My day job is working with adaptive technology for the disabled, so of course someone once asked me to fix their neighbors computer "because he's blind."

It worked out very nicely though, all he needed was a stick of DDR-333 replaced, which I had a box full of, and in return he gave me a computer he was going to throw out, a Compaq Presario 9240 Pentium 150 desktop with matching monitor and speakers. Not bad for an hours works.

Tetrium wrote:

And still it bugs me from time to time, people only being interested in the value of money instead of the value of passion and the value of effort put into it. All the hours you spend? They don't care...

Is that really a negative though? If you can make some money off old hardware, then more people will want to put it on the market instead of recycling it or throwing it in the garbage by the truckload. One store I went to directed me to their eBay page when I asked about retro parts... they take out anything of potential value before recycling them. That can't be a bad thing.

TheMobRules wrote:

Well, none of my friends or acquaintances in "real life" share my retro computing hobby (only a few are interested in old game consoles) so I guess I'm safe in that sense.

Same here.

TheMobRules wrote:

However, I am very familiar with that thing about people that I barely know asking me to "fix" their computer.

I usually spout some nonsensical line like "Dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor, not an Engineer!" and they usually label me as crazy and leave me alone. Truth is because of the amount of time I spend at the hospital, I have limited free time witch I don't want to spend fixing other people's crap. I'd rather fix my own crap, work on a model tank or work on my cars.

I learned my lesson years ago. Never work for free. If you work for free, you show your client that your time is worthless. Always get something in return, even if it's just a positive reference when looking for a job.

Why in the world would you actually give away good legacy parts for free? Why would you even consider it? Just say "no".

I've never experienced this problem of people asking for nice legacy parts. I've also learned not to discuss my retro-computing hobby with anybody. Most people just think I'm nuts if I talk about it. Even fellow IT cohorts raise an eyebrow if I mention it. I save my discussions for VOGONS, where I will be neither judged nor condemned.

Tetrium wrote:

This "problem" of people caring only for the value in terms of money will, I think, only get worse in the near future the moment retro PCs will start getting into the same spotlights as any old non-PC hardware (Spectrums, Altairs, etc), they don't even care for one bit about the passion and the reasons I started retro-computing in the first place 😵

Welcome to America! Might I interest you in a copy of The Jungle or Grapes of Wrath?

(Yes, I know you're not American.)
((You haven't seen real greed unless you've lived in the USA))
(((Yep, I'm a MBA dropout.)))
((((Things will only get worse. Plan ahead.))))

KT7AGuy wrote:

Why in the world would you actually give away good legacy parts for free? Why would you even consider it? Just say "no".

I've never experienced this problem of people asking for nice legacy parts. I've also learned not to discuss my retro-computing hobby with anybody. Most people just think I'm nuts if I talk about it. Even fellow IT cohorts raise an eyebrow if I mention it. I save my discussions for VOGONS, where I will be neither judged nor condemned.

((You haven't seen real greed unless you've lived in the USA))

Ahahahaha. The Netherlands has an expression that basically translates to "Sitting on the first row for a quarter dollar", i.e. being first for as little as possible. It probably says something (not so nice) about the Dutch that none of the surrounding countries has a similar expression...