What Happened to the Computer Reset Warehouse?
What Happened to the Computer Reset Warehouse?
Exploring a MASSIVE retro computer warehouse, part 2! Revisiting Computer Reset in Dallas to see what’s changed, how much remains, and experience some of their weekend events. And yep, groups of folks are still being let inside, so it’s not too late to visit before they shut down later in 2022!
● Here’s the group to join for scheduling/info on weekend events:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/627459117730981/
● LGR links:
https://www.patreon.com/LazyGameReviews
Tweets by lazygamereviews
https://www.facebook.com/LazyGameReviews
● Other pertinent links:
The First Visit to Computer Reset
Flyby2 Screensaver Blerb
Andy’s Tetris for DOS/QBasic
https://andy.junkdrome.org/devel/tetris/
● Music licensed from Epidemic Sound:
http://www.epidemicsound.com
00:00 Computer Reset Part 2!
02:14 Some Context and Setup
07:24 Tour of the Warehouse
26:44 Weekend Events!
37:14 In Conclusion…
#LGR #Retro #Computers
Interesting. There are still a few items of use. The old mechanical keyboards are still in demand, especially the IBM model M. The server rack could still be used to install modern hardware into. I doubt the spacing has changed. The monitors are basically useless, other than for a museum.
When the LCD monitors first came out I had no interest. They were small, expensive, had low refresh rates, and the back lights often failed. Monitors have come a loooooong way in the past 20 years.
Literally a gold mine, build a good recovery machine, and collect all the gold!
I still run a P-III 1-gig at the office as my personal Linux server… it quietly grinds away daily as a file server, a CCTV motiondetection / webserver, and it even plays sounds with specific events! sips power, and just works!
I live only about an hour away from this place. I have several early Tandy computers, and would like to get at least one model 4, and one model 16 working – preferably all of them to sell them on eBay. I also have a good amount of TRS-80 software and manuals. I am looking to divest myself of all of it, just keeping a 4 and a 16 and any programming-related software (COBOL, Assembly, etc.).
After stumbling across your video of your first visit, I had some slim hope that they might have TRS-80 systems/parts I could use – but I saw no Tandy (non-PC) stuff in this more recent video. If you (or any other visitor) saw any unclaimed TRS-80 I/II/III/IV/16 parts/systems that didn’t make this video, please tell me and I will make the drive.
Let it be recorded for all history; look but do not touch the big Wang.
The sheer volume of stuff is incredible. 😵😵
I had no idea… My whole life I’ve lived here in Dallas. And now they are almost done! lol.
There’s a place like this in Cornelius, Oregon called Computer Drive Connection. I bought 3 Dell Optiplex desktop computers from them. I love finding places like that.
For me I’d love to get one or some of those Server Racks. But I imagine all of that is gone by now.
very sad to hear that the gentleman who created this repository has passed away…I hope he knew and his family knows that he made a difference in a very unique way…
I should see what I can do about going there myself, Mid 90s early 00s is my personal era for "classic computing", if that’s what’s mostly there now, it’s the perfect time for me to strike.
29:17 Dremel Massacre II – The revenge
I would commit massive crimes to be able to pick through there
feel bad that im nowhere near there – woulda loved to volunteer on this cleanup. looked like an archaelogical dig
23:46 That is an Apple 1, those are worth something.
Makes me smile so much, that so many people actually still appreciate old technology 🙂
To see all those people moving around there and picking stuff, made me happy 🙂
And seeing 8-Bit Guy completely unexpected, made me laugh xD
"Masks are required over your mouth and nose at all times."
Kevin here doing more for public health in about 3 & 1/2 seconds than literally any governor in the last two years!
Re the IBM 3290 has plasma displays, is there any kind of adapter, emulator, or whatnot that could let one use these today with Mac OS, Windows, Linux, or other? I know, no GUI but if it could be used for command line terminal …
Hording is a disease.
lol.. I’ve found a pallet full of Vodoo2/3 cards 😂 brand new in box.. at a different warehouse.
Let’s be honest. A lot of stuff (specially the ones you said were hauled-off that Sunday) ended up on eBay. Sure, a lot of folks actually provided a new home for obsolete electronics, either bought from next-to-nothing from the warehouse itself, or for several times that price on eBay, but most of the stuff that didn’t work at all (which I’m sure there was plenty of) or that ended-up being worthless to everybody, surely ended-up polluting the environment in a landfill somewhere in Kenya. Companies should be held accountable for the products they make once they’re no longer useful to anybody, and the tons of stuff in that warehouse is just one proof that it’s a big problem that’s slowly becoming unsustainable.
29:45 wow the orange
Makes me sad knowing that I’ll never experience something like this because I’m too young to drive
I really enjoyed this video. It feels like a lot of tiny pieces of history have been put into one building. It reminds me of the computer parts my dad used to store in the closet to fix our computers.
awesome documentary, thanks for sharing this for all of us that will never make it down there-btw the 8-bit guy cameo with dremel & paperclip was priceless
get 4 of those pollock executive chairs and you multiplied your entry fee many many times
I am so very glad that so much stuff has been saved from the landfill! I do hope that, once they choose to shut it down, they will RECYCLE all of what’s left, instead of pitching into the landfill. All of that can absolutely be ♻️ ♻️ recycled!! ♻️ ♻️
I was able to visit a similar warehouse in central Florida twice in, I guess, mid-to-late 200x. It was at least the size of the Computer Reset’s "actual warehouse," maybe a bit larger, but was 100% DEC equipment from the late ’60s through the ’90s. I was in awe of the amount of hardware the owner had (he was a retired DEC Field Service Engineer) stuffed in there. My first visit was to pick up a birthday present my wife had surprised me with – a PDP-8/E, RK05, and a 6-foot rack for them. That was the first 110-pound "hard drive" unit that I ever lifted! He had warehouse shelving racks/units literally full of modules (i.e., boards) for the different DEC systems. "Tri-walls" (the large triple-thick cardboard boxes approximately 4x4x4-ft attached to pallets packed full of piles of cables (required to interconnect systems) and stuff I couldn’t climb to were everywhere. If he hadn’t been ~3-hours away (one-way drive), I would have gone back many times to help him sort things out because at that point he really didn’t know everything he had in there. A few years later he sold the warehouse contents and retired again, but I never found out what happened to everything because his email went silent after that. I think that PDP-8 and (primarily) PDP-11 & VAX users/collectors would be climbing over each other to crawl through the place now like it was when I saw it back then.
if i had the means and know how i would take one of those old chunky thinkpads and put the guts of a m1 mac mini inside and upgrade the monitor to an oled.
There was a place like this in San Jose called Weird Stuff Warehouse.
I wish here in switzerland we would have more of the old retro stuff. It is even diffucult to find an old console in a thrift store while i hear that in america you can dumbster dive games, consoles, pc…. everything. And of course find more in the shops. I would like to collect old retro stuff but it is only possible when you have a lot of money to spare.
I wish I lived there! I would buy some stuff!
that must be one massive and expensive building. would be cool to have the building itself honestly
Really happy to know that most of the stuff will have it’s owner eventually.
I heard your first computer had an AMD K6, lol so did mine!
Holy shit, it’s a real treasure cave!) You are so lucky that could visit it!
I know this is kind of voyeuristic, but my favorite thing to do with old computer hardware is to take a gander at the data that’s on those drives. Not for identity theft or anything (probably useless anyway if it’s bank/financial records from 1994) but just to look into the past. My first job was working at a used computer hardware and software consignment shop north of Dallas (there WAS a market for that in the mid 90s) and we’d build working PCs from parts and wipe the drives and reinstall legit copies of Windows 95. The stuff I’d find on those drives was fascinating.
Why don’t places like this exist in Alabama lol
Man I would so love to touch that big Wang
I feel really happy that people are taking this stuff away, caring for it, and avoiding everything ending in a landfill.
And all this stuff that was previous an problem for the owners, is turning into money for them, something I think they maybe tought wasn’t possible. And it just started because of your video and your contacts, that’s pretty amazing.
I feel really sad that I live in Brazil and don’t have the means to spend an weekend in that place digging for stuff. Man, I would need a truck to take with me everything I wanted.
It really is a gold mine.
29:20 OH NO THE CLIP lmao
Has there been an update on those IBM 7496? Is it still missing?
you walked right by a IBM beam spring keyboard and an original STACK of fujitsu hall effect switch keyboards. Dang.
Nerdwana
I need to go there for a Dot Matrix printer.
lol @ the masks remember those things, this video is already retro.
I have to say though this whole situation makes my heart swell. In the beginning of the video you can see the original owner wrote in his newsletter something about being in a throwaway society and it is clear his goal was to reuse things and reduce waste. Everyone that has been involved with this project has made him proud and fulfilled his wishes which I think is awesome.
Awesome stuff!
Gotta dig Andy’s OC Remix shirt
I thought gold was thick on those CPU’s, boards an hard drive connectors to the point someone would want to strip them for the massive amount of gold alone?