On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 12:58 AM Tim via users < users@lists.fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 2022-05-23 at 19:50 -0300, George N. White III wrote: > > Some of your old working systems may be irreplaceable antiques to > > people still using old instruments. Even broken systems may be > > valuable sources of spare parts. It may be worth checking for > > listing of your models on for sale sites -- desirable models have > > inflated prices, but the goal is to help some lab keep an old > > instrument going. > > In days gone past I used to accept ancient things to keep them going, > rather than scrap them, and at the moment we're resurrecting some > ancient non-computer equipment. At times I'd considered passing on > things I don't need through ebay, and the like, but worked out that > much of the time you won't be providing much needed bits to someone > desperate for them, you're providing cheap materials to sharks who'll > just try to sell them at obscene prices. Often breaking up working, or > workable, units into bits for maximum profit. > This is the same business model as auto junkyards. People have reasons they need to keep some old car or laptop going. With cars, it may be an older model that has expensive modifications to accommodate a disability or an expensive restoration with accident damage. A junkyard has a large inventory of parts. That represents a big investment that is recouped by selling parts at what the market will bear. In high school I would buy outdated or broken electronics test equipment, repair it (a few upgrades from tubes to transistors, but mostly replacing bad components) and resell it to ham operators and radio stations. I enjoyed the challenges of troubleshooting and providing a service, but the net returns were small and when I went to college my parts inventory was donated to the local ham radio club. I did keep a couple Simpson multimeters after using the nice screws for the handles to replace identical screws that served as the hinge pivots on my mother's stove. > > -- George N. White III
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