9 Feb
2000
9 Feb
'00
10:17 a.m.
Our apartment complex's dumpster is a good source for home electronica (a
13" B&W TV, a cassette deck, a receiver reeking of cigarettes when warmed
up, 2 boom boxes, all in working order...), but I've come across only one PC
(clone 386). Who has good dumpsters for finding computers? Retailers?
Universities?
OT, sorta: Our local Goodwill stores here in Portland have the maddening
habit of putting all the monitors on these shelves, all the boxes on those
shelves, and all the keyboards in that big bin over there... Found the
keyboard for a Mac 512k or Plus but could never find the monitor&breadloaf.
Then, in the checkout line, I saw it in a cart! Didn't get the machine, but
the guy was happy I found the keyboard for him. Later, I thought Idiot! I
shoulda checked their dumpster for other odds'n'ends. I've volunteered
before to help assemble complete systems, but they don't have the shelf
space for it.
Good list, Jay.
long-time listener, first-time caller,
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com [SMTP:CLASSICCMP@trailing-edge.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 6:51 AM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: How far can you reach in a dumpster?
You must be a lot taller than I am. I jump up
on the side and lean
right
in.
My favorite technique is to back my car up to the dumpster, pop the trunk
open, climb on my bumper then into the dumpster, and start sorting and
tossing the good stuff into the trunk.
A good number of the PDP-11 freeware tapes in the archives were rescued
that way :-).
Tim. 
9 Feb
9 Feb
11:10 a.m.
OT, sorta: Our local Goodwill stores here in Portland
have the maddening
habit of putting all the monitors on these shelves, all the boxes on those
shelves, and all the keyboards in that big bin over there... Found the
Don't forget that at least in the Portland area you have to make a day of
it and go to *ALL* the Goodwill stores in the area. You'll find one part
of the system in Beaverton, another in Tigard, another on Burnside, then
another at the main store.
Zane (assuming you don't mean Portland, Maine)
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
12:06 p.m.
When refering to the "Main store" do you mean the one on Mcloughin(?)?
George
=========================================================
George L. Rachor Jr. george(a)racsys.rt.rain.com
Beaverton, Oregon http://racsys.rt.rain.com
United States of America Amateur Radio : KD7DCX
On Wed, 9 Feb 2000, Zane H. Healy wrote:
OT, sorta: Our
local Goodwill stores here in Portland have the maddening
habit of putting all the monitors on these shelves, all the boxes on those
shelves, and all the keyboards in that big bin over there... Found the
Don't forget that at least in the Portland area you have to make a day of
it and go to *ALL* the Goodwill stores in the area. You'll find one part
of the system in Beaverton, another in Tigard, another on Burnside, then
another at the main store.
Zane (assuming you don't mean Portland, Maine)
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
11:15 a.m.
On Wed, Feb 09, 2000 at 01:17:35PM -0800, Mark Price wrote:
OT, sorta: Our local Goodwill stores here in Portland
have the maddening
habit of putting all the monitors on these shelves, all the boxes on those
shelves, and all the keyboards in that big bin over there... Found the
keyboard for a Mac 512k or Plus but could never find the monitor&breadloaf.
Then, in the checkout line, I saw it in a cart! Didn't get the machine, but
the guy was happy I found the keyboard for him. Later, I thought Idiot! I
shoulda checked their dumpster for other odds'n'ends. I've volunteered
before to help assemble complete systems, but they don't have the shelf
space for it.
Here in Austin, they have a "Goodwill Computerworks" - all they sell is
computers. They'll routinely get FOUR OR FIVE semi-truck-loads of equipment
in at once - but they have signs up threatening arrest for dumpster diving,
and the police routinely patrol around back. 8-(
I've seen pallets full of equipment SIT OUT IN THE RAIN before. 8-(
Bill
--
+------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+
| Bill Bradford | mrbill(a)pdp11.org | mrbill(a)mrbill.net |
| http://www.sunhelp.org | http://www.pdp11.org | http://www.mrbill.net |
+------------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+
12:07 p.m.
I personally find this discussion thread to be scary at best.
What does it say about us?
My favorite "dives":
The MIT Flea Market
The Foothill Flea Market (haven't been since '88)
This list.
eBay.
The curbsides of suburbia
Found the following: Mac Performa, Mac Scanner,
PS2/30 complete, Syquest, Butcher block table, ...
The Greenwich Dump
Somebody dumped about a dozen Macs there just before Y2K.
Funny since Macs always were Y2K compliant.
I took One. and a scanner.
One of Five randomly selected Scrap houses in the San Jose area.
Companies in the process of "BPR".
Went to my first open house auction in the No.Cal office
of my old employer Calma. It was essentially a Giant three
floor tag sale. There was One row of cubicles not with
price tags and taped off with a "do not enter" sign on a
sheet of paper. That was the 10 remaining people left there,
still working.
My favorite dumpster story.
Walked all the way to The Jacob Javitz Convention center in NYC
once for an Internet exhibition. On the way there passed several
dangerous neighborhoods. Was reassured(?) to catch a glimpse of
one kindly Gentleman reclining to get some noontime sun; seemed
like a happy unthreatening type. He was of course reclining in
his dumpster.
John A.
8:31 p.m.
Here in Austin, they have a "Goodwill
Computerworks" - all they sell is
computers. They'll routinely get FOUR OR FIVE semi-truck-loads of equipment
in at once - but they have signs up threatening arrest for dumpster diving,
and the police routinely patrol around back. 8-(
Same at Santa Ana, CA Goodwill, except they have a bunch of their own
guards roaming around, plus security video cameras. Items left, BELONG to
Goodwill, and generally they get at least a few pennies per pound selling
even junk to scrap dealers. OTOH begging or bidding on items about to be
offered sometimes works.
To remove any doubt, the Goodwill donation box is NOT a dumpster, stay out
of it.
11:59 a.m.
At 01:17 PM 2/9/00 -0800, Mark Price wrote:
Our apartment complex's dumpster is a good source
for home electronica (a
13" B&W TV, a cassette deck, a receiver reeking of cigarettes when warmed
up, 2 boom boxes, all in working order...), but I've come across only one PC
(clone 386). Who has good dumpsters for finding computers? Retailers?
Universities?
I live in a tiny town of 6,000 people. My local mom-and-pop computer
store (repair, Internet, service, they do it all) routinely tosses out
semi-dead motherboards (the serial port got zapped, no one wants a
separate serial card, so it's history), too-small hard drives,
working VGA-ish monitors, etc. I can't imagine what a larger
repair shop would routinely toss.
- John
2:54 p.m.
Our apartment complex's dumpster is a good source
for home electronica (a
13" B&W TV, a cassette deck, a receiver reeking of cigarettes when warmed
up, 2 boom boxes, all in working order...), but I've come across only one PC
(clone 386). Who has good dumpsters for finding computers? Retailers?
After an auction on pickup days the dumpsters often get pretty good.
8908
days inactive
8909
days old
10 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
george＠racsys.rt.rain.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
jallain＠databaseamerica.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
markp＠wccls.lib.or.us -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
mrbill＠mrbill.net