DON'T stack laptops...
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Options a.) Crush them and throw them away... b.) Donate the laptops to a non-profit organization with an OS; of course only after all your personal data has been irretrievably deleted (which can then be rather critical). c.) Donate the laptops to a non-profit organization _without_an_OS Format all the drives Personally I tend to a.)
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I have a small pile of old laptops that I'm not quite willing to get rid of just yet. Stacked them one of top of the other. Some have been in the pile for years. The one at the bottom, under the weight of all the others, I guess started putting too much pressure on the trackpad buttons, and I recently found out they no longer work. Lesson learned. That's what you get for being so obsessed with thinness, you manufacture a laptop with so little space between the display and the keyboard when the lid is closed that they touch. Anyway. I thought I was really clever when I instead started using those (typically) metal or plastic dividers you get from office supply places. I don't know what to call them. They're made to let you organize papers on a desk. Not just a stack of horizontal shelves. The sort that lets you place papers or small books in them vertically. Here. [This](https://i.etsystatic.com/12833639/r/il/19ee5e/2898137813/il\_fullxfull.2898137813\_g887.jpg) illustrates what I'm talking about... So...I started placing my old laptops in one of these trays, "nose first" -- none of my laptops have buttons on the front that would get damaged from the laptop sitting on that edge for some amount of time. Whether the power connector is at the back or either side, that's not a problem either. Easy to grab any of them or put them back (easier than trying to take the last one from a stacked pile anyway). Takes little room. I only see advantages to this. Most laptops nowadays are thin enough they easily fit in one slot. Nothing particularly innovative here. I just never thought of using one of those trays like this until now. How else have you repurposed some everyday thing in a way it wasn't really intended?
dandy72 wrote:
How else have you repurposed some everyday thing in a way it wasn't really intended?
Not me, but apparently this couple did. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-funeral-home-owners-accused-storing-190-decaying-bodies-are-c-rcna148016[^] Doesn't say whether they used foam or whether it was on the side or not.
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I have a small pile of old laptops that I'm not quite willing to get rid of just yet. Stacked them one of top of the other. Some have been in the pile for years. The one at the bottom, under the weight of all the others, I guess started putting too much pressure on the trackpad buttons, and I recently found out they no longer work. Lesson learned. That's what you get for being so obsessed with thinness, you manufacture a laptop with so little space between the display and the keyboard when the lid is closed that they touch. Anyway. I thought I was really clever when I instead started using those (typically) metal or plastic dividers you get from office supply places. I don't know what to call them. They're made to let you organize papers on a desk. Not just a stack of horizontal shelves. The sort that lets you place papers or small books in them vertically. Here. [This](https://i.etsystatic.com/12833639/r/il/19ee5e/2898137813/il\_fullxfull.2898137813\_g887.jpg) illustrates what I'm talking about... So...I started placing my old laptops in one of these trays, "nose first" -- none of my laptops have buttons on the front that would get damaged from the laptop sitting on that edge for some amount of time. Whether the power connector is at the back or either side, that's not a problem either. Easy to grab any of them or put them back (easier than trying to take the last one from a stacked pile anyway). Takes little room. I only see advantages to this. Most laptops nowadays are thin enough they easily fit in one slot. Nothing particularly innovative here. I just never thought of using one of those trays like this until now. How else have you repurposed some everyday thing in a way it wasn't really intended?
Umm, Dandy, don't take this the wrong way, but you have issues. :) I type this as I look at my current work laptop, my new work laptop and my old work laptop while typing this on my server. If your stack is that high, seek therapy. But wait, I have a funny story to tell. Actually, not so funny, so I'm not going there. I just typed it out and I got very angry. Don't be a hoarder.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
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Umm, Dandy, don't take this the wrong way, but you have issues. :) I type this as I look at my current work laptop, my new work laptop and my old work laptop while typing this on my server. If your stack is that high, seek therapy. But wait, I have a funny story to tell. Actually, not so funny, so I'm not going there. I just typed it out and I got very angry. Don't be a hoarder.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
What's "that high"? Did I say how high I have laptops stacked? How many do you think I have? What's too many? Who's to say? Based on what criteria? These are the tools of my trade. I use them to earn a living. You don't want to know about my other ("non-laptop") systems then. Or the number of VMs my hosts are running. My dad was a mechanic. He owns more than one set of sockets. More than one set of ratchets. More than one set of screwdrivers. More than one impact wrench. Should I inform him that's excessive? I'm not offended. Share your story if you must. I genuinely wonder what made you "very angry".
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What's "that high"? Did I say how high I have laptops stacked? How many do you think I have? What's too many? Who's to say? Based on what criteria? These are the tools of my trade. I use them to earn a living. You don't want to know about my other ("non-laptop") systems then. Or the number of VMs my hosts are running. My dad was a mechanic. He owns more than one set of sockets. More than one set of ratchets. More than one set of screwdrivers. More than one impact wrench. Should I inform him that's excessive? I'm not offended. Share your story if you must. I genuinely wonder what made you "very angry".
Oh jeeze, it's the lounge, relax. I know all about laptop stacks. It was a running joke in my family what with 11 kids and needing laptops for school, toss in the wife and myself... So, the angry story - I must have had 6 or more laptops back in the equipment closet. My youngest two, and I'm guessing they were like 8 and 6 yo at the time, asked wife if they could take apart a laptop to see what was inside. Mom thought it was fine... now this is in May. Come November, remember, I have a hoard at home so Christmas is a big financial opportunity. I think to myself, "Myself, lets sell those old laptops and buy Christmas presents." I go to the equipment closet - nothing there. Went to the master bedroom closet - mmm nothing there. After zooming around the house for 30 minutes, wife asks me, "What are you looking for?" me: "The laptops I had back in the closet." her: "Oh, those are gone." me: "Pray tell where?" her: "I let the kids take them apart." me: "They were MY laptops." <--- blood pressure rising. her: "We TOLD you about this." me: Funny look on my face... umm, "bull$hit" <--- kids running for cover, mom's in trouble. her: doubling down, "We TOLD you we were going to do this!" me: I've lost my temper at this point. Honestly, I have never been so angry than at this point. My hands are shaking. "Do not EVER touch computer hardware in this house again." I went to my office. Wife wanted to discuss the situation. Nope not going to happen. Leave me alone. That's where the anger quip came from. Like you, I have my stack of laptops. Hope we're good now.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
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Oh jeeze, it's the lounge, relax. I know all about laptop stacks. It was a running joke in my family what with 11 kids and needing laptops for school, toss in the wife and myself... So, the angry story - I must have had 6 or more laptops back in the equipment closet. My youngest two, and I'm guessing they were like 8 and 6 yo at the time, asked wife if they could take apart a laptop to see what was inside. Mom thought it was fine... now this is in May. Come November, remember, I have a hoard at home so Christmas is a big financial opportunity. I think to myself, "Myself, lets sell those old laptops and buy Christmas presents." I go to the equipment closet - nothing there. Went to the master bedroom closet - mmm nothing there. After zooming around the house for 30 minutes, wife asks me, "What are you looking for?" me: "The laptops I had back in the closet." her: "Oh, those are gone." me: "Pray tell where?" her: "I let the kids take them apart." me: "They were MY laptops." <--- blood pressure rising. her: "We TOLD you about this." me: Funny look on my face... umm, "bull$hit" <--- kids running for cover, mom's in trouble. her: doubling down, "We TOLD you we were going to do this!" me: I've lost my temper at this point. Honestly, I have never been so angry than at this point. My hands are shaking. "Do not EVER touch computer hardware in this house again." I went to my office. Wife wanted to discuss the situation. Nope not going to happen. Leave me alone. That's where the anger quip came from. Like you, I have my stack of laptops. Hope we're good now.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
Hey man, I knew that, clearly, it's wasn't my "hoarding" that got you angry. I'm sorry. :rose: I know we've discussed your situation before, and believe me, I had zero intent to rile you up - you don't deserve that. If anyone must know: I have exactly *4* of these old laptops. Certainly not anything excessive (I don't think???) :-) If I've painted a different picture, that's my bad. And there's only *one* of these laptops I've actually bought myself. The other three were given to me by people who needed to upgrade to something else and didn't know what to do with them. I do put them to good use - mainly, trying out various Linux distros that, for a reason or another, won't run in a VM. Which I find strange, as you'd think a VM, with its known virtualized hardware, would have better support than the endless myriad of physical hardware configurations. [Edit] Oh, and if anyone ever touched any of my hardware without my permission, there'd be some serious s'plainin' to do. :-) Things would get unpleasant.
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Hey man, I knew that, clearly, it's wasn't my "hoarding" that got you angry. I'm sorry. :rose: I know we've discussed your situation before, and believe me, I had zero intent to rile you up - you don't deserve that. If anyone must know: I have exactly *4* of these old laptops. Certainly not anything excessive (I don't think???) :-) If I've painted a different picture, that's my bad. And there's only *one* of these laptops I've actually bought myself. The other three were given to me by people who needed to upgrade to something else and didn't know what to do with them. I do put them to good use - mainly, trying out various Linux distros that, for a reason or another, won't run in a VM. Which I find strange, as you'd think a VM, with its known virtualized hardware, would have better support than the endless myriad of physical hardware configurations. [Edit] Oh, and if anyone ever touched any of my hardware without my permission, there'd be some serious s'plainin' to do. :-) Things would get unpleasant.
we're good my friend. It's all good. The problem with VMs is you have to get there and be religious about using them. For work, I believe in them religiously. For personal stuff, I am very easily led astray to install stuff on the base system. I have a year long project trying to pull all of my personal stuff, email, documents, etc into a VM. I keep getting distracted. I'll get there.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
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I put my Log Log Duplex Decitrig slide rule in its leather case, in a padded drawer. I keep the book that came with it on the bookshelf. (no, don't remember the last time I used it)
>64 It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
I had a moment of panic when I read your message and realised my British Thornton P221 Comprehensive slide rule wasn't in it's usual spot. Then I realised I'd moved it to an adjacent shelf while trying to tidy up. I last used it for anything serious roughly half a century ago!
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we're good my friend. It's all good. The problem with VMs is you have to get there and be religious about using them. For work, I believe in them religiously. For personal stuff, I am very easily led astray to install stuff on the base system. I have a year long project trying to pull all of my personal stuff, email, documents, etc into a VM. I keep getting distracted. I'll get there.
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
I'm a slave to my VMs. :-) I made the switch, maybe 15 years ago, once I understood the potential. My primary system hardly has anything on it - I tend to leave anything I would consider to be "my docs" on a system that just has a bunch of disks. Nothing on that host but the OS. My VM hosts (other, "remote" systems) have nothing but their required drivers and the VM host software (Hyper-V in my case). My VMs are pretty much all single-purpose. One VM dedicated to running the DC role. Another for dev. Another for SQL (only). A bunch more for testing against various OSes. Another for all the browsers under the sun. If something goes wrong with a VM, since it has a single task, it's usually pretty straightforward to bring it back up. It's really when you dump everything on a single machine that rebuilding becomes a real time sink. When it comes to backing up the VMs, I just backup the hard drive files, and I know I can bring them over to another host in the worst case scenario, and just recreate new VMs and point to the existing "disks" (disk files). I have a separate VM that's purely for trying out random downloads and things I might not necessarily trust from the get-go. I even have one VM where I do all my printing. I have more than one printer, and printers are notorious for installing all sorts of extra garbage. I let them install whatever they want on that system, I don't care, it's ONLY used for those few times I need to actually print, and the VM otherwise remains off. My "real" systems all remain pretty clean without that sort of cruft that just accumulates all the time. Anyway, I don't think I need to convert you to the VM religion. :-) I could write a lot more on their benefits...
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I'm a slave to my VMs. :-) I made the switch, maybe 15 years ago, once I understood the potential. My primary system hardly has anything on it - I tend to leave anything I would consider to be "my docs" on a system that just has a bunch of disks. Nothing on that host but the OS. My VM hosts (other, "remote" systems) have nothing but their required drivers and the VM host software (Hyper-V in my case). My VMs are pretty much all single-purpose. One VM dedicated to running the DC role. Another for dev. Another for SQL (only). A bunch more for testing against various OSes. Another for all the browsers under the sun. If something goes wrong with a VM, since it has a single task, it's usually pretty straightforward to bring it back up. It's really when you dump everything on a single machine that rebuilding becomes a real time sink. When it comes to backing up the VMs, I just backup the hard drive files, and I know I can bring them over to another host in the worst case scenario, and just recreate new VMs and point to the existing "disks" (disk files). I have a separate VM that's purely for trying out random downloads and things I might not necessarily trust from the get-go. I even have one VM where I do all my printing. I have more than one printer, and printers are notorious for installing all sorts of extra garbage. I let them install whatever they want on that system, I don't care, it's ONLY used for those few times I need to actually print, and the VM otherwise remains off. My "real" systems all remain pretty clean without that sort of cruft that just accumulates all the time. Anyway, I don't think I need to convert you to the VM religion. :-) I could write a lot more on their benefits...
nah, I'm there brother :). My former primary customer mystifies me in not letting developers use VMs. But the developers get paid even if their machine goes down. Consultants don't. Glancing at my stack of backup laptops....
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
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nah, I'm there brother :). My former primary customer mystifies me in not letting developers use VMs. But the developers get paid even if their machine goes down. Consultants don't. Glancing at my stack of backup laptops....
Charlie Gilley “Microsoft is the virus..." "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money"
charlieg wrote:
Glancing at my stack of backup laptops....
LMAO A coworker of mine is using a good set of VMs, but refuses to run VS itself in a VM. Too much of a difference in compilation time, he says (and he's using a much faster system than I have). He's not wrong, but I don't tell VS to perform full rebuilds every 8 minutes. He's a little OCD in that way. :-)
