graverobbing~

[Chocofreak13]

c'mon, i can't be the only one here who dumpster-dives on occasion for free parts. as it stands there is a pile of computers just waiting to be vultured on the other side of this building. >:3

one of the things i like about my personal home setup is that everything was free, either by trash-pickin' or via donation. anyone else scour one man's trash for some treasure? :3

[stewartsage]

*raises hand* That's actually been my job before, in a way.  Not just computers; books, other electronics, and anything interesting looking.  Buying old computers for a dollar or so at yard sales is fun too.

[Red-Machine]

*raises hand*

I always keep an eye open for stuff like that.  Sometimes you can get real gems.

[IanDanKilmaster]

I'm currently in the process of doing this myself.

This is especially viable when you're dealing with an older computer.

[Bella]

Sadly, people don't seem to dispose of their computers that way around here. I've known people with old computers on the fritz, but I've always been to shy to ask for them/ ask to buy them. -///-;

There is a used electronics store in town; I've always felt like going in there with a few hundred and leading a minor exodus of old computers~! (They have, like, a half-dozen old iMacs and eMacs. *drools*)

[IanDanKilmaster]

I've found that the best thing to do, usually, is just ask.  They'll probably wind up just throwing it away anyway (where it will mostly likely pollute a landfill, or wind up being melted into noxious fumes in China), so unless they're greedy pricks, they'd gladly give it to you.  It helps if you know who it is, as you're more likely to know the condition of the parts and less likely to have someone trying to rip you off.

[NejinOniwa]

DEMON ONLY WORKS WITH FRESH MEAT. =w=

[stewartsage]

One of our school tech guys carries around an old Mac Classic.  He does not know he dances with fate having it near me.  But yeah, there's a couple of local electronic stores that seem likely to have old computers hanging around.  One place has a 1st gen iMac sitting on a table outside >>.

[Red-Machine]

Lucky bastard.  We don't get stores like that over here...

All I have is eBay, which kinda sucks for this kinda stuff tbh.

[Roujo]

At my college, when they renew the CS lab computers - the ones we open/break/(hopefully)fix/put back up - they just put the spare parts in the hallway where the CS courses are at. Then, they magically disappear as some students scavenge what is usable and others take the rest for various uses (mainly opening hard drives to see how they look inside, grabbing an old Pentium CPU just for the sake of saying you have one laying around, starting floppy disk fights and such). Needless to say, we have fun around that time of the year.

I wouldn't take any of the pieces for my main comp, though, as they are at the bottom of the college computers life-cycle so they date a few...hum...decade back? =P

[Chocofreak13]

today (or yesterday, as it is 3 am) i and my friends scavenged the pile. i got a FUKTON of ram, though it is all pretty low rating, and several hard drives, the biggest i believe was 80 gig. ^^ a few other parts made their way into the pile as well, so i ended up with a few sound cards, i believe what is a wired net card, and a cd drive with a card attached, as well as plenty of screws.

almost took some power supplies that were still in the boxes, but decided against it (as power supply is something you almost ALWAYS want fresh).

we're going back for moar on monday. >:3

[VonDaab]

Hmm, I've dumpster diven only once for computer parts, or more like, a whole computer box. It was some ancient HP vectra from '95, but liked the case size and though it could be used for something...

Though, generally I dont scavenge "scrapyards" as people here dont seem to throw away things so hastly.
But I have salvaged a few wristwatches that been on their way to the dumpster.

[Chocofreak13]

:3 lots of nice things can be found in unlikely places. last weekend i got a lovely coat from a room in the flea market that looked like  cross between a dump and a garage sale.
it's a nice coat. i had to sew up the sides (big rips) but i got it for ONE DOLLAR. :3

and the new drives and such really helped out. with a friend's help, i have re-constructed ol' shitty into "Glazia: the computer as fragile as glass." (aka shitty)

[stewartsage]

Mm, I love coats.

But its still a computer, and that's what counts!

[Chocofreak13]

she's working fairly nice, my friend even volunteered to treat me to a gig of ram. ^^
and since she has 2 drives, i'm considering dual-booting. ^^