It is no secret that Dennis loves him some computer hardware. This desire was what prompted him to start Ninjalane.com and HardwareAsylum.com and is a main driver for while the website is active today. As with most of the “OG” hardware review websites, the editors have been around long enough to have seen some things and what is largely considered “Retro PC Hardware” now, was just what we used back then.
In this episode Dennis talks about his recent weekend trip to Seattle Washington to check out a stash of Retro Hardware and Games. The distance between Seattle and the Ninjalane Labs is a reasonable 7 hours away and while catching a plane would have been reasonable the last-minute ticket cost + car rental was nothing short than a small fortune. So, the decision was made to simply gas up the car and hit the road “Cannonball Run Style”. Or “Smokey and the Bandit” Either way, there was a long way to go and a short time to get there and the fastest way was to drive through the night and catch a few ZZ’s when you arrive.
As it turns out the owner was in the middle of a cross country move and had way too much stuff to take on his trip. Most of the items on the chopping block were old computer parts and software and while “most” people would have simply taken it all to the electronics recycler he wanted to make sure that the items could go to a good home before being dropped off or thrown in the dumpster.
More often than not, a stash of Retro PC Hardware is nothing more than broken components or items that are so common that they hold no real value.
However, this stash was a little different.
In addition to three boxes of computer games there was a box full of IDE and SCSI hard drives, a small stack of SCSI controller cards, some custom cables and a box full of Novell Netware software leading Dennis to believe that some treasures could be buried within.
Unfortunately, there was limited space in the Cannonball car so an effort was made to pick and repack the items on display. That way the items of interest and value could come home leaving the rest nicely packed away for easy disposal. It was not ideal for the owner but ended up working out.
