore 64 and I think a 128 laying around!
 
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bobtomay

bobtomay

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Cool on the Dell. Yes, I still have my Commodore 64 and I think a 128 laying around!

That's cool. I did get rid of all the 80's stuff shortly after my first x86 computer.
 

pigoo3

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What do I do with this stuff? It's still good stuff. That is, if you want a 12-15 year old computer to play on. Toss it, give it away (where?), sell it?

So, what in the world do ya'll do with this stuff?

(edit: I even found OS 9 drivers for stuff on a couple of those floppies. Never even looked at a Mac back then. Why do I have Mac discs?)

You're asking the wrong (or maybe the right guy here)!;)

I go thru spurts of nostalgia when I play with/mess around with my old Macintosh computers (I DO NOT feel the same way with OLD Windows computers):(...then I'll go a long while without touching or thinking about them. I think that it's neat to have the old stuff around (as long as someone has a place/room to dedicate to it).

I went thru a "clean-out" a few years ago when I threw out a whole bunch of old floppies (with old software on them)...and I kind of regret it now. What's really surprising...I still have a lot of 10-15 and more year old floppies that are still totally readable...despite how the magnetic media on floppies is supposed to degrade.

Hang onto as much as you can as long as you can!:)

- Nick
 
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Dad's office is littered with computer parts...RAM sticks galore, computer cases, computers that I replaced...a boat anchor monitor...mobo's....LCD monitors...CD drives...hard drives...hard drive cases...cables galore


This is what happens when he works for the IT department for the military I guess...:p
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Dad's office is littered with computer parts...RAM sticks galore, computer cases, computers that I replaced...a boat anchor monitor...mobo's....LCD monitors...CD drives...hard drives...hard drive cases...cables galore


This is what happens when he works for the IT department for the military I guess...:p

Government secrets and Military weapons included in that? :p
 

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