Chance of beam spring in e recycling center

[CHERRYFAN01]

What is the chance of finding a beam spring in an e waste recycling center?

[hwood34]

small

[nubbinator]

0.1925364715%

[Touch_It]

0.1925364715%

this, unless you happen to be Cindy from DT.

[False_Dmitry_II]

People show up to thrift stores and tell tales of getting new WASD keyboards for $3. So who knows?

[nubbinator]

People show up to thrift stores and tell tales of getting new WASD keyboards for $3. So who knows?

And people never lie on the internet either.

[Chromako]

Probably the same chance that I have of finding a 2GS/s oscilloscope for less than a bloody fortune at my ecycler.


Which is.... um...  rounded down to 0%?

[False_Dmitry_II]

People show up to thrift stores and tell tales of getting new WASD keyboards for $3. So who knows?

And people never lie on the internet either.

To be fair, the ones I saw had proof pictures. Receipts and price tags and so on.

[Touch_It]

Awesome finds DO happen.  What people don't say usually is how many "failures" happen.  EG I go to goodwill maybe 30 times a year, have yet to find any sort of mechanical keyboard.

[chyros]

Awesome finds DO happen.

Indeed, they do. The chance of you finding a really nice keyboard at some point at a recycler's is not too bad. The chance of it being exactly that one thing you want is pretty slim, but it's not impossible .

[Findecanor]

The guys at the local recycling centre told me that most of the computer stuff they get is from businesses who decide to replace the bulk of their hardware at once. That means that most of what they get in is only a few years old.

[XMIT]

If you want something like a Beamspring you need to think a little backwards. Who bought them in the first place? Who might still have them? Universities, government agencies, research labs, some companies. Whoever was willing to pay 1970s prices for 1970s computing.

Once upon a time the Model M was a regular Goodwill or Salvation Army haul for $5. This is no longer true. Here is Austin we have the Goodwill Computer Works. I've found Selectric typewriters there for $20 (this is how I got mine).

[CHERRYFAN01]

Well, I'm just going to pray that I find one and go there on thurday or friday.

[trillobite]

Hahah, sounds like many do the same thing as I.  ) I will drop by GoodWill once or twice a week, looking for an old mechanical keyboard as it is right next to the gym I go to. I bet the store owner thinks I'm some kind of crook as I never walk out buying anything.