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Hardware

Online Hardware Swap-Meet 131

Posted by Hemos from the sharing-resources-is-good dept.
ShadowRayven wrote to us about a cool service called freeboxen: "Freeboxen is an online community for sharing computer hardware. Many of us have old, unused PC hardware sitting around. Why not give it to someone who wants it? Freeboxen makes it easy to post your hardware and give it to a thankful recipient. You can also use Freeboxen to claim the hardware that people are giving away."
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Online Hardware Swapmeet More

Online Hardware Swapmeet

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  • Call it what you want, but it's not Offtopic!

    Don't the moderator guidelines say something about checking the topic before you moderate people down? Do you realize that you *could* indeed get a LOT of old computer hardware and crappy network cards, and build "a beowulf cluster of these" if you wanted to, perhaps for the experience, to learn how such a cluster works, or to learn to program for one, and therefore make the big bucks later?

    ...or did you just have a mod point to blow, and couldn't find enough drivel to moderate up as "Insightful", and instead of waiting, or trying to actually POST something halfway intelligent, you decided to moderate this poor boy downward. Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame.

    And, for the record, I'm not even the original poster here, I just stole his account. :)
    -pb
  • You all wouldn't believe it, but I have submitted this to Slashdot atleast 3 times. I have submitted Dozens of good tech stories, all of which never get posted. The best one I have had was one that wasn't rejected for a whole month! but finally was!
    Anyway, I have used Freeboxen several times, mostly to try to get rid of a n old p120 no one wants, I have had 3 bids on it, and the guys never get back to me! Does anyone here want it? It has a fried IDE line (Gotta use Scsi) and has a bad power supple, it would make a kickin' server.
  • Put it in a Baby-At Motherboard, what else?
  • This is great, most people don't stop to think that 800+ Mhz CPU's and Bleeding edge components aren't the norm in all places. Just remember back when PC's first came out, your "rich" friends had that Smokin 8086 PC and you had the Commodore PET-2001 (whew..1981 was cool) that you could only use for 15 min at a time @ school :p
    Now we can help kids and others that might be willing and able to learn, but might not have the means to do so !
    Let's all send a note with our kids to school, letting teachers know that this exists and help them to put together what our tax dollars don't !


    OTOH -
    The Privacy Policy is funny, at least the guy who runs this site has a sense of humor
    From Freeboxen.com's Privacy Page [freeboxen.com]
    When you claim hardware we collect some information about your claim request. Most of this info is simply a matter of associating who wants what and when. The only unique piece of information that is gathered is the text of the message you send to the donor. This is done for ONE reason: Spam. Woe unto those who use the claim facilities on this website to send unsolicited commercial email. The penalties will be swift, severe, and closely resemble the wrath of god.


    - Save The Whales ,Collect the whole set !

  • For those in Northern Germany with spare hardware (Score:3)

    by Hanno ( 11981 ) on Thursday October 12, 2000 @05:15AM (#712910) Homepage
    If you happen to live in Northern Germany, there is a very similar project called

    Nutzmüll [nutzmuell-hh.de]

    (See this article in the newspaper DIE WELT [www.welt.de])

    The people working are former long-time unemployed folks paid by the Hamburg community. They are now learning about IT-technology, thus improving their resume and their chances of getting a "real" job in the near future.

    The computers you donate to them are given to organizations and people who cannot afford a new computer. (I wanted to buy some old hardware for a livingroom network router from them, but they didn't give it to me. Well, they're right and now that I know that, I have an even higher opinion of them.)

    Anyway, Nutzmüll also accepts old software (think Windows95 CDRoms and licenses) that they use to install on the computers. I recently gave them a tip to have a look at Linux and linuxrouter.org and hope that they will find some use for them of the even more outdated hardware they get.

    ------------------
  • Call me greedy, but why should I give my old hardware away to somebody I do not know, when I can get way more than I feel it is worth by posting it up on Ebay with no reserve or minimum bid?

    Greedy is putting a Sparc IPX on Ebay with a $80 reserve.

    Don't get me wrong- I've been known to give hardware away, to people I know or for answering a trivia question at 2600 meetings- sort of like your requirements that the recipient be a 'true geek'.

  • I suppose I could just use two thirds of my data stores! I know, I'll take three and double my HD capacity!
  • I noticed the same (and was disappointed about it). I'm looking for an old DEC 3000 (or any TURBOChannel bus Alpha) so that I can start getting TC working in Linux for them. I have a user that wants to buy me one, but I'd rather try to score a donated or free box since I don't want to burden anyone financially. If you happen to find a couple free DEC 3000's, please let me know also...
  • Yeah, but I just tried to contact them to let them know about a php coding tip, and here's what I got back: (Looks like their contact info isn't correct)

    Subject:
    Returned mail: User unknown
    Date:
    Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:51:21 -0500
    From:
    Mail Delivery Subsystem
    To:

    The original message was received at Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:51:20 -0500
    from staver.fimble.com [206.26.107.19]

    ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----

    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
    ... while talking to mx00.mindspring.com.:
    >>> RCPT To:
    ... User unknown
    >>> RCPT To:
    ... User unknown

    Reporting-MTA: dns; fimble.com
    Received-From-MTA: DNS; staver.fimble.com
    Arrival-Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:51:20 -0500

    Final-Recipient: RFC822; jlincoln@mindspring.com
    Action: failed
    Status: 5.1.1
    Remote-MTA: DNS; mx00.mindspring.com
    Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 User unknown
    Last-Attempt-Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:51:21 -0500

    Final-Recipient: RFC822; spamdrop@mindspring.com
    Action: failed
    Status: 5.1.1
    Remote-MTA: DNS; mx00.mindspring.com
    Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 User unknown
    Last-Attempt-Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:51:21 -0500

    Subject:
    advice for your site
    Date:
    Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:45:45 -0600
    From:
    Mike Staver
    To:
    jlincoln@mindspring.com, spamdrop@mindspring.com

    Alright, I'm a php3 programmer myself, and I noticed a little problem on
    your site that's extremely common in php based applications.

    "ISA motherboard with 486DX50 (that\\\'s right not a DX/2). 8 30pin 4MB
    SIMM slots."

    Obivously, this person did not intend to have the \\\ before the 's.
    This can be easily fixed in your code using the "stripslashes()"
    function. Simply store the post as a string, let's say you called it
    "poster". We would then do this:

    $poster = stripslashes($poster);

    I'm also working on a site that is very similar to your own, it's been
    up for over a year now, but it deals with text books for college
    students. I was sick of students being ripped off by campus book
    stores, so I started:

    http://www.fimble.com/buysell

    Hope I was able to help. Talk to you later.
    --
  • It's a cool site, though, really. I posted some stuff this morning after seeing it on Slashdot, and aloready it's been claimed. But, eayh, it needs some more people to honestly and sincerely post stuff, because a lot of categories are a bit empty.

    Eh, well, we'll see. It's got a good start, though. Seems like their PHP3 needs a bit of work, though first.

  • I've been hoarding old hardware (ask my wife) and/or donating it to friends and family (although it tends to come back that way). At last, a way of ethically disposing of old hardware that I probably would keep around and get shouted at about!

    Do we have anyone here who's used the service and can pass comments on effectiveness? Giver or Receiver?

  • publicity != good. (Score:4)

    by fishfucker ( 217763 ) on Thursday October 12, 2000 @12:00AM (#712917)
    yeah -- i suppose it'll remain to be seen whether hundreds/thousands of new users will serve the purposes of such a site well (depends, really, on how generous the /. demographic is...) see, we have a website sorta like this locally -- most likely, many of you living in the bay area have heard of it (craigslist [craigslist.org]) with increasing volume from the local "hip" weeklies and whatnot... turns out the folks reading these weeklies are just a bit *too* hip to take a model based on community/sharing and turn it into a minature antique market -- where prices on whatever you might want to purchase were of the "take it away, i don't need it, variety" we're now seeing the "my junk is gold" user, (not to mention the college kids who are taking furniture off the street and selling it as "used" to fund beer runs, etc -- a cute idea, but shameful abuse of craigslist.)

    what i'm saying here (ie, how it's applicable) is that services are only going to benefit from a greater user base if that base matches a balance necessary to such a model -- meaning, that there must be people who want to get stuff, and others who want to give.

    as the internet lately seems to have been overtaken more and more by some mad mob mentality (post-93, 94, anyone?) obeying the theory that "people on computers in great numbers are infintely stupider" (don't believe it? go witness collective stupidity that overruns holzer's original "truisms" in her Please Change Beliefs [walkerart.org] work.) I have little hope for such a site to survive as a useful resource given greater numbers of traffic.

    sorry, the glass is half empty, and the fuckers getting drunk on paper profits are pissing in it.

    fisfhcuerk. [sexsexworld.com]

    what? i can't say fuck?

  • Some reasons this isn't optimal:

    1. Assumes they have a terminal in the first place
    2. Assumes they have good, cheap communications link (HINT: this rules out just about everywhere except US/Canada)
    3. Assumes they want to use *IX and not some of the more popular [ooh what an obvious troll] Windows software (or even X apps)
    4. Assumes the donator has power, space, communications and the inclination to keep and sysadmin the non-donated box
    5. Privacy, security, freedom implications

    In short, this has been tried before (think BIX,CIX, PRESTEL et al) as public timesharing ans as soon as the technology allowed we dropped it all like a rock. What's different this time?

  • Consider Donating to the Yellow Network Coalition (Score:5)

    by goingware ( 85213 ) on Thursday October 12, 2000 @12:06AM (#712919) Homepage
    Please consider donating your hardware to the Yellow Network Coalition [ync.org].

    Inspired by the free yellow bicycles of Amsterdam (which you can just pick up on the street corner and ride around), the YNC takes donations of hardware, mostly old 486's, fixes them up, installs linux on them, and gives them away for free for use either as NAT servers and firewalls (so people may have multiple machines of any OS on a single network connection) and as Linux user workstations.

    I gave my venerable old 486 to them. Like George Washington's axe, it started life as a 386, then got a new microprocessor, motherboard, CPU, case, memory and hard disk before finally going to the YNC.

    Note that unlike some operating systems out there, Linux runs just fine on a 486 - I was using it as a web server on mine and could run the server and XWindows at the same time and never noticed any performance problems. Windows 95 was a dog on the same machine.

    They also plan to build free internet kiosks in neighborhoods. You'd just be able to walk up to a weather-sealed machine and start browsing at no cost. I've heard the founder has one of these outside his house. What they'd do is hang off the DSL connection inside neighboring homes and businesses, perhaps through wireless.

    They also give lessons on setting up firewalls and such, and go around giving public talks on their activities.

    They have chapters in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, California, as well as Japan. I'll probably set one up in Maine if my home purchase there comes through.

  • We are talking Ultra-ATA 1 here, don't you dare mistake that. There's no faster way to get your PIO 3 230 MB harddisk running.
  • George Washington's axe had a 386 in it?
  • I went there because I have a ton of old stuff that my wife is constantly nagging me to dispose of...

    The problem is that all of it works, but none of it is worth any money (XT I/O cards, a 386SX, Amiga & C64 peripherals, etc..) so it doesn't make sense to spend money on a classified ad..

    I believe that most geeks are pack-rats (every one I know in RL is) so posting it on /. might give it a big boost from all the pack rats here who are nagged by their spouses to clean out the storage room :o)

  • anyone want my old winmodem? ive seen the light, and have no use for it
  • Without the ECU (EISA Configuration Utility) disk an EISA board is useless. Unless I can locate a ECU disk (or any ECU and the relevant ADF file) I won't be able to write correct values to the EISA CMOS, and won't be able to get the machine past the POST error.

    I acquired the board when some servers were being scrapped. The servers were new at the end of 1993. I've not been able to locate an ECU to download for this board.

    See - it is junk!

  • That's awesome! (Score:3)

    by dragonfly_blue ( 101697 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @10:31PM (#712925) Homepage
    I think Freeboxen is one of the coolest sites around; it just needs some publicity, so thanks, /.

    I, for one, have got plenty of hardware that I need to list on their site... I'd much rather see people use old hardware than have it sit around gathering dust. J. Lincoln over at Freeboxen is also a really cool person, in my opinion.

    Does anyone know if it's ok to donate old software, or does this violate alla them EULA's?

  • This sounds like a great idea.

    I wonder if anyone knows if anything like it is being done in Australia ? I've got a box or two at work we were just going to throw away.

  • try www.workspot.com
    .oO0Oo.
  • ... BEoWULF CLUSTERiNG!

    Thank you.
  • Not modified, just as is http://www.freeboxen.com/displayhardware.php3?id=2 56

  • Latest notice on freeBoxen (Score:3)

    by cheekymonkey_68 ( 156096 ) <amcd.webguru@uk@net> on Thursday October 12, 2000 @12:14AM (#712930)
    One warship running Windows 2000 only used once...
  • But you see, if we recycle then we allow the people who produce recycled basic materials able to compete more easily with those who refine trhem from raw materials.

    This is incoherent Marxist drivel. How is recycled junk supposed to compete with freshly manufactured high quality goods? I suppose you also maintain that low-quality "volunteer supported" software can compete with polished professional offerings.

    This provides more competition. Obviously this is good since it drives the market.

    This is competition in the same sense that Linux and Windows are in competition. This is nonsense. Windows is software for business professionals and Linux is software for filthy hippie Communists.

    Please get your facts straight before posting again.

    Thank you.

    Bruce

  • I've a few goodies in my cupboard going spare, anybody want them?

    An EISA 486 motherboard without the ECU disk.
    A 6-port Serial card with no available device drivers, except those for a non-Y2K compliant OS.
    An HP-Thinkjet clone printer, requiring a special non-standard cable which I've lost.
    A broken sheet-feeder for a Canon BJ-10 printer.
    2 14,400 plug-and-play modems.
    A few IDE hard drives, including a 40MB one, an 80MB one, and a 200MB one with a lot of bad sectors.
    An ISA sound card with capacitors so large that it requires 2 card slots.

    Could I find a sucker for this junk?

  • where in australia are you from?

    I'm from eastern beaches in sydney, you can email me shawn_bobo@hotmail.com and we could talk more about this...

  • Why not just list the stuff on eBay [ebay.com] and get a few bucks for it? I know that is not the "Open Source" way, but heck I need money to eat.

    Now if Freeboxen used some sort of monetary unit (i.e. Mojo Nation [mojonation.com]) to help even it out, I would be more likely to give old stuff to get old stuff. I'd rather build a new computer out of old parts than buy one outright anyway. All of my computers are old/stuck together/frankenboxen except one - my iMac. :)


    Later...

  • i'm sorry, its been a bad day...
  • Err...why would you post something you didn't want to give away?

    I don't see how anyone can get burned giving stuff away...If you dumb enough to list your Althlon 800 w/ 256mb you deserve to have it taken.

    Oh well...

  • If anyone knows where I can get a Commodore PC-10 Model III let me know.
  • that may not be the right solution. newer versions of php ship w/ the option magic_quotes turned on by default. previously, when sending queries to the database, you would explicitly invoke addslashes() to make sure everything got escaped. so, in effect, if you had magic_quotes turned on, then invoked addslashes you would come up w/ this:

    user types: that's right not a DX/2
    resulting post data (magic_quotes = On):
    that\'s right, not a DX/2
    after using addslashes:
    that\\\'s right, not a DX/2

    i had this problem when i upgraded to php4 and continued to call addslashes explicitly. to solve it, i just turned it off, as that was what i programmed against for the last couple years.

    p.

  • Toasted 486 cpu's (from overclocking just a bit too much!) ... it's really cool, 'cause somewhere out there is someone who really wants or needs this stuff!

    Yeah. The toasted 486 processors are wonderful. You can leave them upside down on your bedroom floor if you're really paranoid about your roommate coming in and suffocating you with a pillow in the middle of the night.

    Of course, if you want to be really vicious, try a 68000. I've stepped on a 64-pin DIP. (It wasn't a Motorola 68000, it was a TMS9900, just for interests' sake.) That hurt more than stepping on the 486. I think the lesser number of pins causes more of them to pierce the skin.

    Shortly after stepping on the IC, BTW, I decided that while genius is seldom tidy, it simply wasn't worth a repeat of that pain. Only papers and dirty laundry are piled on my floor now.

  • kick me an email and we can talk :). I know its a DEC 3000 that i have, it has TURBOChannel bus arch, a couple 1 - 2 gig hd's (no longer in the case, the hd's, SCSI cable and CD-ROM have been cannibalized by other pc's of mine.). There is no monitor (lightning), but i do have a VT420 to go with it (and a keyed modular cable to connect it to the DEC). The machine is confirmed to work, and before i took the drives had a copy id Digital Unix 3.2b or c. I have the manuals and cd's and the machine is acting as a weight in my trunk atm. Let me know if you're interested.
  • Copenhagen has a similar scheme, and it's been working very well for over 5 years now. There are still bikes, and they're in good condition. THe bikes themselves are very robust, and I belive they have puncture-proof tires. The only drawback is tha the bikes tend to migrate during the day. SO, towards the evening most of th ebokes will be on the outskirts of the city centre, and vice versa in teh mornings.

    --
  • Anyone else getting the SQL errors?
  • http://www.freeboxen.com/dbconnect.inc

    Not terribly fun.
  • I don't know about you, but I've got about 20/30 standard IDE/ESDI cards lying around:-) Anybody interested? I've got the cables to match...
  • check out Computerbank [computerbank.org.au]
  • [note to self: browse the ENTIRE site before posting to Slashdot :)]

    From the Freeboxen FAQ [freeboxen.com]:

    Why just give it away? Can't you sell it on Ebay or something?
    The best reason to give it away is simply goodwill. With the increasing popularity of the free operating system Linux, it just sort of made sense to build a site that lets people get free hardware too. Hopefully at least some of this hardware will go to people who couldn't otherwise afford it.


    Later...
  • > Could I find a sucker for this junk?
    Yes I think you can, just give the stuff to yourself. You found it!

    I think you are missing the point here bro. Why are you so ...? Nevermind.

  • Inspired by the free yellow bicycles of Amsterdam (which you can just pick up on the street corner and ride around)

    Are you a Troll? Those were white bicycles, and they stopped doing that a long time ago(read the 70s). The fact that quite a lot of students in the Netherlands have to steal a bike about once a week to replace the one stolen by another student has absolutely nothing to do with this...

  • SGI (Score:1)

    by Atomizer ( 25193 )
    If anyone is giving away any SGI hardware, just talk to me first. I can take it off your hands, no problem. That goes for Crays as well.
  • "It appears that their system needs work."

    sadly I think you could be right, here is the message I just got from their site:

    Warning: MySQL Connection Failed: Host 'csoft.net' is blocked because of many connection errors. Unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts' in /export/home0/webtrade/www/dbconnect.inc on line 1 Unable to connect to database

    slashdotted?

  • I would be willing to bet it has something to do with the post a few back about the dbconnect.inc file :)

    I bet someone decided to try to learn how the database worked and the admin found out, banned connection from that login and went about his merry way contacting freeboxen.

    Although I must say it is quite funny about the .inc file. Either that or the include file isn't the correct one and someone has been trying to script in with the wrong login and pass

    Yhcrana

  • I've submitted this story on /. several times over the last few months. Rejected every time. Why does this get accepted now?

    Freeboxen is a great idea, if it can get some 'customers.' Hopefully, now, it can get the attention it deserves.
  • He means that there has to be eonough people to want all this old hardware as there are people trying to get rid of the old hardware. Otherwise all you will have is a website with a huge list of old hardware that is going nowhere if there is no one to take it.
  • Well, my friend, many times, has had his USB mouse die on him. You sometimes will fiddle with it and it works again, but sometimes it doesn't. That's why I avoid USB products...for lack of compatibility.

    Definitions:
    XML: Leading the way to make the web a ebiz thing
  • It's called a dumpster.. It's very easy to use and you don't even have to be online. Plus it saves me the time of boxing up and packaging old hardware, taking it to a shipping place, deal with getting shipping payment from the person wanting it. And it saves the person wanting it hasle from their spouse that finds out there is more old hardware crap being shipped to them to add to their closet junk collection. And it saves them the time from turning around and putting another post to get rid of what they just got. And it saves them the time of packaging, shipping......

  • I love this freeboxen thing! I posted my OLD tandy 1000 w/printer/monitor etc...this afternoon...the terms were that the claimee pays shipping...I ALREADY got a claim! This is sweet! i will finally be able to get rid of all these puters in my basement! Thanks...whoever came up with freeboxen...ingenius.


  • I didn't believe my eyes! Hemos [mailto] didn't post something old this time! It was actually news !!!!

    BTW: Did you now that this could aid us in the colonization of Mars?

  • Because a lot of this stuff is probably not worth listing on ebay. The idea of selling someone a piece of equipment that's worth less than its shipping cost is hardly a moneymaker. That old 486 motherboard is worth what? Five bucks maybe - if you find a sucker. I've got a shitload of old AT power supplies, most just need a new fan soldered in (I fucking hate power supply fans).

    This is a potentially really good idea. Something that charities could use to get reasonably cheap (since S&H seems to be the defacto requirement for all offers) equipment.

    Besides, no one is holding a gun to your head. If you don't want to take the time to donate your old crap then don't go to Freeboxen.

  • Be advised: ... "Throwing away" many computer components puts some really bad actors into the environment, so re-deployment is helping the environment as well as helping the recipient. Sorry, no links available to sites with in-depth explanations.
  • Pulblic library terminals and fliers in places that need them. Print out and post.
  • Hi Mr. Crawford. That's a very useful organization you have told us about. I'm from India and as you know we have a lot of people here who have the potential to become good in software development. The biggest problem in my country is easy availability of hardware and software. Reason being the relatively higher cost and larger no of people who can't afford it. Just imagine the benefits of free h/w and s/w available in every city to all these people who can't afford it right now. The global shortage of IT manpower would be history. The free h/w exchange will also be handy towards this end. Can I start a chapter of YNC in India ?
  • Hell yes.

    (no I didn't write any of it, I just agree.)

  • I've got three keyboards in the warddrobe -- you know, if you want one.
  • I too submit stories, and find them posted weeks later by someone else.

    News for Nerds who apparently can't afford to be timely, and Stuff that was interesting about three weeks ago.

    Story selection is broken, and Taco isn't interested in fixing it, while no one else seems able to suggest to him *HOW* to fix it.

    on the upside: even when they post a story late, it usually has some relevance, such as hardware sharing.

    On the downside, stuff that's interesting falls easily into neanderthal "linux good, BSD okay, Mac osX purty, m$== bad by default"

    this method panders to the worst trolls and the best cheerleaders, and insults the community's intelligence.

    I envision a day when we won't have to say, "but I submitted that story three weeks ago! what crack do they smoke over at Andover?!"

    My holy war isn't against Taco, or Hemos (who emailed me to congratulate my on my engagement, of all things)
    My war is against complacency with the state of /.

    I want to see it improve.

    MAYHAPS they need to take advantage of the hardware swap at freeboxen... nothin gets the juices flowin like vintage hardware (now where did I hide that PDP-11.....)

    A host is a host from coast to coast, but no one uses a host that's close
  • That 486 can fit in a PC or AT box. Combined with some other stuff, you junk can make someone a decent computer. Load it with Debian and you have a good terminal. Please do post your junk, some graduate student with nothing to his name can use it.
  • Charities simply promote the survival and reproduction of those who are most unfit to engage in these activities.

    <cynic>
    Societal constructs threw Darwinism out the window a long time ago. Make up some bell curve plotting some positive human attribute (intelligence being just one, but the most obvious), and then plot it terrain-style over time, and see what happens. The whole thing has flattened and shifted toward the shallow end. Wait long enough, and the negative end will become vertically asymptotic.
    </cynic>

    That said, there are lotsa people who are capable of social survival-of-the-fittest wjp just get screwed (severely) by circumstance. Many of them don't need any kind of hand up, but quite a few still appreciate it, and give back in kind should things work out for them.

  • It seems as though they could associate with freeboxen and benefit greatly from it; that way end users can build their own, YNC has a source of hardware as well, and I have a single location I can ship all my defunct hardware to. Cool!
  • The only differences is that you have to pay for the goods. It's called the State Fair Computer Sale. Great place to find amazing deals like books on Netscape 2.0, and DOS 5.0.
  • How about a Cray? Shipped in a UPS truck, in a huge box with address... Or maybe even a Pentium with Windows on it! That would be worth a lot...err...maybe not.

    Definitions:
    XML: Leading the way to make the web a ebiz thing
  • So now, thanks to this story on /., freeboxen is going to be inundated with hard-core geeks looking for boxes, and no new clueless newbies to donate new boxes. The website might not be /.ed, but...
  • I went looking for a free 14" or 15" VGA monitor recently via a local .forsale newsgroup. (I've received, and given away, such monitors before, so it didn't seem too unlikely. And, as it turned out, I did get a free monitor again.)

    Anyway, my post "earned" a flame from some dork who couldn't argue logically. That led to a heated exchange... Well, he was heated (apparently, else why would he indulge in name calling and other childishness rather than presenting a valid argument?), I was rather amused. His main premise was that I was completely unreasonable expecting anybody to give hardware away for free. (As if people don't give other things away for free...)

    I'll have to post a link to freeboxen in that newsgroup as a final (for me) follow-up to that thread... {smirk}

  • No one reads the instructions, or descriptions. It's just gimme-gimme-gimme! When I wrote "No mailing, pickup only" I got "Can you post it to Poland?". When I wrote "not working" I got "It works, right?".

    What we need are local "scrap yards" that keep parts from obsolete PCs so people can keep them running. You can't distribute or peer-to-peer this service.

  • Alas, it's true. But something keeps me awake at night smiling... oh that's right.
  • Please see the YNC's [ync.org] contact's page [ync.org] for the information you request, also their volunters page [ync.org] and their mailing list info [ync.org].

    Note that while I'm on their mailing list and I'm pleased to have donated hardware to the YNC, I don't run it. I'll try to start a chapter myself once I get settled but at the present time my life is in too much flux.

  • No, not a troll but inaccurate information quoted from memory.

    While I think the inspiration does go back to the white bikes of Amsterdam, the YNC FAQ [ync.org] says they're actually inspired by the Yellow Bike Coalition [yellowbikes.org], which apparently did originally leave yellow bikes on the street, but now lends them for long term use.

    Apparently the expectation that anyone could take a yellow bike often meant that someone who'd ridden to a friend's house or business would have their bike borrowed away from them when the left the bike unlocked to go inside.

  • 1) get yer' old hardware crap. 2) put it on someone's door step. 3) Ring the door bell 4) run. nuff' said.
  • I had a 286 like that with a bad battery. Nothing stuck, but I just ignored the error and ran it anyway. It was a little faster than my XT, and was a handy backup machine for my nice little 486. It would run AutoCAD 10 and plot just fine. I found it in the trash in 1996. In 1997 I droped in a Cyrix Media GX and the box then worked better than the 486. Money helps like nothing else can.

    A start up routine that does not start without some magic software really sucks.

    Post all the rest of that junk anyway. Someone out there might be able to use one of those old hard disks or the modems. All of these things were useful once and still can be to people who are short on money but long on imagination and time.

  • I recently was watching a television travel show in which the host rode one of these bicycles. The show couldn't have been five years old.

    Mostly he was trying to get the bicycle up a hill that had an embed escalator track for your foot, and the rider would be easily pushed to the summit.

    Then I watched some pr0n.

  • survival-of-the-fittest wjp just

    Dammit - I even hit "preview" first, and thought I caught everything. Needless to say, that should read "who", but my right hand was shifted one key over.:)

  • Just one question. Why is the ST under 8 bit hardware?
  • Can you imagine... receiving a Beowulf cluster off Freeboxen? Sweet! Sign me up!

  • some people will take old stuff... (Score:3)

    by mlas ( 165698 ) on Thursday October 12, 2000 @02:18AM (#712982) Homepage
    I've seen a few posts with the tone of "yeah, I've got an old 486 you can have, hyuk, hyuk". But in fact there are many applications for these old computers. Not everyone requires the bleeding edge of technology; many non-profit organizations would be perfectly happy with a few dependable machines that run a word processor, a spreadsheet and print. And don't forget the rest of the world-- there are many many countries with little or no digital infrastructure that are scrambling for whatever computing power they can get.

    Freeboxen is a way cool site that fills a needed trading niche, but there are other organizations that actively seek donations of old equipment, "de-obsolete" it by gutting it of counter-productive proprietary and weird components, and find organizations that can make use of it. See:

    The Detwiler Foundation's Computers for Schools program [computersforschools.com]

    A neat Wired article about the people who do the gutting and filleting of the old stuff [wired.com]

    I'm sure there are more-- please post what you know! You might want to consider volunteering with one of these groups, too; users aren't likely to get the most out of an old machine without some guidance or help. But they can learn, and you might feel better about yourself for having helped to lessen the digital divide a bit for a person or two who could really use a machine, any machine.

    Granted, not all old equipment is useful. But much of it is far more useful than some of us gearheads might think. Better in the hands of someone who might actually use it than taking up space in a landfill.

    It's the Network Economy, after all, and for some, just being able to participate means a hell of a lot more than having a machine with mHz instead of gHz. As Harry Tuttle said in Brazil, "Hey, we're all in this together".

  • Reminds me of a store room at work a good number of years ago. Absolutly full of hardware that was obsolete even then, kept just in case it ever came in handy. 4Mbit Token ring cards (we didn't even use Token Ring!), 10MB Bernoulli drives and disks, a graphics co-processor card with neither documentation or software, EMS expansion boards, weird bus mice and other odd things. No-onw knew if any of this stuff worked. Eventually it was thrown away, with the odd bit salvaged. The EMS board came in handy for playing Wing Commander II on my 286 - got to see more graphics!

  • Give your old systems (complete, and working) to a local school which needs it. Most schools, both public and private, lack funds to provide sufficient computer technology for kids. Even an old 486 with a decent modem would be enough for a school library to help kids get information off the WWW, or a box with a CD-ROM that can run "Reader Rabbit" or simple math games.

    Best of all, if the school gives you a letter stating that they've accepted your gift and what the value of the hardware is, then your donation becomes tax-deductible. Win-win all around.

  • I just claimed a k6-2 all it needs is a bit more memory and it will be perfect for my Samba server at home. Also there is a very big SGI box if you can afford to pick it up. Some very cool stuff really.

  • UK? (Score:1)

    by kenydl ( 145388 )
    Is there anything like this but UK based. I'd love an old 486 or better for firewall/server duty (linux of course)
  • Yeah, the last time I threw an old hard disk out...we got Adam Sandler. Before that, the old S3 Virge that started acting up got us that kid in the Pepsi commercials. I think my dad threw out an old phone-test set around '75...and that got us Mark Hamill!!

    Oh wait.....
  • Of course... America doesn't have the label "most wasteful nation" for nothing...

    (FAO over-zealous American patriotic moderators: this is semi-humourous ;-) )

  • YHBT
    HAND
  • Wisdom: Toasted 486 cpu's (from overclocking just a bit too much!)
    Rye or Whole Wheat?
    Monochrome monitors with patterns long burnt into 'em
    Modern day oracle bones!
    old copies of DOS or Windoze 3.1/95/95SE
    That must be worth 100 Rubles each!



    Definitions:
    XML: Leading the way to make the web a ebiz thing
  • does anyone have any contact info for the guy who runs freeboxen.com? I've tried emailing the two addresses on the contact page (jlincoln and spamdrop@mindspring.com) and webmaster@freeboxen.com, but they all bounced. can anyone tell me how to get hold of mr lincoln?

    --
  • If it works on Windoze 2.0 I'll take it...I doubt it. After all, Microsoft likes to be incompatible with itself! Try Sidewinders and DOS! Oh wait! Try USB IntelliMice with Windoze 98!

    Definitions:
    XML: Leading the way to make the web a ebiz thing
  • It appears that their system needs work.

    I just claimed probably that same k6-2, as well as the SGI, but they both still show as available.

    -
  • Yes, I know, I was just trying to make a joke ... doesn't seem to have worked ... :-(

  • Great Idea! (Score:5)

    by FreeJack1 ( 203705 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @10:41PM (#712996)
    Wow! This is a great idea! I can imagine some of the more popular items available:
    Modems (2400 to 56K)
    486 motherboards
    Toasted 486 cpu's (from overclocking just a bit too much!)
    Monochrome monitors with patterns long burnt into 'em
    even 14 or 15" color monitors
    Buttloads of old network cards
    network cable with just a few too many kinks...
    keyboards with sticky keys (but no one knows why...)
    Mice with encoders that skip every other count
    old copies of DOS or Windoze 3.1/95/95SE.
    and the list goes on.
    Feels like a walk through a computer museum! But it's really cool, 'cause somewhere out there is someone who really wants or needs this stuff!


    --

    Vote Homer Simpson for President!

  • The GNUtella version (Score:3)

    by javaDragon ( 187973 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @10:45PM (#712997) Homepage
    a Gnutellized hardware sharing network : you put the client on your box (must support TCP/IP, so sorry, no ZX81 online), and it will talk to all other to-be-shared boxen. If someone wants it, he will have to locate you through your IP address, thus proving the lack of privacy of Gnutella-style networks, and then come to your place to pick it up.

    Now for the fun : if you really do want to get rid of that box, install a Gnutella servant with Metallica mp3s on it, and simply wait for the lawyers to come to seize it. This way we can convert RIAA and MPAA lawyers into trash pickers, which will make them do some valuable work for public interest.

  • Re:That's awesome! (Score:3)

    by _vapor ( 55645 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @11:04PM (#713001) Homepage
    Does anyone know if it's ok to donate old software, or does this violate alla them EULA's?

    Well, probably, but if you can put the software on a disk, you could just say your giving away disks -- since they're technically hardware. I mean, anyone can make an honest mistake and forget that they still had some software on those disks, right? :-P

  • MIT Flea Market (Score:4)

    by DeadSea ( 69598 ) on Thursday October 12, 2000 @02:46AM (#713005) Homepage Journal
    If you are in the Boston area, don't forget that this Saturday is the last MIT Flea Market [mit.edu] of the year.

    If you haven't been to one, you are missing out. You can get great deals on computer and electronics junk. Last time I was there I bought all the cables I needed at the time and a really nice case for my laptop and spent less than $30 total. Some people like to hang around towards the end of the day when vendors reduce their prices or give stuff away to get rid of it.

    I wil be there manning the booth for my company. We have a ton of old equipment to get rid of. If you see a stack of 150 mac classics, stop by and say 'hi'!

  • Yes, they were white bicycles, the project was first started in 1968. It lasted less than a month.

    One of the student leaders is now a city councilman, and has just released a new version of the white bicycle. Very high tech, you can check out a bicycle from any of dozens of kiosks, ride it to another kiosk, and turn it back in. Its something like 1 guilder for 30 minutes. If you don't return it within an hour, then they put it on the stolen list, and then there is some kind of little transmitter built into the frame to help locate it.

    I'll be up there next week, so maybe I'll see them.

    the AC
  • Anyone want to take bets on how long it'll take Freeboxen to get cease-and-desisted because someone (or several people) start offering modified hardware (or illegally copied software) that violates EULA agreements, TOS's, etc?

    I'm thinking specifically of the jokers at Digital Convergence swooping down on Freeboxen once someone posts a "Hey, I've got a modified CueCat -- free for anyone blah blah blah..."

    You watch. I think Freeboxen is a *great* idea -- I'm going to list my old Mac stuff -- but, yeah, I'm sure someone is gonna attempt to sue them for listing software that isn't actually "owned" by the person listed or whatever.

  • I have lots of old hardwares, various macs which once ran netbsd, couple of sun 3/80s, low end sparc ipxs, sparc ipcs, low end p60mhz machines, some 486's, hp's and so on. they are in my basement gathering dust, i will like to give some of them out, but what if after giving out a hardware, you look on ebay and see the guy selling it? people are greedy and are more likely to do this, if i put an ad up, i think i will require that the person be a true geek, thus maybe i will shoot some unix/coding questions to them, if they are clueless, they go home empty handed.

  • Chicken and Egg Problem? (Score:4)

    by ghoti ( 60903 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @11:12PM (#713020) Homepage
    Okay, they have a website where you can get free hardware if you don't have some. But without a computer, how do you access their website? How do you send an email to the guy offering it? Maybe we need another website to ... uh, wait ...
  • >keyboards with sticky keys (but no one knows >why...) Eww! EWWWW!! thats Gross! *shudder* Flumps -=-=-= Most people do. They just do, alright?!
    ~matt~
    0
    o
    .
    ><>
  • Why do you need to transfer physical hardware at all? Just stick some kind of Unix on the machine and give away remote logins to people who ask for it. They can have all the fun of using an old machine, without the hassle of having to go and collect it!
  • "Boxen" is a derivative of "Vaxen"

    http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/b.html#boxe n

    Maybe you should SYFM and STFW.

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