Another bit of proof that I'm not starting again later, today I finally recycled some old equipment.

Well, it was 30 years past its prime, and it's terribly unlikely the old dial-up tech will ever come into favor like it once was. There is, it seems, still a small market for POTS dial-up, but since it still peaks at 56Kbps, it's not likely to be a big winner for many.

Back when I got them, the hardware retailed for about $20,000. When they're on eBay or other reseller sites, they list for maybe $100. I took them to the recycling place today, where it looks like they'll be stripped down for the small amounts of gold, copper, and maybe other minerals within, and screws and the giant hunks of steel that make up the cases. 120 pounds of servers, manuals, and some packing materials, in big, sturdy cardboard boxes, gone for good, and for free.

I also got rid of an old all-in-one Sun Ray terminal that I'd bought online, but which arrived with a broken display. The recycler wanted to charge me $10 to dispose of that, but took my $9 cash and called it fair to avoid the credit card fee.

I have a giant pile of cables and other stuff I can recycle as well. I've got a half dozen or so old computers, stacks of ancient drives, printers, and a bunch of old CRT monitors that might make it over there in small amounts in the coming weeks or months. They'll take the computers, unmounted drives, cables, and cards for free, but charge for each of the printers and monitors. 

Of course, I always envision taking a little time to clean up the old computers and offer them for free to people looking for something. I don't have a lot of high-end machines to hand down, but plenty of browser and web video capable devices. And some much lower powered bits, too, which I used to try to use for mostly remote terminals, but don't have such a need any more.

I'll get my basement workshop cleaned up soon, I'm sure.