The Painful Process of Culling a Collection

It's been a few days since I made my first post on Applefritter, and that post dealt with the task of deleting some of my computers. I've been in an unusual position of being a rescuer of older systems primarily through reputation; "Hey, don't toss that old computer, give it to Robert! He could probably use it!"

The question is, just how many computers can I use?

Let's be honest, amongst the population here, there are probably enough systems here to equip a number of schools in third world nations. Before I returned to Florida at the end of the summer of 2004, I had even more computers, almost thirty in fact. That is really a bit excessive. Most of those came from a science center where I worked and were being disposed of. Initially, I took them home to repair and give to neighborhood kids. Some of these children and their parents lamented about the lack of computers for doing homework. I was more than happy to oblige.

Problem was, they weren't being honest. In a short time, I was having these same parents complaining that these computers, these Macintoshes, wouldn't run some "software" they had picked up.

Invariably, this "software" turned out to be PC game software.

What does the latest iteration of "Doom" have to do with little Johnny's/Jane's homework?

As a result, my scheme of helping out the children in my area was flawed. I watched, sadly, as some of these systems ended up at local thrift stores or at the curb. Those did not come back to me. However, this still left me with a bunch of computers. Fortunately, the fellow who lived in the house next door, someone I'd never met until two days before our move, turned out to be a Russian computer engineer who came to the US a few years back, and he took all of the excess systems he could.

That was a start. I still shipped a number of computers ahead of us, with the nebulous goal of using them to teach space science. That was probably just an excuse. I just didn't want to let them go. Now, I have to. Practicality has to take the lead over sentimentality.

Now if I can just get the systems I've selected to keep running smoothly...

Comments

doug-doug the mighty's picture

I have been trying to set up a Florida swap-meet. PM if you are interested.