[CS-FSLUG] Computer Disposal

[Nathan T.]

Hi Listfolk

A co-worker of mine handed me a very old IBM computer that she  
thought I might be able to fix and make use of. The computer is an  
IBM Inspirati 700, and with some new ram a new hard drive, and some  
tweaks to the bios it was possible to make the thing boot again. It's  
worth mentioning that there was no way to get Linux running on this  
thing, every distribution I tried would go into a kernel panic, even  
if I got the installation to work. It was also difficult to find the  
drivers for Windows 98, but finally I found them, only to find out  
that half the hardware was dead anyway.

I did recuperate the hardware I purchased to try to get it working  
again, so it's back to the way it was when I got it. Repairing it  
would have cost me more than I was willing to invest in it; the USB  
ports are shot, the network card is shot, and the video card is  
horribly underpowered (BeOS wouldn't even do colour with it) and it's  
also on it's way out.

I've heard that there are laws about how old computers can be  
disposed of, and yet working at a computer store I've seen some  
things simply tossed in the bins. Can someone tell me whether I can  
simply throw this thing in the garbage bins outside, or if I have to  
send it away. This thing isn't worth donating to a computers  
recycling program, the mother board and attached cards are all dead  
or dying, most of the parts are proprietary too so the only parts  
that can be reused are the CD-Rom drive and the Floppy Drive.