Dumpster Dive pics?!

[lost eden]

Nothing better than spying a pile of discarded computer gear on your way home from the pub. Anybody got any stories/pictures of good finds?

I snagged myself some nice gear being thrown out from the Biomolecular Sciences building at my university last night;

3x fully operational SGI O2 graphics workstations (one missing optical drive) along with 3x SGI keyboards (but no mice...);

fully operational Compaq Armada laptop (just needs a power cable - luckily the PSU is built in so I can just use a normal IEC lead);

and the catch of the day, a 20" SGI CRT (it's actually a Sony Triniton, e.g. GORGEOUS image);

(also in last pic a beige Dell tower which I ahven't really inspected - I think it's Pentium-era).

There was also an old Apple 4400, but I didn't take that because it has doesn't have a D-SUB video output so I would have had to carry back the small Apple monitor as well. Plus one of the many local bunny rabbits had taken a leak on it & I didn't really feel like spending my night washing bunny pee off an old computer...

 

[bartelby]

You obviously asked permission to remove the stuff from university property.

 

[dops7107]

I hope the University was following the new WEEE directive or whatever it's called. We had to dispose of ours before a certain (recent) date in order to avoid the special disposal costs. In any case, perhaps you did the environment a favour by breathing second life into these things!

So what are you going to do with it all??

 

[redAPPLE]

congratulations on your find.

 

[lost eden]

You obviously asked permission to remove the stuff from university property.

Suuuuure I did. It looked as though the stuff was just destined for a landfill, maybe recycling if they're following the rules.

In any case, perhaps you did the environment a favour by breathing second life into these things!

I love doing things like that. It's nice to stop perfectly operational equipment from being bricked.

So what are you going to do with it all??

Well I've got the big CRT on my Linux media box, seeming as it's now the largest screen I own, not to mention that I prefer watching movies/anime on CRT than LCD. The laptop I might install a base Debian system on & use as an IRC machine, but as for the O2's I haven't a clue! I've never used Irix (they're OS) before but seeming as they're MIPS chips I should be able to compile another Linux distro for them. They look funky if nothing else!