I have gotten some of my best stuff from the trash ...
One day I will never
I suspect a lot of us have....
When I was at university I had official permision to skip-dive (dumpster dive). Got
all sorts of things. Pulled my HP2100A + 7900 drive + paper tape reader right out
of a skip. Nearly did my back in, but,,,
Another time I got a nice AR88LF communications receiver.
Then there was the time I saw a load of HP stuff... I grabbed the H1350 graphics
translator (lovely unit), etc. At the bottom was what looked to be an HP9825. Well,
I had one of those but I thought I could probably find a home for a second one. In
any case I'd grab the I/O modules from it, and see if it contained any ROMs in the
front ports. So out it came. When I looked at it I realised it wasn't a 9825 at all,
it was the (much, much, rarer) 9831 (running BASIC not HPL) So of course I grabbed
that.
But a lot of my finds came to me before they were thrown out. I was known for
wanting just about any old electronic or computer gear.
-tony