Your suggestion/opinion, please - on old PC cards & Software

[Toddskins]

I have a large collection of old PC equipment and was  wondering if I should just throw the stuff away, or do people actually want it and I should sell the stuff on Ebay?

Adlib - sound card

Gamecard III - for joysticks

Various LAN cards

Wireless Netgear card

And many, many other old hardware gear.

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Then too, I have 2 large boxes of old Win 98 and XP and 7 software

Games, games, games, and lots of other interesting things (Talking dictionary, Phone # directory of everybody in the USA).

Most in their original box with manuals and disks.

Should I just pitch this stuff or try to sell a grab bag box full of things to the highest bidder?  It will give me much needed empty space on my shelves. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Toddskins

[ensconced]

Me, it would be just throw it all, unless I knew someone or a couple of people who wanted it, then I would give it to them. To me selling on Ebay or whatever would be just to much of a hassle, especially if you have a lot of separate items, apart from putting it all on line you'd have to go through packaging, shipping etc for every item, and for me the hassle/reward ratio would make it not worth it. Sure it would be good to get it to someone who can make use of it, but you got to weigh up the time and effort you have to put in. YMMV of course.

[Bajan Blue]

For me, I would probably donate it - living in Africa, we learn to never throw things away - someone will always find a use for something!!

Nigel

 

[Toddskins]

2 hours ago, Bajan Blue said:

For me, I would probably donate it - living in Africa, we learn to never throw things away - someone will always find a use for something!!

Nigel

 

I have no problem with that.  But who do I donate it to while here in the middle of the USA?  And the people who get it would have to have an old Windows 98se or XP system.

I'm still sorting through those boxes I mentioned in my 1st post and I have the install disks for those 2 OS (98se and XP).  The XP Home edition is brand new in unopened cellophane. And there's also Office 97, and some brand new, unopened Photoshop Elements for Win 98/XP.

I want to get rid of all this stuff.  Eye sore to me.

[Christian Jones]

Short of donating it I'd put it up on eBay. I did that with some old computer gear that I had thinking no one would want it but to my surprise it all sold pretty quickly using Buy It Now. Just calculate a nominal shipping price or whatever into the Buy It Now price and offer free shipping and I bet that stuff will sell. Before you do that check current pricing on eBay for your items and price them competitively/comparatively. 

[craigb]

I've seen what Christian is saying work too.  However, around here, we donate most things to Free Geek.  You might see if there's one in your area.

[Toddskins]

Thanks guys.  Shall do.

[Tezza]

I'd use local Gumtree normally for stuff like that but that depends on the Covid-19 rules in your area.. If it's easy to post and you don't mind the hassle of posting, I would put it on Ebay to bid starting $0.99. The good thing about this is that you will get bids and even after the first bid you know it's gone. If you set a price for it, it might sit there for ages. The win 7 stuff could be separated because it will still have recent value to someone.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Tezza

[jesse g]

Place it on Craigslist to see if anyone will purchase it, but you have to make it dirt cheap.  Remember, you want others to be able to use it if they need it.   I think the LAN cards will sell if anything.

But if it was my stuff, 

[Christian Jones]

1 hour ago, jesse g said:

Place it on Craigslist to see if anyone will purchase it, but you have to make it dirt cheap.  Remember, you want others to be able to use it if they need it.   I think the LAN cards will sell if anything.

But if it was my stuff, 

Yeah the problem w/ CL right now though is the social distancing issue. I sell a lot of music gear and CL in Seattle anyway is really good here for moving music and computer gear quickly as opposed to CL in a small town so I don't use eBay anymore where you get raped for fees both by eBay and PayPal and then of course shipping fees. But with this outbreak nobody wants to come and meet in person with anybody right now so I've got gear that's gonna linger for who knows how long

[StudioNSFW]

For the hardware, unless it is something special/sought after just donate it or throw it in the e-waste bin at the dump. If there are any hard drives in the pile, Destroy them and throw them in e-waste. I use a 2 lb ball peen hammer which is very satisfying and effective.  Computer hardware and peripherals lose value so fast it's stupid. If those LAN cards are not 1GbE minimum, no one wants them, and a shiny new one is ten bucks. 

For the software, personally, I'm the kind of guy that would archive all the serial numbers and make images of all the disk images and store them against the day I or anyone else ever needed that software again.  I have a whole directory of "Abandonware" where the software vendor suddenly went foom and the software was no longer available.  I personally wouldn't worry about the games unless there is a real favorite, but I still use and can reinstall stuff from software vendors that have long since went TITSUP.  In fact, just last week I installed Cakewalk Sonar X3...

[craigb]

Hey, if it still works...  ?

[jesse g]

Hey, I found this in Grandma's basement, do you think I should eat it!!

[msmcleod]

Personally, I'd recommend sticking them on ebay - its surprising how many people use/rely on legacy gear, and when something breaks, ebay is the only real source of a replacement.

For example, I saw a YouTube video recently by Lewitt (the microphone guys), who were filming at a mastering studio in London. The studio had a range of PC's/Mac's dating back to the early 90's - just in case they needed to work on a session they worked on 25 years ago for a client. No doubt these machines get very little use, but if one of them breaks its a big deal.

So not only might you be doing someone a huge favour in allowing them to keep their old gear working, you'll make a bit of money out of it too.

[StudioNSFW]

The problem with sticking them on ebay is that you are now warehouseing the stuff for some indeterminate period.  If the goal is to clean off the shelves of hardware that you'll never need again, then clean the shelves.  Waiting until someone needs your specific token ring card or whatever means those shelves will have crap on them for a long time. 

But I understand keeping certain pieces of hardware around just in case.  There are easier and better ways than keeping 20 year old , may-never-boot-again-because-the-bearings -in-the-hard-drive-dried-up-or-the CMOS-battery-drained-or-a cap-popped-from-lack-of-use systems on the shelf.  Make an image of the system that can run on VMWare (possible for ANY x86 powered computer) and store the image on two separate pieces of Solid state media, store the media in a resonably controlled climate and it's (generally speaking) going to last forever, and those old machines are available as needed but take up almost  zero shelf space, care and feeding, etc. 

I do have a shoe box with an Adaptec SCSI controller to drive an old DAT tape drive for reading old DVD master files...oh, and I STILL have a few Delta 1010s in the box next to it.  But game controlllers and LAN cards and graphic cards are underwear - when you're through with them, you throw them away, you don't try to sell them. Unless you want old underwear on your shelf. 

[fitzroy]

Sending stuff like that to Africa would be awesome. The trick is to find someone, or an organization, that is collecting in bulk. Here in Budapest, I post on dedicated Facebook groups with stuff I give away, and it often surprises me that everything gets picked up fairly quickly. Including stuff you'd think no one would want, because the hassle/cost of transporting it (e.g. an old couch, a big old monitor). But eventually you find people who collect and repair/restore in bulk, and it's useful to them. Think of a shipping container full of older but working/repairable electronics - they'd LOVE that in so many places around the world.