Until this moment...

[Ulu]

...I have never had a working computer in my garage.

 

My old living room PC now resides there, with the addition of a D-Link Nano wireless device.

 

This was a powerful PC in its day (AthlonXP 1800+ @ 1.6 Ghz) and still holds it's own on some things like web surfing. Not so hot on streaming video, but I suspect it'll run some OBD port emulators pretty well, if I can find the right ones. That's the lure, well plus having online parts diagrams in the garage! WooHoo!

 

I think I can get a scope emulator that will sub for several of the functions of an old Sun machine, so it might even be useful for tuning the P15.

 

Anyhow, this is the 7th PC on my home network, counting one laptop & the wife's i-Pad Air.

 

I'm now able to run Windows XP Pro, Vista, Win 7 Pro, and win 8.1 Pro. (Plus the portable iOS)

 

I have one other really old PC that'll boot PC DOS, OS2 Warp IV, and Red Hat Linux, but I don't know if I'll be able to get drivers to put that one online

 

I still have a PS-2 Model 50, and a PC-AT that will probably still work, but haven't booted those dinosaurs in years.

 

 

[TodFitch]

...I have never had a working computer in my garage.

 

My old living room PC now resides there, with the addition of a D-Link Nano wireless device.

 

This was a powerful PC in its day (AthlonXP 1800+ @ 1.6 Ghz) and still holds it's own on some things like web surfing. Not so hot on streaming video, but I suspect it'll run some OBD port emulators pretty well, if I can find the right ones. That's the lure, well plus having online parts diagrams in the garage! WooHoo!

 

I think I can get a scope emulator that will sub for several of the functions of an old Sun machine, so it might even be useful for tuning the P15.

 

Anyhow, this is the 7th PC on my home network, counting one laptop & the wife's i-Pad Air.

 

I'm now able to run Windows XP Pro, Vista, Win 7 Pro, and win 8.1 Pro. (Plus the portable iOS)

 

I have one other really old PC that'll boot PC DOS, OS2 Warp IV, and Red Hat Linux, but I don't know if I'll be able to get drivers to put that one online

 

I still have a PS-2 Model 50, and a PC-AT that will probably still work, but haven't booted those dinosaurs in years.

Sounds to me like you need to drop some stuff off at the electronics recycling bin.

[Ulu]

 

Hah!

 

I just scrapped out most of our old network.   Stuff that's been cluttering up the office for years.

 

But old computers are like old cars. They have a sort of charm the new ones have lost in the race to do "everything for everybody forever".

 

Those old chassis in the photo are slated for sacrificial annode duty, so say bye bye...

 

 

[Don Coatney]

I just got my new simplified keyboard.

 

[Ulu]

Needs a P15 button....

[Young Ed]

DSCF8343.JPG

 

Hah!

 

I just scrapped out most of our old network.   Stuff that's been cluttering up the office for years.

 

But old computers are like old cars. They have a sort of charm the new ones have lost in the race to do "everything for everybody forever".

 

Those old chassis in the photo are slated for sacrificial annode duty, so say bye bye...

 

What are those made out of? I believe I read galvanized can give off toxic fumes. Are those plain steel?

[Ulu]

Every steel boat is dropping zinc oxide into the water & releasing bubbles, from its anodes. Nobody worries.

 

Some of those chassis are electro-galvanized and some are like "redi-coat". (epoxy primer or similar.)

 

The redi-coat comes off better if you scratch the piece up with a wire brush or sandpaper. It's very thin.

 

It all comes off in the tank and I'm working outdoors so fumes aren't an issue. My porch smells like oxygen a little. That's about it.

 

There will be zinc oxide & iron oxide when I pour the sludge out on the dirt, but that stuff is everywhere already. It's not like lead or chrome tailings.

 

It what they coat the pig pan in (zinc) so if you like bacon you've been eating it for years already.

 

(Some old galvanized parts, from before the PC revolution, had lead too, but this has been outlawed for years AFAIK.)

Edited December 15, 2014 by Ulu

[T120]

What are those made out of? I believe I read galvanized can give off toxic fumes. Are those plain steel?

A fact... A number of years back I was using an angle grinder to cut drainage slots in a galvanized culvert - outdoors. I was aware of the precautions  regarding  welding galvanized steel, but being in a hurry and with being outdoors I thought there was minimal risk - wrong! I breathed in enough of the fumes to cause nausea and headache - temporary but unpleasant nonetheless.

[Ulu]

No,  you do not want to breathe the fumes caused by heating the metal to high temps. Even welding or grinding out doors it's easy to inhale the fumes.

 

I will wear a resparator, and still I avoid the fumes as much as possible.

 

Welding on steel coated with virtually anything that steel gets coated with, makes nasty fumes. Assume all of them are toxic.

 

At Pierce Enterprises, we welded lots of galvanized sheet metal. (Not personally. I was drawing building panels.) We had lots of fans in the shop to remove fumes, and the guys would still skip around a lot with the welding to minimize fume exposure. 

 

They never removed the galvanizing before welding, but just welded thru it. I don't recommend this, ever. Remove the zinc around your welds first.

[deathbound]

A fact... A number of years back I was using an angle grinder to cut drainage slots in a galvanized culvert - outdoors. I was aware of the precautions  regarding  welding galvanized steel, but being in a hurry and with being outdoors I thought there was minimal risk - wrong! I breathed in enough of the fumes to cause nausea and headache - temporary but unpleasant nonetheless.

 

"Metal fume fever", very familiar with it.

[Ulu]

I've breathed it too. Not bad enough to get sick, but enough to last me.

 

Anyhow, you can stick your face right over my tanks and pretty much all you smell is the oxygen.

 

The soda smells a little, but it's mixed with the rust and general gunk & not much odor there.

[greg g]

So we duely schlep our electronic waste to the recycling center.  90% of it gets shipped off shore to China, Malaysia, India and some African countries.  Where it gets disassembled and salvaged by mostly children teenagers.  They breath in the toxic fumes, and leave  behind dioxin, heavy metals, and other not so nice stuff.  China has recently passed laws against the importation of electronic waste.  This means that what was once handled in China is now building up by the container full at other Asian Ports.  How long before it starts getting dumped in the oceans?  Just another benefit of our live for the minute, consumer economy.  

[Ulu]

The state of California collects it all in big bins.

 

I don't know what they do with it.