two PCs from the Frankston (victoria) Recycling joint

[AusNick]

Picked these up yesterday (Sunday)…

One is a Pentium-S (?) running at 150Mhz, 12xCD-ROM, 1.2gig HD, Soundblaster something, 32 megs of RAM. Case is clean, solid build, little wear, 2x5.25 inch bays, I'm thinking a motherboard swap at some point. Might drop a faster CD in, and see if I can get it to boot off the hard drive. Can someone tell me what my options for this box are?

And get this, I picked up a 486, runs at 33Mhz, has RAM in the sockets, 4x30-pin sticks (would they be Mac compatible?), but the machine doesn't see them, but does report 640K of RAM, probably on the motherboard. Hard drive has been removed, and apart from a floppy drive, there are no other drives. Drive support is on a card, I could install a hard drive, but I almost can't be bothered, and I'm thinking I might just scrap it. Options here?

I asked about their e-waste, but the computer stuff had been collected a couple of days previous, so I lucked out. :-( According to what I've read, they just part the machines out… and I don't think the people that do it distinguish between Macs and PCs. Sad.

Nick

 

[netfreak]

I tried messing around with OpenStep and Rhapsody x86 on an older Pentium once. There's a few neat older systems you can try on that. Almost no point to doing anything Windows related.

 

[Bunsen]

I've done well from the Reservoir tip shop as well. I think they are run by the same non-profit (Outlook Environmental). A couple of unbelievable scores, like a black DE 5500/250 with AV & (PAL Australian) TV cards for $10, black ADB keyboard for a buck, and today an Amstrad Notepad NC100 for $2.

 

[AusNick]

G'day Bunsen,

Good scores.

The Frankston joint isn't as well set up as the Outlook ones are, the Frankston Tip operation is run out of two shipping containers, and a shed up the back where the e-waste gets stripped out. The prices are good though, I picked up the 2 PCs for a dollar each, and 20+ audio CDs and a laptop bag for 10 dollars.

I am so out of my depth with these PCs, my instinct is to strip the 486, but I'd rather set it up with a CD-ROM and sound card and give it to someone. But I guess everyone that wanted a 486 probably has one by now.

I guess I might wait a week or two to see if I get any bites, then cave in and strip the thing.

And the Pentium, it's in a really clean case, but at the speed it is, it's a bit useless. I guess I'll put it aside and wait for a nice mobo to come my way.

Nick

 

[Bunsen]

4x30-pin sticks (would they be Mac compatible?)

Yep

 

[AusNick]

Sweet!