Where do I find old computers?

[gymophett]

I'm just looking for an ancient computer. I don't live in a large place by any means so there are hardly an resources. I'm very impatient, so I kinda want it first thing tomorrow. Even though, I may have to just bite the bullet and stop being so.. whatever.
Anyway.. I have no clue where the first place to look would be. I've looked in the classifieds and checked the local computer shop, but they don't have any. I only looked at the classifieds online, maybe I should try the newspaper. But where can I look?

[jrusso2]

Check craiglist, goodwill, salvation army, trash pickup days.

[gymophett]

Check craiglist, goodwill, salvation army, trash pickup days.

I think I may just go dumpster hunting tomorrow.

[lisati]

Second hand shops might be a place to check out. One place situated near my local rubbish dump comes to mind, they specialize in taking in stuff that would normally be trashed, selling what they can, and providing jobs for some of the locals who might otherwise find it tough finding jobs. It has been a few years since I've been up there, but the last time they had some computer bits and pieces.

[lykwydchykyn]

Government surplus auctions. I work for a local government here, we have auctions 3-4 times a year and we're always putting old computers out there.

Of course, they do sometimes get sold by the pallet...

[gymophett]

Hmm. Nothing in the classifieds. I don't know if I'm even willing to leave town for one of these. And my town is tiny, no goodwill, not even a wal-mart.
The nearest town with a goodwill and stuff is only about 25 minutes from here though.

[pookiebear]

freecycle.org

most towns have their own subgroup. You get emails with stuff available, and can post a wanted ad. Make sure you follow the rules. I got a p4 computer the other day from there.

[MaxIBoy]

I got one for free by offering to recover files from it. (Windows 95, so virus ridden Explorer.exe wouldn't run. I used a Puppylinux CD.)

[jflaker]

College or school campus IT departments
Your employer
Companies in town
FreeCycle.org (post a "wanted")

companies and schools likely have a small cache of non-working systems. They usually have to pay to get rid of them and hang on to them in storage. Inquire with them and if they have systems that are old or "not working"....A LiveCD will tell you if the original OS is just borked or if there is a problem.....If it boots, it is likely a good system.

[Twitch6000]

Check craiglist, goodwill, salvation army, trash pickup days.

+1 to this. I found a nice laptop with specs good enough to run xp.

So I fixed it up and sold it for a quick 50 .