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View Full Version : Anyone love the old beige boxen?



hrsetrdr
December 17th, 2020, 06:48 PM
I've got numerous beige boxen from the early 2000s that I can't bear to simply send to e-waste. They're old, but all are functional, and have Linux installed within the last 2 years. I'm old too, and would like to find a good home for them. Free of course, help with shipping would be appreciated.

TheFu
December 17th, 2020, 08:25 PM
Nobody wants a case without a computer inside. Spend $100 and put a Core i3 (equiv) inside with a little RAM and sell them on ebay or to a local charity/religious organization.

I have a number of old motherboards+CPUs+RAM that aren't worth $25 and the hassle of shipping is another $25 so they will end up in ewaste soon. Nobody wants a Core i5-750 or Core2 Duo 6600 or AMD E-350 APU anymore. Probably have a K6-200 around, since that had SCSI, 3.5 floppy and 5.25 floppy ports. Further, I'd feel bad trying to sell those, but they'd make a fine Linux computer for a kid.

But I'm not parting with my beige cases, so any of those would be without a case, no PSU, no HDD, no GPU, no monitor, no keyboard, no OS. About 18 months ago, I sold a Core i7-920 for $30 with a Quadro GPU. That was a complete setup in the case and working. Sold it to a guy who had a laptop and wanted a "server" at home. Seemed like a win-win.

hrsetrdr
December 17th, 2020, 09:15 PM
These are all complete and original hardware, which is the main appeal for nostalgia buffs. Not shown is an old Sun Microsystems Ultra 10 3D Creator that I ended up gutting, and fitting with an AM3 micro-atx board. I'm keeping that one ;)

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1fallen
December 17th, 2020, 09:26 PM
The IBM desktop shown, is a trip down memory lane. I used it as a satellite emulator, way way back in history.
In fact if has higher than a P2 cpu yours is more powerful than mine was. :)

TheFu
December 17th, 2020, 09:42 PM
I have a SPARC IPX in the closet. Think it has a 1GB SCSI HDD. I should "convince" a microITX into that case. Have to love true Unix workstations for the assorted funky plugs on the back that only the vendor sold cables to work with.

1fallen
December 17th, 2020, 09:48 PM
Love it. :) Good God so many fun memories.
Check this then: https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/restoring-a-sun-sparcstation-ipx-part-1-psu-and-nvram

hrsetrdr
December 17th, 2020, 09:54 PM
The IBM desktop shown, is a trip down memory lane. I used it as a satellite emulator, way way back in history.
In fact if has higher than a P2 cpu yours is more powerful than mine was. :)

This machine had a 333MHZ UltraSparc IIi processor(see thumbnail screeny).

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hrsetrdr
December 17th, 2020, 10:02 PM
I have a SPARC IPX in the closet. Think it has a 1GB SCSI HDD. I should "convince" a microITX into that case. Have to love true Unix workstations for the assorted funky plugs on the back that only the vendor sold cables to work with.

I did love the Unix machines as well. I loved the keyboard that came with this Sparc, I think it was a Type 6. Of course it wouldn't plug into a PC, someone on the planet somewhere came up with theoretical plans for an adapter. Not sure if anyone ever successfully built one.

I tried to sell it /give away for years...finally let it go to e-waste(gasp); I was almost in tears. I think that was the last true vintage hardware I e-wasted, swore never again!

1fallen
December 17th, 2020, 10:04 PM
This machine had a 333MHZ UltraSparc IIi processor(see thumbnail screeny).

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Yep that's the one. Good to see the good ole stuff in running condition from time to time.
Thanks for the share.

TheFu
December 17th, 2020, 10:14 PM
Yep that's the one. Good to see the good ole stuff in running condition from time to time.
Thanks for the share.

There's a used Unix systems place about 2 miles from my house. Basically, check their website for what they have. Nothing like when Enron went under - for $2K you could get a pallot of SPARCs. They had a few E10Ks ... $2K, alas, I didn't have the correct power in the garage they needed. At the time, where I worked we had (2) 1yr old 64-CPU E10Ks supporting 6K employees with 4 domains each. All I really wanted was a E450 or a nice P5 (jumping forward a few years). My projects at work were mainly HP-UX hardware - hundreds of PA-RISC servers - much too expensive and too many CPUs. The Oracle licenses were way too expensive, but try to get a client to believe that an 8-CPU new server was faster than a 5 yr old 32-CPU server and that the Oracle license savings would pay for the new servers in 14 months. When I left, they were still discussing it 2 yrs later. Non-technical people equate more CPUs with ... er ... better. Yeah, that's the word.

My KVM VM server here (in a beige box) is faster than a Cray YM-P from the early 1990s, has more RAM, more storage, and only a little cheaper. ;)

1fallen
December 17th, 2020, 10:46 PM
When I left, they were still discussing it 2 yrs later. Non-technical people equate more CPUs with ... er ... better. Yeah, that's the word.


I know that feeling, and how do you reply to that, seriously.....?:lolflag:

exploder
December 18th, 2020, 09:17 AM
My 80 year old mother wants an old beige box. She has a tote full of games she used to play on Windows 98. I see a lot of people using old computers as retro gaming machines these days.

hrsetrdr
December 19th, 2020, 01:37 AM
This little jewel actually may be useful still, it has a dual core Pentium D and Windows Media addition. Of course you wouldn't want to take it on the internet, but it could function as a HTPC.
The unique part of this machine is that it has had almost no usage. A friend gave it to me, belonged to her husband. It was in the original packaging, the PC had only been turned on briefly, the IE browser had never been opened, no personal files in the file system. Since I've had it I put it in dual boot with Debian, wishing to keep the original windows install as a...an "interesting" legacy feature.

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