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Don't You Just Hate it when People Smash Vintage Computers

T

themikepeng

Experienced Member
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
71
Location
San Diego, CA
it hurts so much watching people on youtube smash vintage computers even if I don't watch I know that there are mean people who smash vintage computers for fun, don't you agree? It's such a waste!:mad:
 
I completely agree with you. Its come to be a hard point with me as well. The truth is, its their property and they can do with it as they wish. I remember on another forum for arcade machines they have a reseller who constantly promotes themselves by throwing machines off of the roof. Its quite depressing watching all the money drop or the hardwork that would have been put into restoring those pinballs or arcades.
 
They have nothing better to do in a day, don't have much if any friends, and need a way to blow off anger that they don't show immediately.
 
It's not so much the smashing itself that annoys me as the people who make out that doing so is somehow educational or scientific. What does setting something on fire or putting a sledgehammer through it teach anybody - except what a simple-minded vandal you are?
 
just remember that the more of those things that get destroyed, that makes the ones you have collected that much more valuable!
 
Shrug. Most of what gets smashed is mass-produced, so there's likely more of whatever is being smashed around.

Some companies had a policy of utterly destroying systems when they came off lease or ceased to be useful. I witnessed the scrapping of the world's only STAR-65 supercomputer and the last two STAR-1B systems by CDC during the mid 1970s. There aren't any more of those--and never will be.
 
I don't mind much, as long as the destroyed computer belongs to the destroyer.

As it stands, I don't have time to restore to working order all the old computers being destroyed, so I look at it this way: any computer (either cared for or destroyed) ALWAYS is getting what it deserves, and I'm not the redemptor of thee.

That said, I tend on my computers with deep love. :D
 
I don't see the major difference between blowing up a vintage computer (then trashing the leftovers) or just trashing them. For every collector of vintage machines there are 10000 who view them as obsolete junk. Recycling is a good thing.
 
How about the trend of buying the latest console/hitech gadget then smashing it in front of the waiting line folks? Or the will it blend people blending ipod/pads?
 
it's pretty much the same thing,i've seen an ipad 2 get demolished in front of an apple store and it's like the whole world just stopped, like time had frozen. IT WAS AN IPAD... Sheesh...., i've dropped my samsung focus smartphone like 30 times and the damn thing still chuggs...
 
barythrin said:
How about the trend of buying the latest console/hitech gadget then smashing it in front of the waiting line folks? Or the will it blend people blending ipod/pads?
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I think smashing the device in front of people waiting for it, is a bit cruel/stupid. But I'm not worried about the device because they're still in production.
When I see rare equipment which is no longer being made and there is demand, then I get furious. It's their stuff so I don't say anything, but it does make me quite angry.
Smashing it provides a short amount of joy/fun for the person, but sell it to someone who appreciates it and you get $$$ and they get to enjoy it long term.
 
Some companies had a policy of utterly destroying systems when they came off lease or ceased to be useful. I witnessed the scrapping of the world's only STAR-65 supercomputer and the last two STAR-1B systems by CDC during the mid 1970s. There aren't any more of those--and never will be.
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Oh, the satisfaction of swinging a sledgehammer into card cage full of perfectly good working circuit boards! I worked for CDC in the 70's and was "drafted" one day to help destroy a truck full of working 300lpm CDC drum printers. We had to remove the serial number tags and some other identifying tags, then physically destroy the units. They would have been worth 5-10K each on the used marked, but CDC didn't want any further responsibility for them and ordered them destroyed. We had to send all the serial tags up to HQ in Minneapolis as proof.
 
SpidersWeb said:
I think smashing the device in front of people waiting for it, is a bit cruel/stupid. But I'm not worried about the device because they're still in production.
When I see rare equipment which is no longer being made and there is demand, then I get furious. It's their stuff so I don't say anything, but it does make me quite angry.
Smashing it provides a short amount of joy/fun for the person, but sell it to someone who appreciates it and you get $$$ and they get to enjoy it long term.
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Agreed, I couldn't say it better myself.

I can't see why anyone would want to destroy pieces of electronics history. I mean, if they want to destroy something, at least don't destroy a helpless vintage computer! :nervous: You could make some serious cash on certain machines and give someone enjoyment, as SpidersWeb pointed out.
 
Doug G said:
Oh, the satisfaction of swinging a sledgehammer into card cage full of perfectly good working circuit boards! I worked for CDC in the 70's and was "drafted" one day to help destroy a truck full of working 300lpm CDC drum printers. We had to remove the serial number tags and some other identifying tags, then physically destroy the units. They would have been worth 5-10K each on the used marked, but CDC didn't want any further responsibility for them and ordered them destroyed. We had to send all the serial tags up to HQ in Minneapolis as proof.
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After all these years, I still have a couple of cordwood modules from a 6600, a heatsink from the 1B and a head from an 808 (I also smuggled out a couple of platters also, but those are long gone). The shame was that a lot of the smaller gear wasn't even soldl off as scrap, just deposited in the big dumpster out back and crushed by the compactor, thence to the landfill.

It's really sad.
 
Exactly where I was getting at
I don't really care if someone smashes 30 computers that are still in production, but it is insane to destroy something in high demand, not in production and working perfectly just for enterainment. They will be gone forever and never replaced. Many others that are less crazy just recycle them and if this continues the only surviving vintage computers will be ones held by collectors that or very understanding people... But it's still theirs so no one can stop them
 
It's really sad.
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Our little demolition derby sparked some pretty heated discussions about why the equipment wasn't just sold as is. Lengthy explanations about warranty, the law, liability, the gray market and precedents finally got us to understand both sides of the equation. It was sad to see and participate in the destruction, but at least the pieces went on to a metal recycler not the compactor.

I never got involved when a couple older cyber systems were scrapped. Our group worked on CDC's OEM disks and printers usually attached to non-CDC systems.
 
As I heard it, equipment that had been sold to the scrap dealers showed up on a customer's site and the brass went ballistic. The order came down that any retired equipment was to be reduced to garbage before it left the premises. I know of a fellow who managed to sneak out a retired Singer-Friden terminal by bribing the guy on the loading dock, but that was the only case I remember after the "kill 'em all" order came down.

A lot of that old equipment was built to last. I think the COMSOURCE data center in Sunnyvale still had a couple of 501 drum printers and one of those big Bryant 6603 drives in use as late as 1975. Sometime around 1974, I saw a couple of 160As show up from god-knows-where. All of which eventually went under the sledgehammer and bolt cutters.
 
I guess I have a different view - don't watch the stupid videos.

Then again, I'm probably one of the few heavy computer people my age who abhors youtube.
 
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