how much crud do you have lying around the house?
Discussion
Just watched an episode of 'tech hoarders' with Linus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiLlNzxDfAg (the vault segment is around 7mins in)
For me, I have a big box of cables, all my hardrives from past machines and an some unused networking gear - that's about it.
With electronic recycling schemes widely available it's become easier for to dispose of unwanted electronics but I have a hard time getting rid of cables. There's always the thought that one day I will need that exact cable
All that said, tech hoarders like the one in Linus Tech Tips video deserve some praise for holding onto legacy tech - as a glimpse into the past.
What about you, what kind of old tech junk do you still have?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiLlNzxDfAg (the vault segment is around 7mins in)
For me, I have a big box of cables, all my hardrives from past machines and an some unused networking gear - that's about it.
With electronic recycling schemes widely available it's become easier for to dispose of unwanted electronics but I have a hard time getting rid of cables. There's always the thought that one day I will need that exact cable
All that said, tech hoarders like the one in Linus Tech Tips video deserve some praise for holding onto legacy tech - as a glimpse into the past.
What about you, what kind of old tech junk do you still have?
Edited by JaredVannett on Tuesday 5th November 23:42
I have way too much stuff and am properly bordering on being a hoarder. I've been 'into' computers and technology for a very long time and find it very hard to throw things away. I live for the day when someone knocks on the door and needs an RS232 cable as its life or death ...
Looking around, there are Zip drives, parallel and centronics cables, old hard drives, motherboard screws, gender bender dongles for serial cables etc...
Looking around, there are Zip drives, parallel and centronics cables, old hard drives, motherboard screws, gender bender dongles for serial cables etc...
I've got some Sun servers in the loft that must be getting on for 15 years old.
Got a few tower PCs up there too, as well as umpteen network switches and hubs.
have no idea WHY I've still got them.. at the time there was an aspect of "that'll be useful" but in reality the only thing that comes out of the loft once it's gone up there is the Xmas tree
Got a few tower PCs up there too, as well as umpteen network switches and hubs.
have no idea WHY I've still got them.. at the time there was an aspect of "that'll be useful" but in reality the only thing that comes out of the loft once it's gone up there is the Xmas tree
I recently became single...
Since then, I have about 6 desktops of various ages scattered about, my Thinkpad Collection and the bookcase now has 2 shelves taken over by random PC stuff which I must tidy
However that's small compared to my vacuum cleaner collection and stuff that would make that tech hoard seem tame...
Since then, I have about 6 desktops of various ages scattered about, my Thinkpad Collection and the bookcase now has 2 shelves taken over by random PC stuff which I must tidy
However that's small compared to my vacuum cleaner collection and stuff that would make that tech hoard seem tame...
Had a clear out not so long ago, most the tech junk is hifi kit, vcrs that haven't seen electric in over 10 years, old cellphones in draws..
For me being a tradesman the hoarding is more diy based, tools not used in 20 years (some unused), stuff bought for projects e.g. Wet tile cutter as buying a cheapo makes more sense than renting but it might never get used again, bits of tucking wood that "I'll find a use for one day".
For me being a tradesman the hoarding is more diy based, tools not used in 20 years (some unused), stuff bought for projects e.g. Wet tile cutter as buying a cheapo makes more sense than renting but it might never get used again, bits of tucking wood that "I'll find a use for one day".
Teddy Lop said:
Had a clear out not so long ago, most the tech junk is hifi kit, vcrs that haven't seen electric in over 10 years, old cellphones in draws..
For me being a tradesman the hoarding is more diy based, tools not used in 20 years (some unused), stuff bought for projects e.g. Wet tile cutter as buying a cheapo makes more sense than renting but it might never get used again, bits of tucking wood that "I'll find a use for one day".
You've reminded me that I have all my Dad's tools, some of which were his father's, in three fitted out tool boxes at the back of a garage where they've been, untouched, since 2012. He never threw anything away so I also inherited dozens of boxes, tins and jars of every screw, nail, tack and fitting imaginable - for some reason he had hundreds of curtain hooks and runners, over a dozen rolls of insulating tape, rawlplugs of every size and colour ever made.For me being a tradesman the hoarding is more diy based, tools not used in 20 years (some unused), stuff bought for projects e.g. Wet tile cutter as buying a cheapo makes more sense than renting but it might never get used again, bits of tucking wood that "I'll find a use for one day".
he never found a use for it all and I doubt that I will but it seems a shame just to dump it.
Whenever I've upgraded my PC I've always kept the old stuff thinking I'll build a second machine as a media server or something...never happens. Recently started from scratch with a complete new build PC, the old one must be at least 7 or 8 years old, so for the last year I've had 2 fully working PCs, though to be fair in separate houses (well this is PH after all!), as well as the motherboard/processor/graphics card/etc still sitting around from the previous iteration,
Other than that I think I've just got one 1 box of cables and stuff (including a KVM which is probably VGA) sat in the loft, bus some of that is useful like spare HDMI and SATA cables
Moving to one house soon so a lot of it needs to be thrown, I'll keep the monitor and drives from the old PC but scrap the rest. The Pi, NAS, PS3 and 2 laptops will move with us, but we've got at least another 2 laptops to get rid of, and the Mrs is thinking about getting rid of the Wii.
Other than that I think I've just got one 1 box of cables and stuff (including a KVM which is probably VGA) sat in the loft, bus some of that is useful like spare HDMI and SATA cables
Moving to one house soon so a lot of it needs to be thrown, I'll keep the monitor and drives from the old PC but scrap the rest. The Pi, NAS, PS3 and 2 laptops will move with us, but we've got at least another 2 laptops to get rid of, and the Mrs is thinking about getting rid of the Wii.
feef said:
....that must be getting on for 15 years old.
Pfft - amatuer! I still use an old laptop I bough back in 2001 (Dell Inspiron 4100 with Pentium III processor) running Win XP! I've even fitted an SSD (20Gb PATA) to try and make it a bit quicker.I still have (but not powered on for some time) my first PC - Wearnes 386DX40 with 105Mb HDD (yup, that's not a typo!) from 1991-2 vintage, and I also have a box of many MANY cables, RS232, 9 pin DIN, BNC network cards etc etc etc... Do I need help?
So pleased to hear I am not alone.
In addition to almost everything above (combined), I just can't seem to get rid of monitors .... if they were still working when replaced.
I have 2x15", 1x17", 1x19" in my home office in cupboards ... all Samsung.
In the spare room there are 2x27" QHD monitors with heavy duty stands ... both "work", but have some small issues. DGA or something, bought from Overclockers years ago.
In the loft there is a 23" and 27" LG monitor.
I've got a couple of old laser printers in the garage too ... no, I have no idea why either !!!
In addition to almost everything above (combined), I just can't seem to get rid of monitors .... if they were still working when replaced.
I have 2x15", 1x17", 1x19" in my home office in cupboards ... all Samsung.
In the spare room there are 2x27" QHD monitors with heavy duty stands ... both "work", but have some small issues. DGA or something, bought from Overclockers years ago.
In the loft there is a 23" and 27" LG monitor.
I've got a couple of old laser printers in the garage too ... no, I have no idea why either !!!
I'm generally quite a hoarder, but I've never had that much IT stuff at home as I worked in IT and preferred to keep it all there. I did have loads of old stuff at the office, but the business was taken over and I was made redundant as I was reluctant to relocate hundreds of miles, so it was someone else who got the job of disposing of it.
I've still got my old XP machine because that has some DVD-editing software on it and I couldn't find the installation files to see if it would work on my "new" Windows 7 machine. Oh, and a Pentium of some sort with some ISA slots that might come in handy for something. And lots of IDE and SATA drives. Oh, and loads of old PDAs because I used to write software on them and needed to test on different devices.
I've still got my old XP machine because that has some DVD-editing software on it and I couldn't find the installation files to see if it would work on my "new" Windows 7 machine. Oh, and a Pentium of some sort with some ISA slots that might come in handy for something. And lots of IDE and SATA drives. Oh, and loads of old PDAs because I used to write software on them and needed to test on different devices.
Edited by droopsnoot on Wednesday 6th November 11:03
The problem is with a lot of tech is that it is perfectly usable, but if you want to replace it for something 'better', then it generally is value very low on ebay, so what's the point of letting someone else pay pennies for it.
I moved house earlier this year, so was pretty brutal in sending a lot of stuff to electronics recycling. Some stuff would have originally cost its first owner over 6 figures in hardware and software licenses, but was probably worth less than zero thesedays.
I still have my collection of thinkpads, a few boxes of cables, etc. As a lot of people above, I have a small collection of good monitors up the loft too, and a couple of vintage PCs such as my childhood Amstrad 464+ and BBC Micro.
[i]Trying[/] to practice a bit of minimalism in my home office, as it does genuinely make me feel better and more productive. Trying is the key word though.
I moved house earlier this year, so was pretty brutal in sending a lot of stuff to electronics recycling. Some stuff would have originally cost its first owner over 6 figures in hardware and software licenses, but was probably worth less than zero thesedays.
I still have my collection of thinkpads, a few boxes of cables, etc. As a lot of people above, I have a small collection of good monitors up the loft too, and a couple of vintage PCs such as my childhood Amstrad 464+ and BBC Micro.
[i]Trying[/] to practice a bit of minimalism in my home office, as it does genuinely make me feel better and more productive. Trying is the key word though.
boxst said:
I'm going to move house in the next few weeks and it'll be a good time to cleanse. I have a Sun Server and I just noticed one of these:
That Compaq was my company-provided portable in the 80s. I used to lug it on and off the tube - I grew to despise the hateful lump of metal.- nice trip down memory lane, though.
devnull said:
The problem is with a lot of tech is that it is perfectly usable, but if you want to replace it for something 'better', then it generally is value very low on ebay, so what's the point of letting someone else pay pennies for it.
I tend to buy recent stuff second hand and if I do want to upgrade it I make sure to get rid while it's still relatively contemporary. If you do that you're not chucking as much money away and you get to indulge your desire for the latest and greatest.
I tend to apply the rule of thumb that if i havent used it for 3+ months then i can probably dispose of it.
I tend to do a round up maybe twice a year and sell via Facebook, gumtree, CEX, or similar.
I tend to have several laptops - one good one that i buy new (usually an ultrabook format), but the others are second hand with an SSD conversion. Come to think of it - i've the ultrabook, a second hand laptop, and a new work provided laptop.
My desktop PC is 7 years old - for the purposes of working from home its fine - 8Gb RAM and an SSD. It powers my webcam for videoconferences and twin 27 inch Acer monitors.
XBox One X on a 55 inch 4K TV setup here in the study too, but TBH it could fall foul of the "not used for 3+ months" rule very soon.
I tend to do a round up maybe twice a year and sell via Facebook, gumtree, CEX, or similar.
I tend to have several laptops - one good one that i buy new (usually an ultrabook format), but the others are second hand with an SSD conversion. Come to think of it - i've the ultrabook, a second hand laptop, and a new work provided laptop.
My desktop PC is 7 years old - for the purposes of working from home its fine - 8Gb RAM and an SSD. It powers my webcam for videoconferences and twin 27 inch Acer monitors.
XBox One X on a 55 inch 4K TV setup here in the study too, but TBH it could fall foul of the "not used for 3+ months" rule very soon.
bloomen said:
devnull said:
The problem is with a lot of tech is that it is perfectly usable, but if you want to replace it for something 'better', then it generally is value very low on ebay, so what's the point of letting someone else pay pennies for it.
I tend to buy recent stuff second hand and if I do want to upgrade it I make sure to get rid while it's still relatively contemporary. If you do that you're not chucking as much money away and you get to indulge your desire for the latest and greatest.
I think thats a good approach and probably something i do too - if its not being used get rid of it before it becomes practically worthless.
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