Nelviticus
Programmer
I was reading a thread on this forum today where someone mentioned that they throw out old low-spec machines because they're worthless.
I just wanted to point out that there are charitable organisations that will happily take these machines off your hands for you and put them to good use - a 486 may not be worth anything to you but there are people out there who would love *any* computer that works or that can be repaired.
Finding such an organisation is pot luck if you have small numbers of machines to get rid of and some of the larger outfits may charge you for the privilege, but a) you'll be helping someone out and b) there are lots of nasty unpleasant things in most IT equipment that do nasty unpleasant things to the environment when they're dumped in landfill sites.
Near where I live I found someone who was willing to come out to my house to collect a non-working 15-inch monitor for charity, so it's worth looking into. I won't post any links because IT recyclers are location-specific, but a brief Google search should yield something in your area.
Nelviticus
I just wanted to point out that there are charitable organisations that will happily take these machines off your hands for you and put them to good use - a 486 may not be worth anything to you but there are people out there who would love *any* computer that works or that can be repaired.
Finding such an organisation is pot luck if you have small numbers of machines to get rid of and some of the larger outfits may charge you for the privilege, but a) you'll be helping someone out and b) there are lots of nasty unpleasant things in most IT equipment that do nasty unpleasant things to the environment when they're dumped in landfill sites.
Near where I live I found someone who was willing to come out to my house to collect a non-working 15-inch monitor for charity, so it's worth looking into. I won't post any links because IT recyclers are location-specific, but a brief Google search should yield something in your area.
Nelviticus