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Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener General Posts Me Scorez again Yup, been D-Divin'

Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Yup D-Divin' again! Free parts! You too can do it in your spare time! Scored this morning, found an i-Mac "All in one" G-3 computer...Picture tube was caved in...(Smashed) But took it apart and it yielded the following parts, (1) Maxtor IDE 6.4 gb 3.5" hard disk drive (Has the Apple logo on it)Reformatted & loaded Win 98, works fine! Perfect condition, No bad sectors! (1) 24X notebook style ide CD-Rom drive. Have not tested yet but looks perfect! A pair of sub-miniature speakers oval in shape, Looks like they will fit in the i-Opener rated at 1 watt nominal/1.7 watts max. 50 conductor MINI ide interface cable between CD-Rom drive and mainboard. Ziff prossessor assembly, 333mhz with (2) 32mb sodimm modules attached. Mainboard with lots of smd parts. But wait theres more.... Also found a HP (Vectra) P-II computer. It was missing the prossessor, ram and CD-Rom drive. Everything else intact! Quantum "Bigfoot" 6.4 GB 5.25" hard drive. This had some reported errors but running Quantum zero fill utility correct those and now works fine! I heard these quantum drives have high failure rates??? ATI rage 3d agp video card and it has a sodimm style memory slot? Hmmm wonder if one of those 32meg modules will work in this? also yielded an Intel slot 1 motherboard (LX) 200 watt atx power supply. Feeling lucky? you too may find stuff like this in your home city... But you gotta look hard every day! (And know where to look!) 01-14-2001 18:59:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email dude, where do you live? Obviously in a place full of non-techies cause an I-mac??? those things are barely two years old!! And you can get a replacement tube from apple! you sure are lucky, only thing I find around my neighborhood is garbage. Anyways my wife hates it when I bring home trash so I digress. Hey you can always ask this guy for his old CRT... http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/21imac/ 01-14-2001 20:46:17

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Thanks for the info. I already removed all the parts (gutted it)...The outer case was badly cracked in several places both upper and lower halves around the tube. Yes your right, It was less than 2 years old. The 6.4GB Maxtor harddrive still is under warranty has a Manf. date of 04/99 and end of warranty date 07/02 stamped on it. I'm not a Mac fan myself but this REALLY hurt to see such a kool looking machine destroyed and thrown away like that. But thats (mental management) how big corporations are. If they found out I salvaged the remaining parts off of this machine they (Mr manager) would be piZZed off and have floor dudes totally destroy any other machines they MAY toss in the future beyond salvagability of parts,I've seen it done. American corporations are so wastefull. Imagine the delight of a small child getting such a machine for Christmas. 01-15-2001 04:25:11

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Oh yeah, Bill gates lives here.... 01-15-2001 04:27:01

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Hmmm, Better clarify this... Bill gates didn't throw the mac away, This is near his home town... If I told you exactly where I found these I would totally ruin any possibilty of finding any more kool stuff. Finds like this are far, few and only happen every 3-6 months at this place. 01-15-2001 04:33:52

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile PS,GWIZAH I like the hugh i-Mac at your link! Very creative! If I was a Mac fan I may have done the same...Neat idea! 01-15-2001 04:48:48

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) kdog0 Profile Hey 02U2 how do you find this stuff? Give me a hint where to look. You mean they destroyed the imac intentionally? Why would they be pissed if they knew you where using the parts? 01-24-2001 13:38:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile If I told you exactly where I found these stuff I would more than likely totally ruin any possibilty of finding any more kool stuff. The odds are someone else would once they catch on and beat me to it since I live so far away. Finds like this are starting to get farther apart and fewer and only happen every couple months. Although earlier scored on a 19" Cheap monitor with deep gouge on the right side plastic surrounding the picture tube. Also a Pcmcia to USB card with cable (It works perfect!). Very wierd the PC to usb adapter find was because I just bought a older HP800ct p-166 mini notebook w/active matrix and was shopping around to buy a pc card to usb adapter for it the day before I found this one in the dumpster. One thing too is most LEO's know me. They are REAL KOOL here. They leave me alone even though K-9 would really like to have a big bite of me...Where you are at things may be different, they may arrest you or have some fun with you if you have an attitude... WARNING!!! check your local laws... 01-24-2001 20:44:02

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest D-Divin' score and the best ever so far! Some major corporation decided they did not need their SVGA COLOR LCD projector anymore. Found it in a box with a bunch of other neat stuff! Looks like they may be going belly up! It's really small and compact! And it works! Has remote! Estimated value 3 to 4 grand? Projects a VERY Clear picture on my walls. WORKS GREAT watching DVD movies and game playing. 800 x 600 res and goes up lots higher compressed! Works much better than Big screen TV, LOTS clearer! So if one puts aside their pride and persistantly looks, there is a lot of KOOL stuff to be found! 02-12-2001 19:27:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email I need to shut my computer off and go get my cowboy boots on, the bull$hit is getting deep! 02-12-2001 19:42:55

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Believe what you want. It's very REAL. 02-12-2001 20:10:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Fatal Profile | Email Ok I have to ask this know I have been going dumpster diving for the past six months and come up with close to jack. All I have gotten is some old motherboards, old cases that don't have all their parts and a box of printer cables. I live in Atlanta and have gone to small computer shops as well as large retailers all I find are pieces of junk or big un accesseble compression dumpsters. Any suggestions? I hear you talk about hitting retail stores as well as corporate locations, do you just pick a random place and start looking? 02-12-2001 21:18:09

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 4thWAVE Profile I have a fairly good paying job, but when I see something that is good getting thrown out by the company I work for it makes me angry. Here they are on one hand nickel and diming their workers, and then throwing out stuff as if they were billionaires and money didn't matter. Then if you tell management that you want something from the dumpster that they were going to throw away anyhow they insist on publicizing it to the entire company and start collecting bids from everyone so they can sell it to the highest bidder. We had seven medium to good quality office chairs that weren't very old. Problem was, a couple of people didn't like the company and picked the chairs to vent their anger. They broke a couple. So the operations manager said to throw them out. My supervisor gave the task to me, and I couldn't do it. Most of them were 100% good. I took one of the broken ones to the maint. shop and fixed it, then called the plant engineer (another manager) to come take a look. He couldn't believe they were being thrown out, and ordered me to remove the others from the dumpster. He showed the general manager, who agreed they should be kept. My supervisor and I later had a shouting match because he wanted me to follow his orders without question and I had not. So he went and threw a couple back in the trash. To make a long story short, I am writing this from home, seated on one of the chairs in question, and I have since then also taken lots of other things from the dumpster as well. I have built a huge and solid work bench in my garage just from the lumber from the dumpster. I have given away entire software packages, still in the unopened original cellophane, of programs like Lotus 123, MS Office, etc. I even have a monitor that was being disposed of. What kind of a business throws away brand new packages of highlighters and white-out, ladders, tools? I'm ashamed to say, mine. So yes, I take it, and no, I don't tell anyone. Would you? 02-13-2001 00:17:10

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 4thWAVE Profile Credits to Friar tuck for the above post. I found it most interesting and very truthful. It's sad that corperate america is like this. But it is happening. 4thWave 02-13-2001 00:30:06

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Stories like these are all over....They are true, no doubt. The city I work in has a dumpster law which has all dumpsters enclosed behind 8 foot fences, and locked up at night. However, my own company does these same things. About a year ago, they upgraded their whole computer network, different supplier, all new hardware incompatable with old stuff. ALL the old stuff went into the dumpster...including new monitors, cables, printers, you name it. They offered it to the employees...but it was me who ended up with a truck-load of stuff, mostly useless to me, but too good to see dumped. It gets worse....A few years ago Nissan (I work for them) had to buy back all the Nissan vans that were ever sold, 30,000 or so. They could catch fire...weren't really fixable. At any one time we had 25 or so waiting to go to the crusher. Some of these were almost brand new. I was able to take whatever I needed from these vans....I spent two entire week-ends stripping them of the stuff I wanted....radios, neat captain's chairs at $1500 ea, electrical parts by the barrel. You name it, I got it. Maybe 10 new batteries...if I had more time, I could have built one from these parts. It's a matter of being in the right place at the right time...maybe knowing someone who tips you in on what's happening. In the better neighborhoods around here, if you go cruising after Christmas, you find everything under the sun sitting on the curb, waiting to be trashed. I have picked up things, perfectly good, some new....all useful .....Why are they dumped? Who knows. 02-13-2001 04:12:17

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email It's sad that we live in a throwaway society where things are often disposed of long before they outlive there usefulness. In the 60's the average homeowner in this country owned a refrigertor they bought 12 years ago, a car 10 years ago, a television 8 years ago. Not to mention the countless smaller gizmos in the kitchen. In 2001 you cant get away with Refrigerators for more than 7 years, A car? Lucky if you own it for 5 years! And dont get me started on the latest WEGA, plasmatron, 52" model TV's people get every 2 years! Im not really that old, but I have immigrant parents who taught me to take care of things not because of how much they're worth, But because society discards things at an alarming rate. People like us, people who like electronics, tend to collect the "bleeding edge" technology. Be the first on the block to have the newest toys. But I know that I always look at all my stuff, even my old stuff, with a keen understanding of what it took to produce. I often rebuild old PC's and hand them down to friends or relatives. Im sure alot of you do the same with old hardware. The amount of PC's sold in the past few years has skyrocketed and where do you think all those machines are going to end up in five years? Well if you had a glass of tap water this morning, You and I better start figuring this out. Oops, I forgot I wasn't on slashdot! :) (karmawhore) -G 02-13-2001 07:40:55

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Programmer Profile Hey I agree with your post and find it appropriate.. 02-14-2001 07:49:34

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) cyrixone Profile I have found in neighborhoods by the curb on various garbage nights throughout the past year (all of this stuff worked): HP 600 series printer with power brick 2 200MHz socket 7 "bare bones" computers (case, mb, CPU) 70 watt RMS KLH home stereo AMP with tuner 5,000 BTU window air conditioner a homelite leaf blower a cash register!! (no cash though) low-rated (VERY cheap) home stereo speakers a 14" svga monitor 2 propane tanks 2 hi-fi stereo VCRs! small bycicle stuff that didn't work: another 14" svga monitor several more VCRs a 19" svga monitor several dead car batteries (worth $5 each as scrap) sewing machine quite a few TV's upright vacuum cleaner I usually just cruise the neighborhoods on garbage night to see what's available... Most of the megastores around here have inaccessable dumpsters; however, the small strip-mall stores are a good place to obtain cardboard boxes - great for saving money when selling stuff on ebay. :) 02-14-2001 22:31:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mentalmike Profile I got one for you, a couple of years ago there was a grocery store out here in california called luckys if you live in ca. you know what im talking about, they were bought out by albertsons, anyway about two weeks after they closed i was driving behind the store and i saw this big thing and i was like what in the world is this, i go up to it to find a cool looking big case with a 17 inch moniter in it and a complete working computer and a little thermal printer built in , it was the Kiosk for luckys, so i get home turn it on and it worked! it was so cool it has a touchscreen and built in speakers in the case, it was funny to turn it on and see all the old luckys ads and stuff and i still had a luckys card and it has a scanner where you stick your luckys card in and it would print out coupons, anyway i put win 98 on it and stuck it in my house and it's always a conversation piece! i have it set up like one of those video slot machines at the casinos, works great with the touch screen. 02-15-2001 09:49:00

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) info Profile OK, This question is more directed at any KNOWLEDGABLE Comp-usa folks that may be lurking on this BBS. I noticed a while back at a local C-USA some personnel TOTALLY Destroying many many many new retail packages of SuSE Linux 7.0 Personal. The CD's being completely broken,Bent and shattered. Why? Is there a problem with the software? Curiousity got the best of me and I peeked in the dumpster after they went back in the store to see if anything else was in there and there was nothing else except plastic wrapping,styrofoam and lots of plain smelly garbage. Nasty stuff 02-15-2001 19:55:47

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) info Profile OK, Think I found the answer <<<<DUH>>>> Ver7.1 has been released. But why not sell the Ver7.0 software at a reduced price or donate it to a none profit org? 02-15-2001 20:18:59

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 4thWAVE Profile Thanks for the info on the Linux 7.0. Hmmm imagine this, (theoretical of course) BigDog you got your cowboy boots on? Call an old friend works at C-USA... ask whats the scoop on the Linux, Check's into it and calls back and say's there is a shopping cart in the back of the store with lots linux 7.0 boxes and other stuff in it awaiting orders to be destroyed and thrown away. An earlier tip reveals some other C-USA's has already done this. So someone finds out which C-USA it was, goes there and salvages all the remains of the torn boxes,manuals and broken CD'S. Puts them in a big box and will later bring it to friends C-USA parking lot. Around usual daily cleanup time friend gives a call and sez be ready! Truck waiting in parking lot with box of destroyed linux stuff recovered from other c-usa. Seez manager come out of back of store escorting store guys with shopping cart going towards dumpster. A call is made to inside store, Someone wants to talk to MR Manager now! Mr Manager instructs store dude's to destroy and throw away! He'll be right back! Mr Manager goes inside,Caller hangs up. Friend on cell phone calls dude in truck and keeps track of Mr Manager. Dude in truck (with cell phone and earphone plugged in has direct audio contact with friend inside store) grabs his box of previous c-usa destroyed Linux stuff. Throws all of it into dumpster and grabs good stuff shopping cart and quickly pushes it to side of store so it's out of sight of Manager when he come's back. Friend goes to other side of dumpster and grabs EMPTY shopping cart placed there earlier! When Manager comes back out to check on how things are going store guy's act like they just got done. Manager looks into dumpster and see's destroyed linux boxes and cd's. Another job well done guy's. They are all done and everyone goes back inside with empty shopping cart! Manager closes and locks back door. The other shopping cart full of Linux pushed to side of store gets loaded into truck and it's gone! A mission impossible type operation...It went real slick, A couple large delivered pizza's and a six pack of coke afterward to the friend and his bud in store and a couple boxes of Linux that was recovered after they get off work and everyone's happy! MR MANAGER DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, But this IS just an imaginary story of course! One thing for sure is a lot of C-USA employees really hate C-USA upper management... 02-16-2001 23:34:19

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) MISMan Profile | Email You guys need to come by my house at garbage night. I usually donate to Goodwill or something, but I continually upgrade, and do not have the space to keep my 1 yr+ old stuff. I get paid well, and my free time is worth much more than the effort to do anything else with it. I have printers, Motherboards w/ processors, PDA's, RAM, and a whole lot of other Misc. software, etc... If anyone is in Des Moines Iowa, post and you can have it all for free. But be fast. Selling the house, and need it to look neat. Peter 02-19-2001 22:50:02

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email dude, I'll pay shipping if you will mail me stuff. Email me so we can deal! -G 02-19-2001 23:11:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile MISMan, Thanks for the offer, but I will decline. Too far away and I have more than enough Motherboards,Cpu's,Ram,Hardrive's,Cases & etc right now and gearing up for a big yard sale. Actually I'm trying to be rather picky in my finds lately due to lack of space....BUT sometimes just can't break a habit if I run across something that is recent tech and usable.... It's kinda interesting what people will buy too and the money they pay...You would be surprised. I know I am every time... 02-20-2001 03:30:59

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest finds.... HP External parallel CDRW Writer Plus 7200e,Unused. Missing software and power adapter. Wierd thing is I opened the External Casing and the actual CDR drive is an HP IDE C4415 4x4x24 Drive and on the front model #is 8200 series... Silver "mini" USB mouse Belkin USB to serial adapter (Darn it's for Mac) Box of Misc. various cords...I'm getting a lot of these... Miniature 5v fan for laptop...Starting to get a collection of these too... Logitech wireless mouse receivers...No mice though...They may show up later... Logitech corded wheeled ps2 mouse with driver disk. Tons of little tech's odds and ends I could not pass up...Looks like they are downsizing the shop... 02-22-2001 21:22:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Spike Profile Is that a mini-mouse from pcally? I've been using one of those with my IO and love it. After using it for awhile, anything else feels like pushing a brick. 02-23-2001 09:51:22

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) preacher Profile | Email MISman: Do you still have the various parts? If so, and you would consider shipping them, we could put them to great use through one of our mission organizations - Medical Missions to India. There is great need there and we are always in need of various pieces of hardware to keep our clinic and hospital running. Please let me know either way. Of course we will pick up the shipping costs should you choose to ship them. Please email to: theconns@home.com. Thank you!! Pastor Mark Conn Fellowship Baptist Church Barboursville, WV 02-23-2001 13:24:59

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) MisterWhistler Profile MISMan, Can you please e-mail me? mrwireman@yahoo.com Thanks!!! 02-23-2001 13:35:47

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Spike, Yes it's a Usb mini-mouse from pcally. Really don't know how it ended up in the dumpster at that store? They don't sell them there... Have not tried it yet to see if it works but it looks brand new. 02-23-2001 22:52:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Fatal Profile | Email O2U2 please email me at fatal99@hotmail.com. 02-26-2001 18:59:47

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) OmahaMH Profile Wow, that is so cool. I'm going out tomorrow to check local laws--there are two big office buildings literally right next door to me (hehe, my backyard is the end of the residential zone, apparently) and a mall and a computer store down the highway that I would love to check out for "buried treasure." The people here are so technically immature too, so who knows, I might get lucky :) 03-01-2001 22:44:18

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) OmahaMH Profile Wow, that is so cool. I'm going out tomorrow to check local laws--there are two big office buildings literally right next door to me (hehe, my backyard is the end of the residential zone, apparently) and a mall and a computer store down the highway that I would love to check out for "buried treasure." The people here are so technically immature too, so who knows, I might get lucky :) 03-01-2001 22:44:19

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Texman Profile I know what you guys mean. I work for a "fairly" large computer company, and ourRMA deparment will periodically through away stuff that is out of warranty. I take this stuff home (fortunately, managment doesnt mind if i take this 'garbage' home). I have 7 working pc's on a win2k advanced server network (the slowest is a P200-MMX - my 4 year old loves it). I could have 4 more PC, but free monitors are hard to come by. OK, now for the flaming...MisMan to quote: "You guys need to come by my house at garbage night. I usually donate to Goodwill or something, but I continually upgrade, and do not have the space to keep my 1 yr+ old stuff. I get paid well, and my free time is worth much more than the effort to do anything else with it. I have printers, Motherboards w/ processors, PDA's, RAM, and a whole lot of other Misc. software, etc... If anyone is in Des Moines Iowa, post and you can have it all for free. But be fast. Selling the house, and need it to look neat. Peter" You continually upgrade, yet your free time is worth much more than the effort?..."I get paid well...."so which is it....do you get paid well enough not to have to upgrade or do upgrade continually? And why do you want us to come by your house at garbage night......how about I come by your house, say, the night before garbage night! 03-01-2001 23:44:30

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) KG74 Profile Your victory may be someone elses remains from a crime. A good client of mine told me his entire office building was broken into save for a few high security floors where a major e-commerce company has people around the clock. The thieves broke in and stole DVD drives, memory, hard-drives and CPUs from dozens of offices. They left floppies, cases, power supplies, monitors and CDs. What they did with the stuff who knows. My client was left with a few computer cases and motherboards. Insurance picked up the tab for entirely new machines - I am sure those who know nothing of computers just launched the remains for your picking. 03-02-2001 21:45:45

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Key word LEO. (Law Enforcement Officer) They are very friendly and know me well. They often stop and chat for a few minutes and ask what my latest or best find has been. If they had a crime such as you suggest in thier area they would let me know about it and what to lookout for. I report anything that is very suspicious or out of the ordinary. It's called CYA and they understand. I've actually was behind one local business 3am in the morning a while back and some dude (on the front of the business) drove up and got out of his vehicle and threw a BIG cement block through the FRONT glass door and made off with lots of hardware. I won't go into lots of details but he is in jail now. Someone provided vehicle description, license plate and basic description of the dude. A detective showed some pictures and picked the dude out. He is "suspected" of beening a real active "smash and grab" burglar in the sound the area. He is in jail now and awaiting futher disposition. The business owner was a very happy camper and now provides me with his "excess" in boxes and notify's me via e-mail when a box is ready for p/u. I wish they all would do that! But that would take the fun out of Treasure hunting. 03-03-2001 06:15:07

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email O2U2, Getting back to the concept of old pc's sitting in the trash, I just found a throwaway Packard Bell (throwaway??) spectria all-in-one p75 in the trash and Im wondering why so many people toss out systems that can be easily donated to goodwill, the salvation army, etc. This thing has a monitor, sound, cd-rom, etc. It's not the fastest thing in the world but Im sure somebody could get some use out of it. I mean I could just as easily use it myself but my wife wont let me. Oh well, I guess I could drive it down to goodwill after I refurb it a little. 03-05-2001 10:39:15

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Another score, 17" Proview Generic Svga monitor. Has digital controls. Some minor scratches on casing. 15" Samsung monitor. Little bit of screen burn in.... About 40-45 brand name unused CD-R's (Silver). Subwoofer speaker and desktop pair. (Defective cable) Win 2k pro. (Disclaimer: I never will sell this because not real sure what status is) Microsoft USB optical trackball (Saw same at C-USA for $69.99)This was a Demo mounted on a display platform with a little itty bitty MOTION SENSITIVE (not the blinking red led) light to catch your attention. I did not think it was a real trackball until I took the whole unit apart and the usb cable was tie wrapped and tucked inside the base of the display. I really just wanted the circuit board for the motion sensitive light but got a bonus! Desktop computer with an ASUS T2P4 Ver 3.10 Mobo....512K onboard cache. has an intel p-100 cpu. This Mobo is an overclocker...a real workhorse! Supposed to support up to K6 2+ 500 which I just happen to have.... http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/00q3/000725/t2p4-05.html I really hate C-USA! I stop by there stores occasionally and take a peek. They love to smash everything and are real consistant doing so. argh,,,, Whats really irritates me is I've tried to price match some previous purchases a couple days after and had to deal with some real management ARSES ("Brit" for a Butt orifice) just for a few bucks off! Then they smash tons of stuff and toss it! I did try a couple of times to salvage some small parts off of some partially smash pcb's that seemed to survive but got caught and now they stack about 10-20 wood pallets on top of everything after smashing it in the dumpster! Too much work for me getting those out just for a handful of parts. Some may not even work. BTW, When is this company going out of business??? 03-10-2001 12:52:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email O2U2, Man are you lucky, I never find the kind of stuff your talking about! Although I seem to be getting closer to scoring some good stuff lately. Well now I know why that Spectria was in the trash. The monitor picture was screwed up sooo, Back to the trash. I managed to get some slim pickings off it. Anyhow, I have a story that'll make you seeth. This friend of mine works for a computer importer/exporter and they have this thing connected to the side of the building. Like a big-ass trash compactor. Well its physically connected to said building so there's no way in or out. Then again, why would you want to get in there! Theres nothing but broken up monitors keyboards and its flattened anyways. Get this, the ppl who work there actually smash stuff before tossing it in there. Makes me angry! Well, still hunting! -wheee!- 03-10-2001 17:48:31

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile GWIZAH, I'm not sure if it's luck or just a way of life here(Attitude). Some companies just seem not to care. Some chain retail stores take every little item (nickle and dime it)and actually put it on a special clearance table at a marked down price and it may sit there for a long long time, Then I go to the same name chain retail store in another part of town and they are throwing away massive amounts of expensive stuff. I've just accepted it and go for it. It's actually very competitive here. If I delay just an hour going to the stores dumpsters on the days that I know they "clean house" on, someone else will have already been there and grabbed all the good stuff. I just seem to have a little more motivation(Also boldness at times)than the others and frequency. I've seen a few of my competitors and there "appearance" seems to fit the "Dumpster diver" catagory more that I do. It's kinda hard to fit in when driving a new model subaru forrester and some of my competitors drive a raggity old mazda pickup or dodge van that's questionable if it's street legal (safe)and has tons of trash on the dashboard and floating around inside it. I'm not tryin to degrade or put these guys down. They just have a different standard than I when it comes to appearance. Even LEO has told me they tend to check these guys out a LOT more. I remember when Lucky computers chain went out of business here. They loaded up full there main Warehouse/Production facility dumpster with tons of stuff. I was there first. It was a real GOLDMINE, everything from Motherboards and harddrives to sealed copies of Win95, Win98 and NT4. I was driving my pickup truck at that time and just got done cleaning out that dumpster of the good stuff and loading the last items in the back of my truck canopy. It was packed full! (also the passinger side compartment) when I hear a Vehicle racing down the alley and tires squeeling turning to enter the facility lot. The look on this guys face when he saw what was in my truck. I guess someone gave him a call and told him that all this stuff was there. Like Maxwell smart used to say.... "Missed it by that much". There was slim pickin's there after that. When I have visited friends in Boise,Idaho I've discreetly checked out many same type company dumpsters there in the early mornings and it's a totally different world! Very tight, no waste. That's the way it really should be too. But since things are like it is here, I will continue Treasure hunting until.... 03-11-2001 07:04:58

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile whooo!! found one at a thrift store that just opened it was a powermac g4 (agp graphics0 with 10gb hd and a dvd with built in everthing such as firewires,usb,modem and ethernet and proccessor was 350mhz and had macos9 worth around 1,000 bucks and i imediatly snapped it off the shelf before other guy could lay a finger cause the stupid store doesnt know what it's worth and the price tag is (gasp!) $110.00!!!!!!!! for everything inluding keyboard,mouse ,monitor and yes they works 100% and had 64mb ram i popped in 128mb more and now has 192mb :0 im playing with it and wondering how to get my win98 networking to reonize the g4 file shares since mac use appletalk and have tcp/ip? 03-13-2001 20:11:12

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Where do you live? Moronville? Jeez, I heard of some good deals but COME ON!?? A G4 for $110.00?? Dude, if I were you I'd worry about the people in your neighborhood. What kind of drivers exam you got around there? I bet the cops announce a free boat giveaway every other week. (simpsons joke) 03-13-2001 22:08:00

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) info Profile Me thinks that stuff he been smokin' got doused two or three times over with the defoliant paraquat... 03-13-2001 23:19:08

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile i don't drink and smoke!!! and it's right in willowick,ohio(east of cleveland)love the bargain!! the store manger was pretty stupid to know about computer there were several other older macs and i chose this g4 over them cause it have built in ethernet!!! 03-14-2001 05:54:24

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email (puts on Flame-retardant suit) It had to be OHIO! j/k By the way, Cleveland ROCKS! 03-14-2001 07:55:34

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email I still think most of the "dumpster diving" stories are full of it, where I live we have a 5 cent can depoist law and the homeless folks keep the dumpsters clean of those expensive cans. I have yet to see any of our local "true" dumpster divers upgrading there laptops computers with all that "good" hardware they find !! FYI - When will this thread die? This thread has nothing to do with i-Opener's, perhaps it should be moved to the jokes and humor section. 03-14-2001 08:06:00

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mdetz Profile Well, posting in it won't help it die any. And believe it or not, there are: -places without 5 cent can deposits, and low homeless/unemployment rates -people who are too lazy/busy to lug their old equipment down to goodwill, or even schedule a pickup, when the curb is right outside, or the dumpster is right out back While this thread is off topic, I still look forward to reading about what 02U2 finds next! Maybe once it dries up around here, I might try it myself. Most places use big compactors, but there are plenty of mom and pop compu shops around here to hit. And I don't know why someone would lie about d-diving. There are a lot easier, more respectable ways to get attention... 03-14-2001 12:10:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email True... True... 03-14-2001 16:00:40

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 4thWAVE Profile OK, This is TOTALLY OFF the i-Opener topic but this link just lets you realize that if man can treat the most valuable creatures on this planet as trash, Anything is possible. Warning...Seriously, if you have a faint heart PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK! http://www.davidsplace.com/101_uses.htm 03-14-2001 17:02:03

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email 4th wave, Please do not post links to unrelated material here on this BBS! 03-14-2001 17:42:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Programmer Profile Nothing in the world is unrelated... That article was in fact talking about the ultimate hack.. though, the people mentioned in the article were going about it in what I believe is an extremely wrong manner.. with the ability that we have today (and have had for many decades) to grow human organs without the human, it is (to me) rather disgusting that anyone would kill someone over THEIR body parts.. of course, people have been killed for much less, and found it justified. 03-15-2001 05:57:09

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Point taken Programmer, I was just informing 4th wave about the posting rules on the board. Regardless of what I belive in, I just think the topic of dumpster diving in this thread revolves around computer parts, not human body parts. 03-15-2001 08:32:48

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Gee...been gone a day and... Oh Well. I started this thread as an informational type thing to let others know that there is a possible alternate (FREE) source of computer parts that MAY be available in thier area. Some folks who visit this BBS may be on a limited income (I'm not) and may not of realized that there may be some really good used (and sometimes new) parts, computers, monitors and other kool parts available just by pickin through a business dumpster. Personally I could care less if someone believes me or not on the finds that I post. And I could care less what they think about me digging in a dumpster. It's actually not as dirty as one would think. Not like a grocery store's or something like that... Perhaps other area's of the country is more conservative and enviormentally consious(Which is very good)and they donate or let there employees take stuff home that is no longer needed at there business. To quickly review SOME items I've found off of the top of my head that I've used on my i-Opener, Many 2.5" notebook harddrives. Several 64MB S-Dram modules from compaq notebooks.(Removed I believe for Win2k upgrades). Mini 5v fans. Small heat sinks. 2mm pitch ide interface headers and cables from broken notebooks. Mini surface mount switches (Same type that is on some i-Openers for bus speed settings. removed from some VR modules for dual pentium pro motherboards mfg by Super). Tons of SMD parts. 2.5" to 3.5" hard drive Ide adapter (required one open power trace on the pcb to be resoldered) Mini flourescent tubes salvaged from broken LCD screens. Power supplies from external SCSI cases. Win 95,98,NT4 and W2Kpro. (Not reselling) CD's and certificates. Mini usb mouse. Tons of usb related parts. There's ton's more but won't list it all. I just listed this stuff so one can see it is i-Opener related. I tell you, The Guy's I work with know I do this quite regularly and ask me(some with great curiosity)daily when I come to work what my latest finds are....Most of them think it's kool but there are a couple that think I'm possibly a few bricks shy of a full load....I don't care. I have good fun and enjoy what I call treasure hunting. So I feel this is thread is an i-Opener and or computer related topic and I may continue to post my findings unless codeman specifically tells me to quit by posting (Saying so) on this thread. And then I will stop. Until then, to the folks that have tried D'-Divin and have not found anything keep tryin' persistance pays off! It has for me. Have a nice day! 03-15-2001 17:45:35

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Things have been kinda slim pickin's lately. Latest find, Royal VISTA PDA with a mini corded keyboard http://www.extremecomputing.com/royalvista.html. Thing is kinda kool for free. Needs rear battery cover fixed though... batteries make intermittent contact at times. What? No games on this thing...Now I know why it was tossed. Would be kinda kool to figure out how to interface this keyboard to the i-Opener. For GPS streets entry. 03-17-2001 23:14:00

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Hmmmm, seem the link does not work properly. http://www.extremecomputing.com/royalvista.html 03-17-2001 23:18:45

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Hmmm, I found the page on extremes site. Didn't look too bad, that is until I looked at a link to it at Amazon, Whoa! People hate that thing!!! and its only at $54 soooo maybe its not as nice as it looks. Read the reviews and see what I mean. 03-18-2001 00:19:02

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Thanks, I just read the reviews and I agree with them. Basically has the same problems including very short battery life. I got tired of playing with this thing in less 20 minutes. It is a piece of junk.... Oh well, In the driveway sale it goes next month....Bet it's gone in the first 1/2 hour.... 03-18-2001 01:04:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Scored on a Compaq presario Series 2940 Notebook. It's LCD was badly cracked. Missing battery and ram Gutted it and it yielded the following parts, 3.2GB Fujitsu 12mm Harddrive. Model MHA2032AT Has Win 95 with MS Plus and Office on it. Toshiba CD-Rom drive XM1602 Sub "D" connector. The CD tray does not want to stay shut. I'm going to take this apart and see what's up. 233mhz CPU Internal floppy drive Atmel 29C020-12jc PLCC Bio's chip (i-Opener compatable!) Synaptics touch pad 2 small oval speakers (i-Opener replacements!) 2 USB connectors PCMCIA socket assy is detachable from MOBO. HDD Connectors LO-Ohm dale resistors Very small Sunon 5 volt fan PN# KD0503PFB-8 5v .3W Lots of SMD parts... Also scored on a Asus 40x cd-rom drive and a generic 16x Drive. 03-20-2001 22:37:36

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest score, Local OEM shop sacked another Tech. Must of got rid of that guy fast! It appears they threw everything on his workbench in a plastic bag (Hench the Brit term getting sacked?) Yeah some folks aint gonna believe this but too bad... Sealed copy of Win2000 server. 1-4 cpu edition. Has unused CD, Manual with Keycode sticker still on the back. Sells for $799 here...I have not figured out what I'm gonna do with this yet I don't have a server (Yet ) This next one really got my blood going... An socket "A" Athlon CPU Still in it's little OEM plastic antistatic package. Looked closely at the oem sticker on it and it's a 1.333GHZ with 266mhz bus. Looking at the core stamping under a magnifier matches oem sticker! I don't have a motherboard to test this yet. Going to spend my extra cash on a Vet. I took a nearby small pregnant stray/feral (Very cute) Kitty that I've been feeding for the last 4 months to a vet. She looked sick so I could not leave her on her own. That's going to cost me but was well worth it! I don't regret it at all. The vet did find a nice home for the kitty! Now she's has a nice warm home and a 10 year old little girl is very happy! The motherboard can definatly wait awhile... The athlon CPU looks fine. My hunch says there is nothing wrong with it! 128 MB SDram in antistatic bag. Only pc-100 though... Misc. other unused software, cables and tech doc's. Seems like computer sales have come to a crawl here. Waste is at an all time low overall. 05-28-2001 17:55:18

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email *Yawn* (late-hours) Wow, O2U2...Thats some find..So far due to your advice Ive found quite a few PC's in the trash, a few monitors...Nothing very substantial though. One thing stuck out in my mind when I read your post though, At a local bldg. I found a dumpster with several photos, personal effects, and even a few diskettes containing private info about an individual. I ended up contacting him via cellphone and boy was he grateful! Seems his company had given him 5 days to vacate his office space after he was "let go", unfortunately, he needed to go out of town due to a family emergency and couldnt get to his office until the following work week. Those lousy bastards tossed all his stuff into the dumpster like so much trash. Nice guys huh? He even confided some private info regarding trash schedules and loading dock practices, Hehe...Fortunately, Im not the type to use this info for Evil purposes -wheee!- 05-28-2001 21:09:29

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Yeah, I seen a lot of folks personal items dumped from offices. I too have had the impression that they never had the chance to pick up there personal belongings after getting pink slipped... Anyway the reason I keep bringing up these finds is so that if there are folks out there that need a cheap source of electronic parts this is the answer in some communities. Lots of stuff to practice with! Hone up those soldering skills! 05-28-2001 21:19:54

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Thanks 02U2, I took up "treaure hunting" upon hearing of your luck (maybe it's the NW) and have experienced similarly good results. I hunt office stores w/out tech departments and have scored many items that must never have been tested. I recently came upon a store that must have cleared out their keyboard/mice display. They destroyed most of the keyboards but many mice survived: MS wheel mouse, display logitech optical (one vibrates), display MS optical mouse (needs cord end), and many others. BTW, if anyone needs parts to fix mice keyboards especially: MS optical trackball, MS natural keyboard, MS sidewinder joystick 3d Pro Plus (force feedback?), or just general wheel mice email me at christophergi@nerve.com. I'd be willing to let them go for the cost of shipping. Know there's a thread for sales, I'll put this there too. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 05-31-2001 04:36:20

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email mosdef, try the swap meet thread.... O2U2, wahhhh! I hate you guys...All I keep finding is monitors that DONT WORK! I just finished testing 2 crt's with broken, burned out flybacks...Oh well...SO far to date I have discovered: 2 Compaq desktops, from a bank, no HD, RAM, floppy, CD-rom, PCI, or ISA cards... (maybe someone got to them first?) 1 Packard Bell Spectria all-in-one....got a floppy, P-75, fan, audio hookups, asst. cables, (but the mobo is worthless..) 1 486/sx with a whopping 100 MB HD!! no RAM, no CD-Rom, (someone must have been desperate!) 1 Pentium pro clone with no ISA cards, no RAM, (see a pattern here?) 1 Pentium 150 in case with no RAM, HD, or cards (...but it was all-in-one Mobo so it works fine.) 1 15" No-name brand monitor (works fine) 1 17" KDS monitor scratched, cut cable (why?? See rationale above....) 1 15" No name broken (Hmmm...) 1 15" Packard bell monitor broken. (probably same as the spectria above.) 1 17" trinitron (total crap, doesnt even turn on) Okay, if a monitor is in the garbage its usually crap Assorted mice and keyboards, a gravis game pad, A Cue cat, three pairs of speakers, and a partridge in a pear tree. Well, back to the Job.... -wheee!- 05-31-2001 07:17:12

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Mosdef, By chance do you travel on foot? Small backpack? 05-31-2001 16:06:06

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Looks like one major OEM and a couple smaller ones just had there building leasors post "for lease signs" on there buildings. (End of month) The Oems in the area are slowly dying one by one...Another one bites the dust... 05-31-2001 17:51:34

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email 02U2, I've been using the cardboard boxes in the recycle dumpster lately. I try and park a block or 2 away as some places I go to seem to have aggressive security guards (the good haul places). I'm starting to get enough small things that I'm going to carry a backpack. I'm sure some won't quite beleive it but 3 times at the same store I've got either a leather backpack, a laptop bag, or a 4 piece luggage kit. This really helped carrying things. I've been going quite often to some retail locations that are on my way home and have been trying out some smaller business outfits. Have the smaller reseller computer shops, and warehouse type outfits been good for you? I haven't had any run-ins with any law enforcement types yet luckily. I know of some large businesses that toss out lots of equipment from friends but they seem rather inaccessible, either office buildings or large private lots (you have no business here). Oh well, I've only been working at it for a short time I'm sure I'll pick up some more good spots. BTW, Staples near me is as bad as your CompUSA, everything destoyed, old software they break the CD's, mice trashed with cords ripped out, arrgghh. I was happy to find some styafoam peanuts (nicely bagged). ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 05-31-2001 22:43:02

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Just scored on a K6-2 450 ADK (2.1v) Cpu pulled from a broken Compaq notebook. Also had DVD drive and some other misc parts. Seems like everyone breaks the Lcd screens... 05-31-2001 22:46:52

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Gee you posted while I was writin' The reason I asked about the backpack is one dude here is fairly persistant(Not like me though)I see him from a distance quite often... Yeah I run across some security folks once in awhile but they don't hassle me. I've got a lot bigger build than most of the time and sometimes just give them that wild eye crazy look 05-31-2001 22:54:56

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Should of read "than most of them".... Itttt's late... 05-31-2001 22:57:11

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email 02U2, I have Intel (at least a few plants, & some codenames for their procs=wilamette) and Nike's Phil Knight as neighbors. If I remember right you said you were in the state North of me with Billy Gates Gruff in the hood. Unless you have goooood interstate vision it ain't me. I tend to do most of my work later at night 10pm or later. Do you do much earlier than that? I tried some in the middle of the day, but I'm usually working then. Oh well, I'm starting to get the garbage pickup times down and some of when the stores purge out Defective & Destroy merchandise. Any other pointers for pickup times, end of month, beginning of month, business quarters for companies purging items. I'd heard that the end/start of months at large apartment complexes are good for people abandoning items they can't move in time. Oh well, scored some more mice, and a neat wrist wrest for keyboard w/integrated touchpad, whee! ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 06-01-2001 03:22:11

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Mosdef, Guess it's not you then...I've got fairly good long range vision but not THAT good ...(My near vision really sucks. Can't even read the fine print stamped on the Athlon cpu core without a magnifier.) Folks that travels with me on the interstate often comment on my excellent ability to pick out that radar/laser Cop clocking traffic WAY up ahead...long before the cop tries to tag me... I've actually done away with my radar/laser detector an rely on my vision (and instinct) traveling across frequently traveled highways/interstates. (Knock on wood) 06-01-2001 07:47:24

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Finally, I picked up in one night a 3GB seagate hard drive (a tank as yet untested) and maybe 20 inkjet cartridges from an idiot office store. These were for the most part open box but unused cartridges. Some cartridges were completely unopened (2 pack HP inkjets, one opened one not). I have no idea why these were tossed in there but having worked at an Office_* store I know most workers are idiots, they return anything for any reason, test nothing, and are lazy as underpaid workers in any field are. I've been paying my miniscule rent & utilities the past 2 months with this hobby and ebay. I've kept a good nubmer of the goodies for myself but you could make some bank this way. Any non beleivers should try it out (just not where I live). FYI, I hit 4 stores in one night and have been hitting a rotating stock of 7 stores for a couple weeks, every other day or so. You get to know the rythms of the store when garbabge pickup is and so on. kudos to 02U2 for this new "channel" for tech parts.... ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 06-06-2001 03:19:06

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Okay so yesterday I had my first big score which consisted of a compaq desktop with an evergreen upgrade module ProMx. I benchmarked it under sandra with the hopes of putting it in my buds I-opener and it was actuallt SLOWER than a pentium 120Mhz! hmmm, back to the dumpsters.... 06-07-2001 05:39:44

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Persistance pays off eventually. My latest finds, CTX P-II 266 Mid tower computer, The only thing missing is the sdram module. Toshiba P-166 mid tower also missing ram. In-Win midtower case, very good shape! with 235W power supply Office 97 SBE sealed package. Win98FE Sealed package. 2 Athlon cooling fans 2 P-III cooling fans 2 din 5' Keyboard extension cords 1 sealed 100 pack of generic CDR disks Recovered about 40-50 CDR's from a second opened pack... 9 sealed HP CDRW disks in cases Infrared wireless mouse and receiver A security alarm box with cords that they use for the PDA's and camera's Has 2 kool bargraph displays and a numeric keypad on it. about 2 boxes of other stuff but i can't remember what it is right now, It's way past my beddy bye time.... 06-07-2001 22:34:49

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Normally don't find much on the weekends but got lucky this time! Got my first socket "A" mobo! It's used and was in an antistatic bag and box, Gonna try it tommorrow morning after a good nights sleep! I've fried more stuff late at night... It's an Epox EP-8KTA Rev 1.1, Lucky me I also noted on that 1.333Ghz Athlon Cpu I found about 3 weeks ago that it's multiplier UNLOCKED! So IF this setup works, I should be able to get at least 1 Ghz from THIS mobo. For you nubies....I've learned a lot about Computer assembly and REPAIR using parts mostly from the local OEM's dumpsters here. In my area there is a wealth of knowledge waiting to be rescued...Plus using info from the web one can learn a lot by himself, If one has the motivation. PS. I've re-built several higher end systems mostly for the price of gas and my fun time "treasure hunting". They were donated to some "low income family" kids and it made there day! 06-09-2001 23:22:04

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Whoo hooo, Gosh I love this hobby! Scored on 4 notebooks! All have broken LCD's though. Toshiba 2800 series with P-III 700 cpu,128mb ram,10gb Harddrive, 8x DVD and mini pci 10/100 eithernet. All parts intact except LCD screen broken and no power adapter. Has some minor scratches on case. Win ME COA sticker still on bottom of unit. IBM Type 2636 all intact (except LCD) IBM Type 2611 "" Compaq series CM2000 (1235) Lots of other kool stuff too...These companies are still downsizing 06-14-2001 22:09:53

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Programmer Profile O2U2: send me an email at programmer at bethie dot net.. 06-15-2001 05:43:29

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) EyesWideOpener Profile Not to sound dumb, but do you guys actually get INTO the dumpsters, or rummage when they're full? At first the thought made me queazy, thinking of the smell and all that, but then I realized that if these bins, which are probably fairly new, only contain electronics and paper stuff, they're probably much different than food bins, right? Not that I could get in and out of a dumpster myself anyway. Shame, though, there are tons of strip malls and computer stores (large and small) within easy driving distance from me. Maybe I need to hire a kid and i'll drive the getaway car! LOL 06-15-2001 07:07:32

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile It's alive! I went and got a targus power adapter a little while ago for the Toshiba P-III 700mhz notebook I found yesterday...Got home and plugged her in...Leds start flashing...Harddrive chatters away...a weird pattern like one of those black and white blot pictures a shrink shows is on the badly cracked LCD...the inverter works! Then a very familar sound!!! The Win ME startup jingle! I popped a CD in the DVD drive and voila music! Sounds a heck of a lot better than the 500mhz compaq I bought last year! Tommorrow I'm going to connect a monitor to the vga out of this notebook and run extensive diagnostics... I will post pictures sometime soon... Looks like my mobile i-Opener project has just been replaced! As soon as I find a suitable 14.1" active matrix LCD screen... Now to answer your question EyesWideOpener. No, I hardly ever crawl into a dumpster...I have several special retrieval tools I've made and use those just about all the time. Pallets get used as makesihft ladders. There was an occasion long ago there was a ton of very small items and I decided at that time it would be easier to climb on in~ Most of the other stuff in there is boxes,paper,styrofoam peanuts and packing cushioning, foam rubber, brown kraft paper, plastic shipping wrap and misc other none gross stuff...They do have some stuff from there break room but it's in garbage bags and that is usually not that much of it or that bad. Sometimes there is broken flourescent light bulbs and wearing a mask is a must to prevent inhaling phosphor dust. Now by comparison if one checks out a grocery store dumpster that probably would make me puke.... I do have a very keen eye and watch very carefully for anything sharp! I carry a first aid kit and a bottle of denatured alcohol (just in case to clean any pokes or cuts) Gloves is a must! Also this may sound geekish but some type of eye protection/safety glasses is highly recomended! I wear industrial tinted(Sun)safety glasses during late afternoon (Bold) excursions. Disclaimer! NOTE dumpster diving can be very DANGEROUS AND HAZARDOUS to your health!! I've found that companies in the past have illegally dumped hazardous waste, asbestos, dry cleaning solvents and other very dangerous materials and chemicals. I've done this for 20+ years and am very experienced on what hazards to watch out for! Also there may be local and state laws that prohibit removing items from trash containers and also watch out for trespassing violations! LEO* here is kool with me and they leave me alone. (*Law Enforcement Officer) They may not leave you alone in your area! So if one feels lucky...D-Dive at your own risk! 06-15-2001 23:40:19

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile BTW EyesWideOpener, The 4 notebooks were just inside the dumpster waste level(This one has a side silding door)just reached in and grabbed them. They were basically stacked on top of each other! I nearly went nuts when I looked in there and first saw them setting there! Gosh my competition has been dozing... It's probably one of the best finds so far! I'm still pumped from this! Got an external monitor hooked up to the Toshiba notebook and everything else works fine! Gee windows Office 2000 too! I have ## days left to register..... The notebook is still listed as warranty protected @ Toshiba..... Funny thing is I went to a competing store and the exact same type notebook (undamaged) is on display selling for $1599. One of the other notebooks is an IBM Think pad "i" Series, It is a 366 celeron with a 4 gb harddrive,Win98 and cd-rom. It's Lcd is also badly damaged... I've been considering parting this one out to a couple of guys from work but I think I'm going to wait awhile and maybe a LCD screen will show up somewhere else from a notebook that a drink got spilled on the keyboard/motherboard? 06-16-2001 11:32:24

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile PS the dumpster is on a public accessed area. So looks like the company released all interest in the notebooks by throwing them away. 06-16-2001 11:35:15

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile LEO* defined this for me. He's kool! something about a supreme court ruling recently. 06-16-2001 11:38:58

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email EyesWideOpener, I'm dirty I get in the dumpsters. Usually it's out of necessity as there are a couple of my favorite spots that happen to have Security Guards doing sweeps (their far worse than LEO's). I figure if things look promising and I'll have to spend some time there I'll just jump in. Usually with tech or office stores their trash is mostly paper and packaging and is almost always bagged. The few regular places I like to hit will toss out their goodies right on top of everything and I don't have to rip open bags to look for stuff it's right out in the open. Lately, I grabbed two Leather office chairs (holes poked in leather), 2 winModems, 2 cd-roms that had been tach hammered. Surprisingly one of the cd-s worked after taking the hammer, the shell looks a little ugly but that will be inside of the computer so who cares. That same night I was getting them I saw the garbageman digging through this store's trash taking the multitude of pens in there. He said this place always throws away things, things he doesn't even know what they are (I think I know what those are). Get out there, just not where I live, OK? ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 06-17-2001 01:08:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I finally got a motherboard (I BOUGHT it new) for the AMD 1.333ghz Athlon cpu I found about 3 weeks ago. The Epox EP-8KTA that I found earlier didn't work at all. No post codes,nothing! I checked the SMD fuses,mosfets,etc...nothing. My next step is to do a "Hot Swap" reflash of the bios chip on another mobo and reinstall it on the epox and see if that solves the problem. Anyway The 1.3333ghz CPU works flawlessly on the new Asus mobo! Got the Asus for $89.99 at ComputerStop They did a price match with there online store Gopcstop. Really a nice little Motherboard! Thinking about getting a micro desktop case but there may be powersupply issues... Check it out...http://www.asus.com.tw/products/Motherboard/socketa/a7vl-vm/spec.html 06-17-2001 03:45:03

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Hit the Rich industrial parks tonight, Ahhh, much better quality, hp omnibook docking bay, fujitsu dot matrix printer, 1 stackable office chair. Such fun, I even told some trucker that was backing into the loading dock of the closed business that I worked security, HA! I talked to him about his troubles digging around in a dumpster, I've never had the trouble he had. The only other find I've gotten recently are some 6 button remotes with what appears to be a serial interface (came from medical equipment leasing company) that used to operate reclining beds. I've seen many garbage men digging through the dumpsters lately as well. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 06-23-2001 04:12:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest finds, Maxtor ATA 100 pci interface Soundblaster "live" pci sound card (Black pc board with gold audio sockets) 4 MB pci 3d video card FIC VA503+ Socket 7 motherboard HP CD-Writer plus 8x4?x32(Teac CD-W58E) <rear corner dented slightly> 4 ATX intel P-II "Atlanta" LX motherboards "mini mouse" Gravis USB Joystick (in a box) 2 USB kensington Trackball mice.(in boxes) Lots of kool little stuff. And didn't even get dirty... 06-23-2001 12:15:09

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email 02U2, Let me clarify, I'm DIRTY (mindstate) however I don't usually get dirty, unless you count passing yourself off as a Security officer. An officer wearing a t-shirt, sportcoat, needing a shave and a haircut, with bourbon on his breath. Well at least truckers are for the most part very lonely (have a dog in the cab) and trustworthy or speed freaks by birth. 02U2, I saw you mention an HP laptop earlier. Would it be a Omnibook 800? If so would you care to try a docking station for it. Email me for details christophergi AT nerve.com. Everybody, the above email www.nerve.com and www.bet.com (yes, Black Entertainment Television) seem to have the nicest free webmail account I've seen out there. For what it's worth, aside from http://www.fatwallet.com this is the best deal for saving money out there, and this method is the most interesting for the hacker set. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 06-24-2001 04:10:33

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Well I actually crawled in one this morning. It was well worth it though! I stopped by this one on the way to work and peeked in real quick not really expecting much... Noticed it was only about 1/10th full and started pushing all the paper,plastic wrap and other stuff around with my stick to see if anything worthwhile was buried... Notice a silver object the size of a PC card, I could not retrieve it with what I had with me so I thought about it for a moment and said to my self,darn only one way to get it... I torn open some cardboard boxes and lay them over the lip of the dumpster so I could straddle the lip without getting anything on me... Crawled in and IT STANK! PEEEUUWW, It evidently it had been setting in the hot sun for awhile and was nice and ripe... Grabbed the PC Card and about two dozen pokeman mini cd's in jackets. Put everything in a used manila envelope and got out of there fast! Checking out my find in my car I noticed the PC card is a wireless modem. Looking it over on the back it had a small sticker with "NON-FUNCTIONING DEMO" printed on it. Darn... I got to work and had a few minutes to spare so I checked out the modem again and noticed hat there was another sticker the same size UNDER the "NON-FUNCTIONING DEMO" so I placed the modem on my defroster and turned the defroster on to heat up the modem a bit so the sticker will soften up. I peeled the top sticker off the back and there is a serial # sticker. Hmmm I thinks to my self...I also look and see the model# is filled in and also the FCC ID#. To shorten this a bit I got home and straightaway fed my Cats. Then I got out my notebook and plugged in the modem and turned on the notebook...Like I suspected would happen Win98 finds a new device "Novatel PC Card modem" then asks me if I want to install drivers....WOOOHOOO! YES, Looks like it's the real thing! Checked it out on the web and it sells for about $299.99. http://www.novatelwireless.com/pcproducts/merlin.html Also, yesterday found 2 identical model compaq pc's missing various parts. Maybe this weekend if I have time I'll post pictures for the doubters... 06-27-2001 16:53:12

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile PS the Modem is model# NRM-6831 FCC ID NBZNRM-6831 The serial# is really an EID# 06-27-2001 16:56:18

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile http://rd.yahoo.com/M=209928.1503195.3073582.1432018/D=news/S=7665819:PU/A=718663/R=0/*http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?gid=442&v=2.00&buster=undefined One more wave of layoffs...Perhaps shutting down some more regional offices...Clearing out tech service centers... Not good for those that work for these types of businesses but this is some of the type of stuff I look for. 07-10-2001 17:50:08

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Darn pop up ad squeeked in on me... Here's the right link http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010710/tc/compaq_job_cuts.html 07-10-2001 17:56:06

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Kinda slim pickins lately, 10.0 GB Quantum Fireball CX (Works fine) Passed all "trouble shooter" diagnostics and ran Quantum zerofill utility OK. Gravis joystick Another box of various cables and connectors A 50' roll of 3M 1/2" wide "Iron on" Silver reflective night safety tape Win ME CD. 07-12-2001 21:53:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I spoke too soon yesterday, Things perkin up for the moment! Western Digital WD200BB Harddrive (20GB 7200 Rpm) *Retail* Was not sure if this survived the great toss... They chucked it from the loading dock into an about 1/3 full dumpster with pastic shipping wrap and cardboard... Outer casing undamaged. Box has return sticker on it stating would not work in customers computer... Got home and I plugged her in my test computer and powered it up. Was really expecting to hear serious grinding noises.... nothing but silence.... The computer continues booting and the Promise ATA66 controller recognizes the drive! Computer finishes booting and get a DISK failure message, Darn... I get the Trouble shooter diagnostics disk out and reboot...do a quick dianostics and it passes them all! This drive is the QUIETEST drive I've ever had! Putting my ear next to it I can finally hear it. I can hear my store bought Maxtor drive chattering from 3 feet away... (Note, I do have mild hearing loss from jet aircraft engines and old age ). It formatted fine! Other finds, 3 MS Visio 2000 CD's still in jackets w/ keycodes and manuals (Appear to be unused) Proxim Symphony cordless PCMCIA Card (Missing antenna) Norton firewall 2000 CD still in *sealed jacket Norton system works 2000 *" Kai's photo soap *" Tomb raider special edition *" HP Wheeled mouse Genius "Net mouse" Acer 3300 U Flat bed scanner (Has broken optical mirror inside) Acerscan 620 UT Prisa Usb scanner Left some small stuff behind...I know it will be gone by tommorow morning! You know this hobby is terribly ADDICTING! 07-13-2001 22:43:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email CompUSA feeds me, Well they finally gave me something good: a pIII intel mobo, a laptop mobo (haven't figured which one yet), an apple mobo (somebody might want it, it has ram), 5100 hp scanner (broken glass, easily fixed), sony vaio cd-rom, floppy from save vaio, 2 kensington webcams (cut cords), many recovery cds and msWorks cds ugh. Staples gave me some hp speakers (polk), targus Visor keyboard portable (was display unit but works fine, goddamn!), and some other lights. FYI, many office stores ridiculously toss out furniture with 1 scratched or cracked piece. If the furniture is made by O'Sullivan or Bush (maybe others) they will allow you to request the broken pieces and have them mailed to you free of charge. I've run into about 2-3 desks and 3 bookshelves. Some required no new pieces but they will ship to you. This reclaims what would otherwise wasted resources, in a junk desk, don't feel bad. Other cash resources are Laser Cartridges and Inkjet Cartridges. Laser carts, not remanufactured (xerox, office store brand, etc...) can be resold to local recyclers which should be easily found in your area. The lasers can be sold for $5-15 per cartridge to the recyclers. They seem to buy only on a need basis. If you have a garage and enough space for some boxes you can make some cash for tech toys doing this. Inkjet recyclers seem rarer nowadays but worth a look. Mainly hp deskjet carts seem to be recycle canidates. It's all gravy baby... 07-14-2001 04:17:22

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email CompUSA feeds me, Well they finally gave me something good: a pIII intel mobo, a laptop mobo (haven't figured which one yet), an apple mobo (somebody might want it, it has ram), 5100 hp scanner (broken glass, easily fixed), sony vaio cd-rom, floppy from save vaio, 2 kensington webcams (cut cords), many recovery cds and msWorks cds ugh. Staples gave me some hp speakers (polk), targus Visor keyboard portable (was display unit but works fine, goddamn!), and some other lights. FYI, many office stores ridiculously toss out furniture with 1 scratched or cracked piece. If the furniture is made by O'Sullivan or Bush (maybe others) they will allow you to request the broken pieces and have them mailed to you free of charge. I've run into about 2-3 desks and 3 bookshelves. Some required no new pieces but they will ship to you. This reclaims what would otherwise wasted resources, in a junk desk, don't feel bad. Other cash resources are Laser Cartridges and Inkjet Cartridges. Laser carts, not remanufactured (xerox, office store brand, etc...) can be resold to local recyclers which should be easily found in your area. The lasers can be sold for $5-15 per cartridge to the recyclers. They seem to buy only on a need basis. If you have a garage and enough space for some boxes you can make some cash for tech toys doing this. Inkjet recyclers seem rarer nowadays but worth a look. Mainly hp deskjet carts seem to be recycle canidates. It's all gravy baby... 07-14-2001 04:18:27

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) info Profile Just in case anyone is wondering, is this dumpster diving thread Hack3r related? Purely for free computers only folks, nothing else! http://www.cyber24.com/htm2/6_204.htm 07-14-2001 04:55:53

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile That looks familar! Mosdef, I tried CompUsa's here but they mostly all have closed compactors. They do have another dumpster and that seems like an overflow just in case the compactor is full. They totally smash or cut up everything and seem to get a sick enjoyment out of doing so if they use it. It really makes me sick to see a dumpster 1/2 full of smashed monitors and printers that some retired folk could of fixed and passed on to someone who could benefit from them. Hmmm, I wonder if the employees who do the smashing of the monitor picture tubes and other stuff realize the health hazards of being exposed to (inhaling) the phosphorous dust? Contacting the lithium from the notebook batteries? The Liquid crystal gel from the LCD's? It's all real poisonous. Some of the other places don't really seem to care and just toss it as long as one does not try to return the stuff. A dab of red spray paint here and there... I agree about the funiture and chairs...All it seems to take is a small scratch or chip and out it goes! What ever happened to scratch and dent sales? I'm wondering if companies like C-usa make more profit on LOSSES (TAX WRITEOFFS?) than doing anything else like donating? 07-14-2001 15:47:31

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile PS, I just want to clarify to all I'm just into this as a hobby for keeping up with the latest electronic technology and honing my skills to repair electronics and building PC's and other electronic GADJETS from stuff that costs nothing or next to nothing (Mostly fuel and time)! I'm NOT into Cracking,Phreaking,Scripts or any other type of activity. Too old for that! I did buy a couple copies of 2600 off the shelf long time ago.... 07-14-2001 16:05:46

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Yeah I wonder about the losses from "destroying" these products, I worked at an 0ffice M!x awhile ago and we routinely tossed stuff I would now know to be good or fixable at least. I know from reading a small design magazine http://www.emigre.com that large corporate buyers of any sort can demand many things. In magazines they can demand that the publisher take back unsold copies (shipping, storage, destruction costs). I would assume the same holds true in electronics and large Office & Electronics chains. The OEM's find it cheaper to tell the store to "deface & destroy" the merchandise. Big commerce is ugly & brutal. Good merchandise that is slow to sell is wasted space that is holding up profitable merchandise which is languishing in warehouses costing money while making no money. On a brighter note, what you can't find in the trash you can always buy. The ultimate antithesis to the hacker ethos the "Recovery CD" can be quite profitable. Keep your eyes peeled for these while on the hunt. Depending upon what make & model they can fetch a princely sum on eBay. The laptop models do especially well. quote...Miller High Life: The Champagne Of Beers...end quote 07-15-2001 02:57:57

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Fun stuff, Every now and then after I smell like spilled coffee from the trash and I don't have a damn thing to show for it I wonder if 02U2 is fooling or bragging but then I remember he's done this for many years and he wisely keeps his secrets to himself and he probably casts a wide net in his searches. I've been searching a lot more lately and it has paid off in dividends. Good luck with random businesses doing upgrades have yielded a Digital Voice Announcer (press 1 for sales, 2 for marketing....) pentium II/III mobo, laptop mobo, laptop battery for compaq, 2 cellular phones, many patch cables, 4 folding chairs, 3 bookshelves (new in box), 4 folding chairs, 1 folding table and last night 3 256MB sticks of memory. Granted memory is cheap right now and I haven't tested these but hell theire lifetime warrantied and damn I had to show everybody how dumb some companies are. /http://www.hevanet.com/gillesp/paintRAM.html ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 07-18-2001 00:00:12

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Mosdef, Let the ram sticks soak in pure 100% denatured alcohol for awhile (The stuff in a can from paint store) rubbing alcohol is usually 97% or less,mixed with water and is weak, (Thinner WILL work but the stickers will be destroyed), (approx 2-3 minutes soak) if the paint is fresh it will come off right away! Wipe with clean plain paper towels. Soak again if nessessary! Careful with static electricity build up. Ground yourself! I'll bet ya the ram sticks are perfectly fine! slim pickins here... Asus ME99VM socket 370 Mobo with video/audio in atx case. 5vdc Power wart for back pack external CD-Rom drive (Was in original box that CD-Rom drive came in still in plastic bag) Thats all for now! PS, my net is VERY wide! 07-18-2001 04:02:59

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Very Wide Indeed, I'm getting theret too along with frequent visits... I thought I was reliving your very first post tonight finding an iMac with a gouge in the side. Close it was a 17" apple studio display. Other finds include compaq baby atx case (tweaked) & socket7 mobo w/flop & cd, Slot 1 case & mobo (needs pwr supply), HP 4l laserjet (used), hp inkjet color fax machine (needs 1 cover), deskjet 820cse (needs cover), laserjet 3000 (some cosmetic damage) and I forget what else.... This was in one night, granted one of the better nights I've had, but damn it's nice. Somebody not so nice took issue with me rearranging their pile of garbage looking at the many fine office chairs they had cut up for no reaon and wrote me a message on a chairmat: "garbage digger, you suck, white trash you suck, garbage digger...." The only thing is at this location I've seen the garbage man himself digging in the trash, another bum and myself, plus how'd they know we where white. I even kept the dumpster nice I just rearranged it. They must have been somewhat good hearted for they left me 50-60 cdrs and a nice gas lift chair pedastal for another leather chair I'm fixing. hell with em' ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 07-18-2001 05:22:49

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Mosdef, There are some sad people in this world. Reminds me of when I was younger and used to dig through a huge print shop's dumpster for labels (dont ask what for). One day I came by and Looked inside the dumpster and what do I find? A crapload of perfectly good blank sticker sheets (ends of rolls) covered in ink glops and splatters from the depleted ink containers being thrown away (which were always bagged seperately since its Illegal to dispose of them this way) And right above taped to the inside was a note saying "Hey dumpster boy, you want stickers...GO BUY THEM!" I was p'oed at this and I decided to call the pick-up service they used (hell, numbers on the side of the dumpster) and tell them about all the Ink all over the inside of the dumpster. They were none too happy on hearing this and two weeks later the dumpster was from a diffrent company and inside a fenced off area. Moral: Teen angst is not good for D-divin! 07-18-2001 10:22:01

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I've run accros that same type of mentality. I use to find anywhere from 1 to over a dozen socket 7 motherboards daily at this one shop that were removed for upgrades. One of the tech's finally decided to destroy each board by sticking a phillips screwdriver in each pci/isa slot. I still took the boards anyway just to irritate him... Eventually he got fired...a year later the chain company went out of business here closed ALL shops...Lucky star computers they were...Not so lucky... I also run accross the same slashed NEW leather and fabric office chairs and funiture that just needed minor replacement parts or repairs. One office chain must toss over 100k of this stuff a year here. I don't have room for this stuff. To you newbies out there... if you are motivated and want to teach yourself and learn about computers and hacking and want free spare parts and not afraid of getting a little dirty, there are various sources of FREE parts out there! The 1.333GHZ Athlon still running flawlessly! 07-18-2001 21:48:45

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Hey yall, Many late nights have yielded nice goodies. One company who must be upgrading a whole buch of workstations had over 2 days yielded 7 socket7 systems minus ram, hd, & cd. 3 of them were Dell systems with integrated video & ethernet. If I can lay my hands on some simms & a couple hard drives they'll make nice cheap workstations for some family members or for United Devices processing (distributed computing project that pays). A few nights back when I hardly felt like going out I found a company that tossed 5, 5! Motorola Skytel 2000x 2-way pagers. If any of you watch Rap Videos these are those big bad pagers all the hip hop moguls use (I suppose business folk use them, I just happen to believe that Motorola pays MC's to pimp their products, there are just too many 2-way pager rhymes out there in the last year for it too be a coincidence). These were used but in original boxes and hardly used. They should net $5-700 on eBay. Tonight I found a as yet untested maxtor 60gb drive, bookshelf (i'm going to have an office furniture garage sale soon), bunch of ide & floppy cable, small 5v fan, and 2 hp laser printers a 5l and 5p both of which were tossed at the same from a company that recently upgraded to a Tektonix Phaser which leads me to beleive that the printers are fine. On an ugly note a store I've had good luck with recently chopped up with a Paper Cutter or wire cutters maybe 15-20 cheap-o modem cards and a Firewire 1394 card. Too bad, about the firewire card at least. The couple modems I've found in the dumps belonged there. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 07-25-2001 04:26:59

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Looks like it's getting addicting, eh? Funny coincidence about the Maxtor drive...I seen a new empty 60GB Maxtor box in one dumpster today, note on it "Bad sectors"...Looked hard and long for the drive...Nada...Somebody musta beat me to it Slim pickin's here My latest finds, Asus P5A Super socket 7 Mobo 64 MB 72 pin EDO Ram (4 16 MB) 6.4 GB Western digital Harddrive 4 MB ATI PCI Video card Sony 4x4x24 CDR drive (only does 74 min..no 80 min, firmware update should be out there...) Bookoo Sony and generic CDR and CDRW media Defective Cannon notebook P133 1GB HDD Ata-66/100 Ide cables still in plastic bags 07-25-2001 22:10:41

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile You know I've tried over and over again to purchase some of this "so called" defective merchandise at a resonable discount and I get the SAME silly story every time...Got the same story today asking about some Kingston 256MB memory modules setting in a defective return basket behind the customer service counter. They tell me "it will be returned to the vendor"! The customer says it only shows up as 128MB on his machine. I bet somebody (if not myself) will find them soon, in the trash! It seems to be one of the stupidist things these stores do. 07-28-2001 14:41:47

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) friar Profile O2U2, I'm not afraid to get dirty at all. Periodically we shut down our power plant for a maintenance outage, and I enjoy getting absolutely filthy for a few days, hehehe. What makes me very hesitant to check out the dumpsters is that I don't want a confrontation with law enforcement or any 'crazies' that, I guess, probably aren't as crazy as all that! I have collected quite a few items from the dumpsters here at my worksite, including office chairs, monitors, tools, a whole bunch of common-keyed padlocks, books, and some shrink-wrapped programs. Another thing I did was to participate in the auction of old computers here at work. My bids were so ridiculously low that I initially didn't win much, but I went to many of the people that had won items and asked if they had anything they wanted to sell. Many of the winners had won multiple items and were looking to recoup some of their unintended purchases. I ended up buying one 90mhz pentium for $25, two others for $25, 3 monitors for $10 apiece, keyboards and mice thrown in too. As I'm making trips taking all this stuff out to my car the instrument tech that is also our IT/system administrator told me that the stuff that no one put bids in on was just going to the dumpster, so if I wanted it I better had just take it all too. I got a couple more monitors, 2 486's, a flatbed scanner that they couldn't get to work, and an old HP laserjet! The reason they couldn't get the scanner to work was that they were missing the documentation and software (which I have since found on the net), but most importantly was that they needed the scanner card. I looked in all the machines that I got, and what do you know? I found the card too! hehehehehehhehe So now both my kids have computers, and I have plenty of surplus to play with! 07-31-2001 21:55:54

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) friar Profile That should've read, "one 90mhz pentium for $25, two others for $20" 07-31-2001 22:00:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Steve Profile | Email here's a slashdot discussion about dumpster diving and some links from it http://slashdot.org/science/01/08/03/1812211.shtml http://physicstoday.org/pt/vol-54/iss-7/p26.html http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Hobbies/Dumpster_Diving/ 08-03-2001 12:37:44

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Great article! But can really picture yourself finding a nuclear reactor in a dumpster? I knew a guy who gets all kinds of scientific stuff from places like universitys and labs. He's a marine biologist though, so it's usually all corroded and/or broken. If its high-tech (meaning a computer, or other gadget) he'd pass it down to me. You guys wouldnt want to see the kind of crap thats inside a p100 that was on a boat for 6 months! -wheee!- 08-03-2001 13:53:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest finds, 8.4GB Western digital HDD "still under warranty" 1.6GB Western digital HDD 6 pairs of 72 pin memory simms and dimms Intel 166MMX cpu 52x A-Open CD-ROM Drive (Works fine!) Another ASUS P-5A Super socket 7 Mobo 250 watt Enlight ATX power supply 4MB PCI Video card 8MB PCI I/O Magic Video card 16MB AGP TNT2 Creative Video card. (Noisey fan on video chip) 3D skateboard game CD Celeron slot 1 CPU heatsink (New but missing fan,Thermal pad unused) Socket 7 CPU Heatsink Black keyboard Driveway sales coming up SOON! Can barely close the doors on the 22' Storage container. You kneubies want to learn more about computers...This is one way to do it cheaply and at your own pace! 08-05-2001 21:50:13

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest finds, Apple USB optical "Pro mouse" (left button sticks)I'll fix that! It's actually real cool looking! Red LED on the bottom. Win 98SE Sees it and it works! Checked the price on this in the store and sells for $70+ Quantum 6.4GB Harddrive this drive was working fine for about 10 minutes then sounded like critters inside wanted to get out! Thermal problem... 64MB SDram PC66 PNY (Lifetime warranty eh ) LCD Screen sharp 12.1" Unknown status.... The 2 Sdram modules I found a couple days ago I thought were 64MB sticks but turned out to be 128MB sticks. work fine(PC66 though) 08-06-2001 22:02:25

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Hey all, I've picked up 4 socket5 & socket7 systems lately. Two last night had no power supplies, but one did have a 120mhz processor. One company that I've seen upgrade their sales floor to new dell p4 machines has tossed out a total of 7 Dell Pentium systems all with processors. About 1/2 of the boards had integrated ethernet, & all had onboard video. Scrounged around for some memory and old hard drive and instant win98 workstation. I even used a 345MB drive w/Drivespace from win95 to upgrade to win98. The funny thing is I've been running this distributed computing app on my systems lately and doing all right (I'm Team Engineering in the member stats) and one night I saw the program running on 1 of the companies machines. I checked their stats the next day and I'm nearly on par with their output with the machines they've tossed out. Granted they don't have all those shiny new Dell's running the agent but it's still funny. The program is at http://www.ud.com Do you ever find furniture on your treasure hunts? I'm talking about ready made, assemble it yourself office furniture. The 3 major brands: Sauder, O'Sullivan & Bush all will send you replacement parts up to about 5 pieces at no cost. I've found a great number of desks, hutches, bookcases that needed no help but I've ordered from O'sullivan (online & phone) and they deliver quickly. I'm happy that all that wood doesn't go to waste. On a finishing note, I recently fished out about 5 pieces of furniture that were removed from their boxes and tossed loosely in a dumpster. They were desks, hutches, file drawers and more. I didn't have enough room in my car and went home to dump off my load and comeback. I was gone only 20min and when I returned the garbage man was upon the dumpster and was just finishing dumping the 2 dumpsters. I can only Imagine what he thought coming upon the neat piles of furniture including hardware and intruction manuals (which I used a burnt match to mark off the parts as I found them because I had no pen). The piles were on top of the dumpster lids so he had to either take some of the stuff home himself (i hope) or put them back in the dumper. I was pissed for a few days over that..... ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 08-15-2001 02:56:42

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Mosdef, Been wonderin'where you been lately...Thought for a moment maybe you accidently got snagged inside one and routed to a local landfill... I have seen tons of the ready to assemble home/office funiture tossed just because there is a minor defect such as a scratch or slightly crushed corner on the partical board or missing part(s). I have also used that 1-800 # to order replacement part{s} ~ Ths is something the store should have done but? I've picked up lots of chairs and small furniture items and resold them 1/2 price repaired and assembled. I just set them in my drive way with a "For sale sign" and eventually someone bites! I use this extra cash mostly for "Computer hobby" Not much on the finds lately, 13GB Quantum Harddrive with Win 98 SE (Reformatted and works fine!) 3.5GB Maxtor (works fine) About 15 Pentuim III Heatsinks and fans left in Retail packaging @ a local OEM. The prosessors had been removed from the plastic carriers and the rest tossed. I don't know why but I've seen stranger things. (This is the same OEM that tossed the 1.333GHZ Athlon cpu still in antistatic carrier and Win 2K Server software CD and Manual still wrapped with COA Sticker still attached). Lots of CDR Media still in wrapped cases. (Some cases cracked) Used Ram memory Lots of it! That Athlon 1.3 and 20 Gig Western digital still alive and running fine! 08-15-2001 04:05:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Funny s**t, I've managed to make my friends living room look like a furniture store. After tonight's haul he should have 6 bookcases, 4 file drawers, 5 desks of various sizes, 2 hutches, and 1 entertainment center. Also several floor mats (why these are tossed I don't know) and keyboard drawers. I have yet to put it together but I should have enough brand new shrink wrapped panels to make myself a cubicle or two with countertops and shelving. I plan on having a killer garage sale in another week or so. This last night when I got some of the furniture I had to dig way deep in a dumpster. The 3 pieces I took were mostly removed from their boxes and covered in some other junk. I wound up getting in and shoving aside trash with a large carboard box to get all the pieces. Somewhere in my gyrations I DROPPED MY CELL PHONE IN THE DUMPSTER. I had loaded my car and tossed back some junk I had taken out of the dumpster to better move inside the dumpster so it was buried. Sh*t that sucked. I couldn't guess where it had dropped in this very full dumpster so I struck up a novel idea: call the phone. I had to drive only a block where I called my cell from a pay phone (damn .50 calls). I high tailed it back slamming the loose boards around in my car but the phone only rang about 4 times when I got to the dumpster. I was right next to a hotel so I thought I'd try to ask for some help. I've come across an Office Store shirt which I was wearing at the time (....the better to cover my a** with my dear, "I work hear you see, officer....") and I told the hotel cleak my story which he laughed at. I had him wait a minute then call my phone number so I could dig towards the ringing noise. It worked, then I drank beer, and wrote this to all of you. Zippered pockets are your friend. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 08-17-2001 03:36:12

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) laserfan Profile This whole thread is taking on a feel akin to "Penthouse Letters" isn't it! Do they still do those things (my college daze are SO far behind me)! Barely believable, but highly entertaining nonetheless! 08-17-2001 05:27:56

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) zyxw Profile | Email Hi, Ok fellas, I've never complained about something this trite on our board before, however the grammar in the title is awful and this thread refuses to die. Could I suggest dumpster diving for a new thread? It wouldn't be so bad if this had any chance of dying. I'm not sure why the title is so annoying, my guess is it's not the title itself so much just it's frequency of poping to the top of the list forever (essentially a mild annoyance which reappears 106 times over the year). Now that I've vented.... Thanks for listening and enjoy your diving! 08-17-2001 05:51:03

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile Personally, as a long time reader, I like the way this thread flys under the radar for a while then pops up with an entertaining story. Besides, the good stuff seems pretty thin lately. 08-17-2001 07:22:03

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Have you really tried it MORE than once? Tip, Electronics retail outlets (Future shop was excellent while it lasted!) OEM computer shops (Most in my area doing better upgrades sales than new systems) Computer sale Centers (Example Gateway country,Tiny) Corporate Service centers (Compaq) Just to name a few... Tech moral appears to be very low in some of these corporate workplaces and they don't seem to care about their employer's profit much. Oh well their loss is my gain 08-17-2001 16:08:44

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email Penthouse my a**, 02U2 did everybody a favor letting people in on this gig. It's not often someone with a good hustle will talk, but this is one anybody can get in on if they swallow their pride and put in a little work. If you'll notice not too many people post any real score(z)s on here. That's because it takes time. Time to find the places, time to figure out routine (trash pickup, merchandise dropoff), and time to vist regulaly. People are so deaf about free deals due to scam artist businessmen, but we aren't selling anything here. I'll say there is a certain "check box" on job applications that I'm familiar with which made me a little less hesitant or snooty than others about d-diving. When I earned my checkbox I had trouble GIVING AWAY leftovers I had from my exploits. I found it incomphensible but people DON'T TRUST FREE THINGS. Granted unless I move I'm not telling you my exact spots that I hit but 02U2 was right on with his exasperation. Other suggestions: Office Stores, some take customer returns and process them early in the week, others toss every day and you can have better luck on the weekend when idiots are working and they don't D&D (deface & destroy) items. OEM's, I've found only weird stuff, some I've eBayed others I've kept but your results may vary. Large Businesses, IT departments don't have time to test things, nor handle leftover parts. If there is a possiblity that it's bad they replace it. One of my regular haunts that I stumbled upon had a licensing quote form Ingram Micro that listed the companies computer assets: 1000+ laptops, 400 workstations, 40 HP netservers, 60 compaq servers....All this out of 2 nondescript brick buildings. I was just walking through a business complex when I spotted some cisco router books in the cardboard recycling, there were about 20 empty router boxes. Lastly, If you can't d-dive read http://www.fatwallet.com/forums for the hot deals (I've got tons of free or cheap stuff there, it's the place that finds all the e-commerce price errors, coupon deals, free offers and the like) I stop by a couple times a week and I always get laptop recovery CD's (pricey on eBay, keyboards, server stuff, cords, new ink cartridges & printers (I think they came as Freebies with the IBM laptops). After I had found the list detailing all the laptops I was kind of pi**ed I hadn't found any laptop goodies, but last night I got 6 10gb hitachi 2.5" drives. They were static wrapped nicely but I haven't tested them yet. I also got 3 small computer desks (in box) 2 floor mats, 1 acer scanner w/out AC. A last rule of thumb many businesses retail or private handle electronics broken or unwanted as expensive items and they must be handled under supervision. This applies to throwing they away as well. Most places I've found will have the stuff outside of the usual black trash bags making them easy to find. I had to remove ten trash bags to find the laptop hard drives. Seek and ye shall find, Maybe next weekend you'll find my crazy garage sale with all the office furniture, the lawn will look like a staples furniture floor. ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 08-19-2001 04:01:01

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Mosdef, Thank you. I'm glad you have taken the initiative to actually go out and look. Persistance is a big factor. Setting aside one PRIDE is another! That was a great idea on recovering your cellphone! Several years ago while out on strike* (We were out 69 days) I was out early morning "d-divin" I had just got my $100 weekly "strike fund" check the day before and had it with a few others in my wallet. Needless to say I lost my wallet in a dumpster and it was collection day. I did not notice I lost it until I went to buy breakfast....Geeez started to panic because also had cash,ID and Credit cards... Raced back to the last place I visited and I could hear the Garbage truck in the neighborhood. I dug through that sucker worried the truck would be there any moment and I would be part of the load! I finally found it with about 3 minutes to spare. Watched the truck empty that one! I work for a very BIG company and bring in a good income. I don't really need to go "D-Divin" but I find it a most interesting hobby and have learned a lot about computers this way. I've built some cool computers from this stuff and donated them plus some like new desks and chairs to Kids less fortunate. It does get to be REALLY addicting and it's like a "Treasure Hunt" I don't know if I will find anything on a certain day or what the find(s)may be. One day when I get around to it, I will upload and post a link to a series of photos of some of my so called unbelievable finds for the skeptics. I even have some photos of dumpsters full of computer parts that would make some here drule all over themselves. But I perceive there will still be a skeptic or two even with that. Too Bad One thing I find very interesting is I live in a VERY BIG city and there are only a few of us here that do this! If the majority of the population knew of finding this stuff.... *while out on strike that year I made about $3900 having weekend garage sales from this stuff. I was not ready to go back to work yet when they negotiated and voted to accept that contract... Retirement in 9 more years! I plan on supplementing my retirement income doing this! And still learning about the more recent technology! Slim pickin's this week Latest finds 2.1GB 2.5" 12.5 mm Seagate Harddrive 3.5 to 2.5" drive cable adapter 32MB Sdram module (PC66) Lots of cables Soundblaster "Live" sound card I don't remember the rest (Getting old) but I have 2 boxes of stuff still setting in the back of my car. This dry spell is just temporary, things will pick up eventually. I've been doing this for MANY years. Until then ME SCOREZ AGAIN 08-19-2001 07:53:01

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Good score, Mostly Belkin USB stuff (1) Expressbus Plus F5U012X2 (retails over $100) (5) 4 port hubs F5U014-(0E)? (2) USB Pocket hubs F5U007-UNV(one has cut cable.) (2) Dongle cables for Belkin USB PCMCIA Card (The PCMCIA cards were pried open and destroyed, Cables are fine) (2) 5V wall warts for above USB ports several other 5v wall warts with cut cables and usb cables with connectors cut off. I left them behind... Got this stuff just before the rain! I tallied it up and it would of cost me over $300 to buy this stuff! I wonder if this customer return USB stuff is anyway related to the VIA USB chipset issue? 08-20-2001 21:19:48

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) Q000 Profile You guys may want to relocate to Austin: Mark recently found a bunch of Windows 2000 servers (1,000 to be exact) that usually retail for $800 dollars per unit. He thinks the company may have gone out of business before the servers were received, but he doesn't know for sure. He sold them for $90,000. He also found 23 units of IBM website-building software that retails for $10,000 per unit. This guy dives full time, and looks to be doing quite well at it. http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0808/p13s1-lihc.html -Q 08-22-2001 11:11:04

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile oh man 90,000 dollars worth that's enough to buy a fancy car or a small house :) he's a such lucky ass!! 08-22-2001 19:49:30

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Excellent story! Thanks for the link vwbug19 Pretty soon we'll have everyone on this BBS D-Divin' Be forwarned! IT IS VERY ADDICTING once you get the first really good score! (I don't do food or drinks ) I've been doing it for a LONG time mostly for electronics and can't quit. 08-22-2001 21:28:00

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile OOOPPPSS! Let me correct that last post Thanks for the story Q000 ! Gosh what I find is table crumbs compared to that dude! $90K I'd quit my job for that. I'm more motivated now to expand my route and search harder! 08-22-2001 21:42:01

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Was slim pickin's till I stumbled across an unopened CASE of BRAND NEW latest issued unopened Mac utility software. I can't use it so I took most of the new still factory sealed software to another local reseller and got major in store credit for it. The software gets recycled and I get nice new toys! Urban survival 08-26-2001 04:03:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile PS. to clarify, the case of software was IN A DUMPSTER in a PUBLIC accessed parking lot area so it was legal pickin's! 08-26-2001 04:10:42

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mosdef Profile | Email One weird find I'd made lately is going to be paying off nicely. I picked up about 300 credit card terminals, most were nicely refurbished models or brand new. They had new keypads, plastics, led covers and the like. I'd been clearing out a few on eBay when I decided to figure out how much they'd net and it should be in the $5-8k range depending on the size lots they go in (mostly me not wanting to do 300 seperate transactions). It's always the strange things that can make you money, or in my case pay off the credit card. Other than that I've only found about 50 cordless phone bases (new, but antennae broken), a few matching phones, many cordless phone batteries and the like. I have run into a few of my scruffier friends one of whom despite his looks had a fine knowledge of new phone technologies from his d-diving exploits. I'm not sure if he had a telephone nubmer but he did have many 2.4ghz phones, luckily I was in the dumpster first. It's dog eat dog sometimes, eh? ------ "...stranglin a mandolin..." ghostface killah lyric 08-29-2001 19:01:11

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Latest finds, 600 Mhz Digital Alpha CPU and intel mainboard in ESD Bag. Weird layout... About a dozen PCI SCSI-2 cards. Long Video cards with Lasagna "type" 5v heatsink/fan on chip. About a hundred Torx computer case security screws with "L" shaped torx drivers in bags. 15 GB Western digital Harddrive. 20 GB Quantum Hard drive (Tech stabbed it with screwdriver it's Mainboard on otherside appears to have survived!) 48x CD-ROM Drive. 09-03-2001 00:48:50

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Slimmest pickin's yet...Signs of the economy? Looks like some stores are now going into scratch and dent mode here rather than throw away...Little late in the game I'd say...oh well. Hitachi DK23AA-51 5.12 GB 9.5mm Notebook harddrive. Using Quantum zerofill utility corrected a couple bad sectors Works fine now. Appears to have been removed from Compaq notebook. 2 256MB Crucial Sdram sticks for desktop. IDE ATA 66-100 Drive cable (New) Hardrive cooling fan array 5.25 to 3.5" drive mounting brackets. Numerous Toshiba CD-Rom drives. I've reduced my outings about from daily to 3-4 times a week. One local OEM tech shop got rid of there dumpster and now use a small garbage can. Others barely half full on collection day...These used to be overfilled and generous! 09-10-2001 21:07:08

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile whoo! my friend bought 7th 2 family house in run down neighborhood and kicked out all tentants while cleaning out the rubbish and junks i came across a cool kenwood 10disc changer for car but missing the cd disc magazine (magazine sells for 30 bucks)and and whoo! a hp deskjet 932c parallel and usb still very virgin in box like it was recently bought from the store still with shipping packing and tape that secure the door intact along with unopened boxes of print cartidges :) printer works good on my win98 and also works on my mac g4 what a sucker the guy who lived there cant come home cuz he's in prision and everything is ripe for my picking :) but if he had the printer ,then i don't see any computer in the house :( probably pawned the pc for layer fee the house had 40 cats!!! a real sinker gotta wear gas mask and behold a golf game arcade machine in basement made by tatio in 86' im going to take that too :) and in back room in basement some ampfier and aidio equipment :) 10-04-2001 18:19:44

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) mbaha Profile O2U2- I live in your area and was curoius about buying some hardware off of you. If want to sell some of your hardware e-mail me mbaha at hotmail.com thanks mbaha hack your own you will love it more 11-19-2001 15:16:07

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) tandem137 Profile O2U2- You live in the WA area right? I'm diving soon. Does radio shack have much good stuff? ***~TaNdeM~*** 12-01-2001 04:40:34

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) tandem137 Profile Oh my gosh. It's 3:30! I sat here and read this entire forum. Awsome stuff! ***~TaNdeM~*** 12-01-2001 04:42:39

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Since this thread is a rather long one,and there is another newer related thread started my SeekandFindit1 Waddaya say we let this thread drift on to the archives and let it lay. I'm even getting tired of scrolling to the bottom of this thread. 02U2 12-01-2001 11:52:54

RE:Me Scorez again (modified 0 times) normapomero Profile "You mean they destroyed the imac intentionally? " I want to know more about this, why is it they destroyed the imac intentionally? What's wrong with them. 09-09-2010 20:42:43

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