Who else has customers like this

[autumn]

G day all

Who else has customers like this? I'm not allowed to throw anything out off this cupboard because 'it still works'. I never get anything out of there except for the odd keyboard or mouse. The youngest in there is about 10 years old, oldest maybe 20 years old. There's a monitor in there with RCA connectors, lol.

Honestly it's just hoarding

 

[Fred Claus]

I used to volunteer at a non profit like that. Their computer lab had computers at least 10 years old. The closet was full of even older ones.

 

[britechguy]

Who else has customers like this?

I don't have any customers like that, but I know techs who have "those closets." And while I understand keeping certain antiquated stuff for a period of time, that period should not be decades.

When it's well and truly dead, it's off to the electronics recycler!

 

[Blues]

Is it bad that I'm jealous and wish I had that closet?

 

[britechguy]

Is it bad that I'm jealous and wish I had that closet?

Tragic, actually (presuming it's the contents you're after).

 

[ThatPlace928]

My son spent years lugging around about 15 old monochrome CRTs and every tower he was given. He finally sold all the CRTs about 6 months ago and just put all the spare towers up for sale with everything in them but the RAM and hard drives..... he sold a few but still has about 23 of them left...... lol. I laugh but I'm proud of him for finally clearing the old stuff out of his shop.

 

[Philippe]

Is it bad that I'm jealous and wish I had that closet?

Well, yesterday I've done something with a PC I never, ever, did in my life:
I've loaded a piece of software from a tape!
Yes, from a data tape to an old IBM PC 5150, just for the fun of it
Is it bad, doc?

 

[Kitten Kong]

Bashfully I have to admit, I still have some scsi cables, think there's a couple of scsi drives.

Oh, agp 4x graphics cards, lcd screens, couple of inverters...

 

[GTP]

Bashfully I have to admit, I still have some scsi cables, think there's a couple of scsi drives.

Oh, agp 4x graphics cards, lcd screens, couple of inverters...

My spare room is chokka with old stuff, much of it still in perfect working order. PC's, laptops, printers (the ink heads would be too dry now I suppose ) Cables, graphics cards, screens (which I use occasionally for things like my CCTV etc) and everything else in between. Can't bring myself to throw it out.

 

[Philippe]

printers (the ink heads would be too dry now I suppose )

Dot matrix printers are vintage, working laser printers are nice, but ink jet printers -> big no no
(You can't store them and keep them in working order. Just check if the print head is included within the cartridge:
Yes -> OK * if * you can find new cartridges.
No -> completely useless...)

 

[frecklesnoot]

I too keep a lot of old parts, due to the nature of my clients I keep it for use when an older system comes in.
Most of my clients are in the lower economic bracket and simply can't afford to just replace the system. I always notify them that the parts are from a what was a known working system and have been tested and working. The clients are always happy with that as it gets them up and running again.
I do recommend to them the system needs to be replaced when they are able to afford it. If I have a newer system I can sell them I let them aware if this and offer a data transfer for them at a cost of course.

Keeping some older parts that have been tested comes in handy for those type of clients, and they are just simply chuffed when they are up and running.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I keep old parts around too, and I love running into closets like this... Because it means I get to talk them into letting me evacuate it.

Then it lands in my garage, and when the weather is nice the kids and I part it out, separate things, and haul the bits off to a recycler. We've paid for family vacations doing this... it's nuts what you can make with old rigs, those 100% copper heat sinks are gold. Old RAM is valuable too by the pound.