E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

Just noticed the pentagram on the bezel, kid probably played too much competitive UT so he needed Satan's help to git gud. 🤣

Mandrew wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:08:

E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

Drop m a note, if you need the recovery DVD for the Scenic. I can upload an Image.
Installation of XP does not need activation from the recovery disk, so its my preferred way of installation.

Mandrew wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:08:

E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

was the middle tower a fujitsu-siemens too? seems like a good haul anyway

eisapc wrote on 2025-10-16, 06:51:

Drop m a note, if you need the recovery DVD for the Scenic. I can upload an Image.
Installation of XP does not need activation from the recovery disk, so its my preferred way of installation.

Thanks, appreciate it, I'll have to declutter first.

gerry wrote on 2025-10-16, 17:19:

was the middle tower a fujitsu-siemens too? seems like a good haul anyway

Middle tower looks like a generic PC with the usual AM2 board inside.
I went back during the night and got an IBM OEM and 4 dirty/rusty rigs with these boards, got rid of the cases and kept the rest.
I'm happy with the outcome.
What's interesting is this modern Gigabyte H510M H V2 that was condemned for some reason, it was installed in one of the cases with no RAM or CPU. Probably dead but I need a DDR4 stick to test it. I'm still stuck in the DDR3 era. 🤣

I cleaned up this Dell XPs with an PIII 8000EB, 815 easton motherboard, Riva 128, Soundblaster Live, Modem, 10/100 Lan, 20GB HD

I had grabbed the Mobo and Powersupply because I wanted a board that was about twice as fast as a K6-III 400 with a Universal AGP slot and this guy fit the bill.

Since I was putting it back together, it seemed like a good idea to clean it up. It had enough lint in it to make a yard of felt.

It cleaned up pretty nicely, expect the one CD drawer wouldn't open. I got it open a 1/2 inch and put the vacuum on it. I heard something go flying into the bag. I was curious now.

douglar wrote on 2025-10-18, 04:27:

I cleaned up this Dell XPs with an PIII 8000EB, 815 easton motherboard, Soundblaster Live, Modem, 10/100 Lan, 20GB HD […]
Show full quote

I cleaned up this Dell XPs with an PIII 8000EB, 815 easton motherboard, Soundblaster Live, Modem, 10/100 Lan, 20GB HD

I had grabbed the Mobo and Powersupply because I wanted a board that was about twice as fast as a K6-III 400 with a Universal AGP slot and this guy fit the bill.

It had enough lint in it to make a yard of felt.

The attachment Photo Oct 17 2025, 11 39 02 PM.jpg is no longer available

It cleaned up pretty nicely, expect the one CD drawer wouldn't open. I got it open a 1/2 inch and put the vacuum on it. I heard something go flying into the bag. I was curious now.

The attachment Photo Oct 17 2025, 11 39 07 PM.jpg is no longer available

Haha... that's great.

Reminds me of the family PC at my friend's house back in the early 2000s. His step sister was maybe 2 years old at the time and was a bit of a terror (at least that's the impression I got). I sold him my old PC which went into his bedroom (Athlon XP 1800+, Gigabyte KT333, Geforce 2 GTS and Vortex2... really wish I could get that system back now), but he mentioned that the family computer was having some issues with the CD-ROM drive.

So, while I was there I tried to open the drive and couldn't get it open. I slid the side panel off of the PC and found... no joke... shards of broken CDs laying inside the bottom of the case, and large chunks of CDs poking out of the seams on the plastic backing plate on the CD-ROM drive!

Apparently the little one had been mercilessly jamming CD after CD into the drive when no one was looking. I have no idea how many were actually in there... I'm guessing at least four or five.

I have never seen anything like that since. If camera phones had been a thing back then, I'd have definitely taken some pictures of that one. We laughed hysterically when was saw it. Pretty sure I just picked up some of the shards, disconnected the drive so it wouldn't catch on fire for some reason and left it as is. 🤣

Wow... so, today I was going through a little pile of weird circuit boards I had picked up over the past year from scrap lots and couldn't identify. Among them were a couple of these...

I thought they looked like game cartridge PCBs, and a reverse image search told me they probably were, but they didn't look like any particular system I could identify. I only looked closely at the one at first (honestly forgot there were two in the pile). Eventually I was able to make out the word "CALLIGRAPHY" printed on the ROM labels, but couldn't make sense of what that would refer to. I then found the other one and saw that it was labeled "GOTHIC" ! Hah, these are fonts! I see now that they are dated 1988!

So yeah, today I learned that laser printers used to have font cartridges. Apparently with jumpers on the inside? What goofy old relics these are. I'm sure lots of people that worked in offices in the 80s and 90s are probably familiar with these, but I've never heard of anything like this.

Mandrew wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:08:

E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

Too bad in my experience all these early to mid 2000s Samsung CRTs have terrible RGB drift that can only be adjusted using a proprietary service jig that you have about as much hope of finding as you have hope of finding the holy grail.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-10-20, 21:43:

Mandrew wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:08:

E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

Too bad in my experience all these early to mid 2000s Samsung CRTs have terrible RGB drift that can only be adjusted using a proprietary service jig that you have about as much hope of finding as you have hope of finding the holy grail.

Any particular models come to mind ? And 'RGB drift', what symptoms would that be ?
(having some Samsungs, and wondering if I should worry)

bestemor wrote on 2025-10-23, 09:42:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-10-20, 21:43:

Mandrew wrote on 2025-10-15, 19:08:

E-waste collection at the local daycare again, much better loot than the last one. That's exactly the same monitor I had back when I was a kid, nice memories!
Also dug out a bunch of non-computer related stuff so it was a good day.

Too bad in my experience all these early to mid 2000s Samsung CRTs have terrible RGB drift that can only be adjusted using a proprietary service jig that you have about as much hope of finding as you have hope of finding the holy grail.

Any particular models come to mind ? And 'RGB drift', what symptoms would that be ?
(having some Samsungs, and wondering if I should worry)

Literally all from the late 1990s through the early 2000s require that service jig, and all of the 2000s ones of that style are prone to RGB drift. The earlier more rounded 1990s style ones are a bit less prone from what I've seen.

RGB drift symptoms start with greys that tilt towards one of the 3 colors, and eventually the entire image will have a strong tint to one color.

Buddy of mine grabbed this for me from an estate sale. Haven't had a chance to fire it up yet.