Let's Check Out This E-Waste Haul

[@happysprollie]

And yeah, that Portable is crying out for a repair video.

[@bruwin]

That portable has a very usable screen for back in the day. That's a pretty incredible find.

[@brentgoeller8257]

Looks like some random guy was given only basic tools but told he had to rip the hard drives out of those systems before the e-waist guys showed up to pick them up. So he didn't care if they got trashed, he assumed they were going to be recycled. I've seen some Army privates destroy some equipment that was going to e-waist.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I think so.

[@timmooney7528]

I'm guessing there was a decommissioning policy regarding not leaving hard drives in systems.

[@brentgoeller8257]

@@timmooney7528 that should be the policy for any and all computers. Bad for collectors, but really it's essential for security. You can unformat a hdd. Im never surprised or upset about a missing hdd, I only get annoyed when the drive bay required a caddy or sleds and those are missing as well.

[@nickwallette6201]

@@brentgoeller8257 You can "unformat" a hard drive, but wiping the drive with zeroes is pretty darned permanent. Supposedly it's possible to get data back, but you have to be really, _really_ determined. And at that point, the data has to be worth the very consequential time, effort, and cost to try and recover it. Most data isn't. Not by a long shot. That, at least, retains the hardware. However, there are _so many systems_ from the early 2000s that are partially unusable without the factory image. Or at least the recovery partition. Finding media online to restore any of that -- be it factory restore discs, or at the very least, driver archives -- is getting harder and harder, now that apparently vendors don't have the hard drive space to store 300MB worth of images for legacy machines anymore. No, but 5GB for an in-production printer driver? No problem. So, I really wish people hadn't been quite as thorough and adamant about "data security." Nobody cares about your 1997 taxes. Just delete them. It's more likely that your SSN will be leaked by Wal-Mart than someone is going to be arsed to scour the FAT directory entries for deleted files.

[@happysprollie]

There are some true Barbarians out there...

[@RetroHackShack]

I think I found Conan here 🙂

[@miked4377]

i am sending you good vibes for your hand to heal quickly ...good video...i like the pismo beach model...

[@RetroHackShack]

Thank you

[@gklinger]

Get well soon!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@noferblatz]

The board that goes on the back of the CRT is called the "neck board".

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. Brain fart in action. 🙂

[@darkwinter6028]

Perhaps if you found some SEs that had battery bombed logic boards; these could be used to bring them back to life?

[@freddylq67]

Please fix them all. 👍

[@ahmad-murery]

Fix those Macs please, Thanks Aaron and I hope you get better soon

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@horusfalcon]

Get well, but take care of yourself and get well before you put any stress on your right hand. If you get a line on an Actrix (aka Access Matrix) DS, definitely pick it up - they are quite rare.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I tend to overdo it a bit.

[@JVHShack]

I know that the external drive was used with one of those compact Macs, but it looks too similar to an IBM 5150 to me.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I found some new old stock blanks this week that were designed in the same style.

[@JVHShack]

@Retro Hack Shack What I was referring to was the enclosure itself. Would you care to compare its looks to the computer on the shelf in the background?

[@RetroHackShack]

OIC! Yeah. In a way you are right.

[@dennisp.2147]

Scrappers? It's also possible someone was removing the drive. I've seen similar shenanigans when people were trying to sanitize machines leaving secure areas.

[@JamesPotts]

The biggest difference between the Compaq and this portable: the keyboard cable isn't disintegrating!

[@angrydove4067]

Poor babies, those SE's, it'd be great to get at least one into good working and cosmetic condition, that's my vote. I hope the hand gets better soon.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@infinitecanadian]

You wouldn't think that someone stupid would even know enough to fix electronics, let alone try to get inside.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Find a Jasmine SCSI drive to go with it. The big SCSI vendors back in the day were Jasmine, Crate, Ehman, and GCC. Oh, and Micronet.

[@drywallguy87]

How do you find e-waste places that you can get these items? Are the recycling places the same like a drop off or pickup?

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

Didn't know you could hire gorillas for computer disassembly, jeez. FWIW, it _seems_ that most Compact Mac PDS NICs use similar if not the same pinouts for the breakout board that has the RJ45, Coax and/or AUI connectors on it. The cables basically carry AUI signals, the boards with RJ45 or Coax connectors are basically AUI transceivers on a PCB. Still best to grab the datasheet of the main IC on the MacCon to probe out the connector, but I personally use a Novell EtherPort SE PDS card with the breakout board of a DaynaPORT SE/30 PDS card. Works just fine without any modifications.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks! I assumed AUI due to the number of conductors. I don't remember if I have a transceiver or not.

[@thanhmcgriff3387]

Good to have EWWWW Wednesday back. Hope your hand keeps improving.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thank you! Feeling better.

[@TheBadFred]

I wouldn't care if it works afterwards if it is just E-waste, right?

[@nickwallette6201]

* Gasp! * Dominion?? I bet that carnage was by Mike Lindell! Looking for evidence of shenanigans in those voting machines! haha :-D Seriously though, at least those carcasses could be helpful to other collectors. I've been keeping an eye out for a spare CRT to cross my path, to repair an SE with a bad tube. I can't imagine I'm the only one. Hope things go well for your crashed digits!

[@RetroHackShack]

LOL. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

[@2009numan]

it was such a shame to see those Mac SE's in such a sorry state

[@christopherdecorte1599]

I bet they didn't have the long driver and needed to remove the drive because of sensitive information and face it average person wouldn't care it's a part of computing history. They just doing there job.😢sad

[@RetroHackShack]

Most likely. I hope I can fix them.

[@christopherdecorte1599]

​@Retro Hack Shack it really starting to look like a system they used for voting and want to destroy key components.