Dana VanDen Heuvel: Things You Can Do With Your Old Computer

January 27, 2004

Things You Can Do With Your Old Computer

Get a new computer for christmas? Have an old 'box' or two in the closet? Dont' throw those old computers away (unless you donate to charity!). Here are a few ideas from a DesignTechnica article: Don't Throw That Old Computer Away.

Learn a new operating system (Linux)

Turn it into a firewall and/or router and/or server

Learn new skills and contribute to an open-source project

Serve or play your media

Make a dedicated media station

Create a retro arcade

Make a game server

Contribute to a distributed computing project

Take it apart and learn how to build a computer

Whatever you do, don’t throw it away
Your old computer still may be useful to someone and even if not, there are parts of computers that really shouldn’t be just thrown in a landfill.

Hewlett-Packard has a good hardware recycling program that will take old computers and recycle them in a manner that is safe for the environment. There is a substantial list of recylcers at the PEP National Directory of Computer Recycling Programs and the CRC (Computer Recycling Center) is also a great place to start. There are also usually local school programs that are looking for donated computer hardware.