9 IIci's and an LC that were left outside in the rain.

[tmtomh]

at the time that the Macs were put in a field, they had zero value to the owner.

At the time those Macs were put in a field, they had intrinsic value as machines capable of doing everything they did twenty years ago. The owner is the Texas City ISD and the people of Texas City, and there is a much better use for older computers than the acceptance of a few dollars from a recycler. Why should they not transfer the depreciated equipment and software licenses to the families and children receiving other forms of public assistance in an effort to support the overall educational mission?

Those tax funds were allocated to enhance the educational opportunities offered to the children of Texas City. In spite of the depreciation their capabilities from an educational perspective are intact. I consider this cycle of investment and disposal a colossal waste. Even an Apple IIe has some practical value with a few decent programs, with the potential to help a kid something as simple as phonics or multiplication tables.

This waste is the reason I run a non-profit organization, rounding up the 1995 - 1997 wave of outgoing IT expenditure and channeling it into the lower income communities here in Houston.

Travis, I think you make some excellent points, here. These are indeed public property in this case, and they could still be very useful for at-home use for low-income folks (especially for young kids doing math practice and such, as you say).

The problem, I think, is the cost of distribution, setup, and support. To set up an office and/or use staff time to figure out who's eligible, to do all the communication and outreach, to bring the computers to homes and make sure they're up and running, to install the relevant software, and to do even minimal tech support - that would be a major expense. If the town or school district were able to raise or allocate enough money for all that, then they would probably wish to do so for computers that were a bit more current - i.e. capable of going on the internet. If you were talking about, say, 200 computers, they could probably bulk-purchase a bunch of internet capable Linux machines for less than $80,000 - still a lot of money, but in another sense probably far less than the combined other costs of such a program (staff, transportation, etc.).

Now, it would be great if they could instead donate the computers to nonprofits like yours - which are already set up to weed out the busted units, refurbish the good ones, and deliver them one by one to needy homes.

M

 

[Unknown_K]

Giving the less fortunate anything older then 7 years old is a waste of time. Those machines are too slow, have low ram, and have an obsolete OS that the apps they can get their hands on will not run well. Plus the odds of a major component blowing up are high and they cannot afford the local computer repair prices to fix.

Anything 10 year old or older are just for hobbyists and collectors.

 

[Scott Baret]

Books tend to not get obsolete (except for some bleeding edge scientific ones but those are no schools books).

Don't forget geography books (and for that matter any history book which may have a modern map somewhere). We were still using books with the USSR on a "present-day" map as late as 2000 in our school. (The book, however, was medieval history so the content inside of it worked fine).

There are other reasons schools may adopt new textbooks. New mathematics books include technology exercises for newer equipment--even if the older books usually do offer more practice problems and sometimes explain things a bit better (I was always a fan of the Mary Dolciani math books, even if they couldn't be used with a TI graphing calculator). There are also plenty of books nowadays that are better suited to NCLB standards than their predecessors. Several even include test-prep exercises within the books (I am currently tutoring a student from a mathematics book which not only includes said exercises but is also a "Pennsylvania edition").

Schools will often donate textbooks to less fortunate districts/schools. We did this with a set of social studies books in 1997 and again with hundreds of secondary math books in 2005. However, if one book gets left out and you ask a teacher about it, they just might give it to you. I have a Prentice-Hall geometry text (from 1998) because this situation came up--much like it does when we get surplus computers.

 

[Danamania]

Only one IIci motherboard looked decent enough to even consider testing. The others had corroded batteries and/or significant rust.

I would have tried cleaning those boards - just because they "look" bad doesn't mean they won't work. So cleaning them thoroughly and removing the rust with vinegar will not hurt. Corroded batteries can be replaced.

What wackymacs said. My first IIcx came to me via post from an eBay seller even further into rural NSW than I was at the time. It was filled with silt, had been through a flood, even leaves had come through the missing nubus slot covers and settled on the logic board. Mice had set up a nest underneath the power supply and filled the box with their droppings and corrosive pee.

A long clean later, it booted right up .

Dana

 

[Mike Richardson]

Battery acid blew all over the inside of the cases which were brittle to begin with. The cases sat outside so long the colors of the Apple emblems were almost faded off. Most of the motherboards have so much battery acid on them that the entire battery cage has rotted off of the motherboard. The acid eats off the traces screwing up all the connections. These are not resale or even reuse quality. I keep anything even half decent, I have a stack of about 10 good IIci's (that just need new caps), but these ones were just past their time.

However, I'll gladly ship a board to anyone who is interested for the cost of materials and postage. I'll try to choose one of the better ones that still has a battery cage. They are crawling, however, with tiny little bugs that settled on them whilst outside.

Did you salvage any of the plastic reset/interrupt button extender things? I could use one of those.

Yes, we got a good lot of these, at least 6, how about $2 each + shipping. Send me a PM.

I also have about 15 of the NuBus slot covers. $1.50 each + shipping

I also have IIci lids that survived. Not too bad condition, light yellowing, $3 each + shipping.

The PSU's are all drying out right now. We need to take them apart to check for any plant or bug life and we'll start firing them up.

 

[Mike Richardson]

The school was always glad to give away their old stuff to someone who would appreciate it.

Lucky.

When my elementary school was getting rid of their Macs (LC575s, 5400s, 9500s) back in 2004 for some crappy PC's that were even slower than the Macs, I asked about buying one (I was even willing to pay), and they said "We have a deal with a recycler."

Heaven forbid they could let ONE computer go. :-/ :

It's unusual for a school district around here to take the stuff directly to a recycler. Most districts try to auction the machines off.

 

[Gil]

The school was always glad to give away their old stuff to someone who would appreciate it.

Lucky.

When my elementary school was getting rid of their Macs (LC575s, 5400s, 9500s) back in 2004 for some crappy PC's that were even slower than the Macs, I asked about buying one (I was even willing to pay), and they said "We have a deal with a recycler."

Heaven forbid they could let ONE computer go. :-/ :

It's unusual for a school district around here to take the stuff directly to a recycler. Most districts try to auction the machines off.

If that's how things worked around here, then no doubt, I'd be a happier person.

 

[Morrick]

Ah, this story reminds me of a guy I met at a used-equipment fair who wanted to sell me a Macintosh IIcx and an Apple CD-ROM 300 for the rough equivalent of 250 dollars. They didn't look good and on closer inspection they were both suspiciously stinky. When I opened the IIcx the rust inside was so bad as to make it hard for me to remove the cover!

The bastard probably had taken both the Mac and the CD-ROM reader from the street after god knows how many days of rain and bad weather, cleaned them outside, and wanted to scam some poor ignorant tourist.

"You should be ashamed", I told him. At least he had a sheepy face and did not utter a word.

Cheers

Rick

 

[MacMan]

Schools in the UK seem to be funny about letting people have their old equipment, mainly from the liability sake. If someone buys or takes an old computer from them and it sets fire to their house, it is likely that person would claim against the school and win everything. It is an unfortunate attitude that seems to have crept into meany aspects of British society.

However, that is just from an official standpoint. It is unlikely you will find a school or college openly selling off old equipment but often by asking the right people it is possible to do a deal. Some places also have technicians who check equipment for electrical safety before selling / giving away, which also helps deal with the liability issues.

For a country where the government bangs on about recycling I think more should be done in the UK to distribute and re-use old computers. Currently the vast majority go to recyclers who strip them for parts and precious metals, or they just go into landfill.

 

[Charlieman]

Schools in the UK seem to be funny about letting people have their old equipment, mainly from the liability sake.

All public bodies are fussy about giving away kit to staff and students, and quite rightly. It is far too easy for a "piece of junk" (ie last year's PC) to be given away by an unscrupulous employee. Requiring that surplus is sold at auction or to a scrapper keeps people honest.

"Health and safety" is a UK myth, used by some as a defence for unpopular decisions and by others to attack public servants. Both attitudes should be treated with contempt.

 

[tyrannis]

Giving the less fortunate anything older then 7 years old is a waste of time... Anything 10 year old or older are just for hobbyists and collectors.

Requiring that surplus is sold at auction or to a scrapper keeps people honest.

We all know which models have better longevity, and concerns about hardware failure are minimal to me. I'm only distributing 3/4 of the inventory at any given time to allow for easy swaps when such situations do arise.

Why does a 10 year old computer need to be something for hobbyists and collectors only? With service issues aside, why is a computer from 1997 (in use purely for educational/personal productivity tasks, running contemporary applications) any less useful in that role that it was a decade ago? They are indeed "too slow, have low ram, and have an obsolete OS" for anything produced after their time or release, but those applications were excellent. I might even argue that these older machines are better suited for the task given the simplicity of the interface (AtEase or otherwise) and the clarity of the software. Frankly, I'm glad that the younger recipients aren't able to hop on the internet without supervision.

I understand the rationale for how surplus school computer equipment is treated. It's based on the need for responsible handling of public assets; but what I'm saying is there are shortcomings in this process that mean more to the community.

 

[Scott Baret]

I know a teacher who still uses an Apple IIGS in a classroom for the simple fact that it does what it needs to do--acts as a reteaching/enrichment tool.

 

[Unknown_K]

We all know which models have better longevity, and concerns about hardware failure are minimal to me. I'm only distributing 3/4 of the inventory at any given time to allow for easy swaps when such situations do arise.
Why does a 10 year old computer need to be something for hobbyists and collectors only? With service issues aside, why is a computer from 1997 (in use purely for educational/personal productivity tasks, running contemporary applications) any less useful in that role that it was a decade ago? They are indeed "too slow, have low ram, and have an obsolete OS" for anything produced after their time or release, but those applications were excellent. I might even argue that these older machines are better suited for the task given the simplicity of the interface (AtEase or otherwise) and the clarity of the software. Frankly, I'm glad that the younger recipients aren't able to hop on the internet without supervision.

I understand the rationale for how surplus school computer equipment is treated. It's based on the need for responsible handling of public assets; but what I'm saying is there are shortcomings in this process that mean more to the community.

Because machines are thrown away these days around 4 years after then are purchased. It is like arguing why should I throw away 10 day old bread thats only slightly moldy and dried out to a hungry guy who has a supply of 2 day old bread for free.

On an individual basis you can probably find somebody that would want a 10 year old Pentium, but for most organizations they would rather deal with 4 year old Dells that all can run XP and have a legit XP sticker/serial. If something does break people would rather be able to get spare parts from anywhere and not having to use ebay to hunt for obsolete stuff.

 

[madcrow]

Various schools and other entities HAVE become MUCH stricter about giving stuff away. At least in MA, where I live, tax reasons actually have a lot to do with it. Schools and other governmental entities are exempt from sales tax. Private individuals, of course, have to pay. Thus transferring stuff that was bought by the state to individuals, even when that stuff as been written off as no longer having value, is seen as illegal under the strict interpretation of tax law used by the University of Massachusetts system. Thus the stuff can't be given away and usually can't even be sold, so (for the University of Massachusetts), it just goes to a secure warehouse at the "main" campus, where it just sits for all of eternity. What I wouldn't give for a day in that warehouse...

 

[Unknown_K]

Various schools and other entities HAVE become MUCH stricter about giving stuff away. At least in MA, where I live, tax reasons actually have a lot to do with it. Schools and other governmental entities are exempt from sales tax. Private individuals, of course, have to pay. Thus transferring stuff that was bought by the state to individuals, even when that stuff as been written off as no longer having value, is seen as illegal under the strict interpretation of tax law used by the University of Massachusetts system. Thus the stuff can't be given away and usually can't even be sold, so (for the University of Massachusetts), it just goes to a secure warehouse at the "main" campus, where it just sits for all of eternity. What I wouldn't give for a day in that warehouse...

They can recycle it, probably after getting enough volume to fill up a recycling truck.

My old university pretty much uses the stuff untill it cannot be repaired anymore and then sends it to the local prison to be dismantled and then sent off for recycling.