PeterLI wrote:FI is obviously a country with a relatively small population. Are there recycling outfits that you can ask to keep an eye out? They probably receive generic (mini / midi / full) towers periodically. 🤣
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I'm pretty sure our government is to be blamed in this matter. 😁 Infact, people here pride themselves for being on top of the gadget race (ie. "who has the newest toys, wins). So in my experience most 90's computers were trashed in the turn of the century and only few remain. I have gone through all the recycling centers in the past 4-5 years in all the largest cities and there's virtually no computer equipment available that is more than 5-10 years old. I haven't found ISA-based cards in 5 years, unless it was from a collector/hoarder who stashed them away. It's not that they didn't sell many computers here in the 80's or 90's, I believe Finland had more C64's than any other country when compared to the population.
If any recycler gets their hands on a 386/486 they strip it immediately and the parts are then handled accordingly. You can get the picture from here: "We are a customer-focused, pioneering, environmentally friendly provider of recycling services with an international track record. "
Which means, that pretty much 99% of all glass, metal, paper, cardboard waste is recycled and re-used as fast as possible. That leaves very little retro equipment to be found. Hell, if you want to buy a car that is more than a hybrid chances are you pay 300% more for it in emission based taxes! This is the new eco-friendly way and all the idiots in EU signed up for it.
edit: To give you an idea of our "retro market" there was a (boxed?) RAP-10 for sale last year and nobody wanted to pay the 50e asking price so the seller gave up after a month and sold it on Amibay. 😀