Comments on: How to recycle your old computer equipment in Birmingham

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:25:19 +0000

Hello

I googled how to recycle computers in Brum and came to your site - I looked up Crash-it - and found they closed down 10 days ago!

Don’t suppose you have any other good ideas for re-using do you?

Many thanks if you can help.

By: Robert Sharl

Robert Sharl — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:28:25 +0000

I’m not sure it was ever ‘portable’.. ‘luggable’ would be a better word. The ‘classic’ design (original Macintosh, Plus, SE, SE30, Classic, Colour Classic) was hauled around by a lot of people, hence the availability of cases. Darian Systems founder (and introducer of public internet access to the Custard Factory - and probably Birmingham) Adrian Sutherland used to haul the (25lb) Mac Plus back and forth between Birmingham and Zurich regularly. Now I’m looking at my (5lb) MacBook, thinking it’s bulky, and wondering whether I should upgrade to the MacBook Air..

By: Charlotte Carey

Charlotte Carey — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:22:47 +0000

Oh my word - just scrolled down and belatedly saw this. Can remember well using said Colour Classic as my main machine- funny it was okay for email but the web was soooo slow - am I remembering right? I think it’s funny also we considered it portable - Rob - isn’t that the one with the big black bag?

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:22:48 +0000

Interesting! I keep thinking of recycling / donating stuff I no longer use… I need to get off my arse and do it!

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:11:56 +0000

I’ve found that people on the local Birmingham freecycle network will take old stuff of your hands, some people will come and collect it too.

By: Robert Sharl

Robert Sharl — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:34:08 +0000

I was talking to my daughter (now 7 years old) about the first computer I ever used, which was a Commodore PET (the old 4k version with the cassette deck and the chicklet keys). What surprised me was not how laughably underpowered it was compared to the average disposable calculator or digital watch, but how familiar it seemed to her. The built-in monitor, the keyboard, the storage device: It seemed suddenly like we haven’t come that far at all in 30 years. Where are the leaps of alien-like technology in computing? Microsoft Surface? Give me a break. I find myself experiencing moments of awe and astonishment more frequently in the presence of a new iPod than in that of a desktop computer (and yes, a notebook is essentially a desktop). Maybe this evolutionary approach is good, but I look at my Message Pad 120 (and Apple’s prototypes for hybrid Newton/deskphones) and think that perhaps somewhere it all went wrong when a 14-year old device still looks like the future of computing. The iPhone/iPod touch (note to Apple: Do something about what we call this new mobile OS X platform!) is the first thing since Newton that doesn’t look like a sideways step.

By: stef

stef — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:17:27 +0000

Ah the good thing with my one is that I rescued it from a skip so I doubt very much whether any of it is working… and yes - I used to have an old BBC Micro B that had a 128K expansion pack and a 5 1/4″ drive…

By: Robert Sharl

Robert Sharl — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:09:30 +0000

Ah I have a Colour Classic too (and, like the one in your photograph it’s the UK variant with the English spelling thank you very much!) and the hybrid Mac mini project has been on my mind a while. Trouble is, I don’t have the heart to gut it. Maybe I should use the old SE instead. Or the Mac Plus. Or just get another Colour Classic. Oh god, I seem to be surrounded by defunct kit too. Let’s not talk about the Apple IIe…

BTW, I’m guessing you know that floppy disks really were floppy before Apple (yes them again) popularised the 3.5″ diskette. I’m looking at a set of two Apple II 5.25″ floppy drives as I type.