Turn Your Old Computer Into A Brand New Hookah

Got an old computer which you just don't wanna use? Well, it would be best if you threw it away or maybe earn half a dollar by selling it as scrap...OR how about i give you an even better idea? How about turning your old computer into a brand new Hookah?  With a little bit of effort you can turn that old gadget into some peculiar-looking smoking paraphernalia like this....

Turn your old PC into a brand new Hookah!

Now really interested in having one yourself? Well it is very easy and won't cost you anything. Just follow the 7 steps below and enjoy. (To view each step in detail, click on the image) 

 Hours of work to reclaim

Here's the first reclaimed material for the project...My grandfather gave us some acrylic 30+ years ago (not an exaggeration) from the steel mill he use to work at.  Researching similar topics online seemed like no one had hope, claiming it'll crack when I try to work with it, I'll never get the paper off, etc... It did take HOURS of scrubbing, the best thing I found …

 CD drive bowl slider

The bowl piece in which the tobacco is smoked, is mounted in/on top of a gutted cd rom drive...This drive in particular is from 1998, and was pulled out as a spare long ago from another computer that came and went, I'm assuming due to something mechanical broken, the cd drive never stays closed...So I thought it would be a good fit for this project, when the computer

 A new paintjob
The old case was a pretty busted black, and just wasn't going to fit with it's new hip purpose.  I chose colors that would really bounce, with some inspiration coming from the Caterpillar of Alice in Wonderland.

 More cosmetics
With the new acrylic sides and flashy paint job, I went on a whim decision and thought I would try my hand at engraving acrylic for the first time.  Most people seem to use their rotary tool, but I just so happen to have a pencil engraver at my disposal from my dad.  Honestly I think it was much easier to use than my Dremel would have been, the Dremel seems to have a "…

I had planned to use some bubble stones in the resevoir of the hookah for a nice bubble effect.  I used a standard air pump from an old aquarium setup and tapped into the AC outlet inside of the power supply while I was painting it.  The same method is used in the computer aquarium that was entered in to the Dead Computer Contest here, this was my plan all along but he…

 The reservoir
I made an acrylic box, also with 30+ year old acrylic but of 3/4".  The box is 5.75" tall, 6" deep, and a little over 12" long, the size fills up most of the remaining space inside the case.  The reservoir was glued together using JB Weld acrylic glue, and clamped together overnight.  The lid is a separate piece of acrylic that sits on top.  I drilled a hole in each co…

 Finale!
It took a solid three days for me to complete this project.  Everyone is really wowed when I show them, but in all honesty, nothing was incredibly difficult.   The project as a whole is something you kind of have to calculate on the go.  Looking on the finished project now there is more I'd like to add and change as with any good project, but the YaHookah has been a co…

Like our posts? Arsalan Ahmed

Ditching an Old Computer

You've got your new computer up and running. You've waited a couple of months. You're sure there's nothing else you want on your old PC. So what do you do with that big gray box in the closet?

Destroy the Evidence

First, you have to make sure there's nothing on the hard drive that could be used against you. I'm not just talking about illicit love letters or shady business deals; you don't want anything with a credit card or Social Security number falling into the wrong hands.

Deleting files or formatting hard drives isn't good enough. The data may still be on the drive, where anyone with moderate technical abilities can retrieve it. You need to wipe the data--write over the physical clusters--to make sure it's gone.

Start by asking yourself two questions:

The first is "Do I want to wipe the entire drive or just select files and folders?" Wiping the drive is easier (you don't have to decide what to delete), but someone will have to reinstall Windows, drivers, and so on afterwards.

The second is "How paranoid am I?" There are plenty of free programs that will wipe your data so that it cannot be recovered by anyone other than a very skilled professional using very expensive, specialized hardware. For most people, that free software is good enough. But if you think the FBI is after you, you'll want to spend some money for more security.

If you want to wipe files and folders with a reasonable degree of security, I recommend Summit Computer's free Hard Disk Scrubber 2. But if you're truly paranoid, go with Jetico's $40 BCWipe.

If you decide to wipe the whole disk, use LSoft's Active@ KillDisk. The free version is good enough for most people; secret agents should buy the $30 Professional version.

Bad Ideas

Once you've wiped the hard drive, what do you do with the old PC? There are plenty of possibilities, most of them not worth doing. Here are a few to avoid:

Sell It. Computers drop in value quicker than anything except milk. Whatever you get for it won't be worth the hassle.

Turn It Into a Print Server. Yes, you can hook up the old PC to your network, plug the printer into it, and leave it on all of the time so that other computers can print through it. But it's big, bulky, and sucks power. It's easier to plug the printer into one of the computers already on your network, and leave that PC on 24/7.

Throw It Away. There are too many computers in landfills already, and there's material in a PC that you don't want in your groundwater. Finally, there is someone in the world who could use your computer.

The Gift That Keeps on Computing

The best possible way to get rid of an old PC is to give it away. But to whom?

How about a loved one? Is there anyone in your family who needs a computer? Or a better one? Remember, your outdated model is another person's upgrade.

But there's a caveat: If you give your computer to someone you're close to, you will become the recipient's technical support specialist. In other words, they'll feel free to call you with all their questions.

That's not a problem if you donate your old machine to a school or a charity. Call your local school or school district and ask if they're interested. Most likely you'll get transferred to someone who knows enough to ask intelligent questions. Of course, after asking those questions, they might just turn you down. Many schools don't want a computer unless it is in working condition, comes with a legitimate copy of Windows (they don't want to run afoul of Microsoft), and are not too old.

If you read this article before Labor Day, you can take that PC or any other technology gear you no longer need to any Office Depot, which will recycle it for you for free (one item per person, per day). That program ends September 6. Go to Office Depot's Web site for more information.

Finally, TechSoup maintains an online database of charities and businesses that can take your old computer off your hands. You can search by zip code to find local organizations that will get a working computer someplace where it can do some good, refurbish a nonworking computer, or recycle the materials in a PC that's beyond refurbishing. And be sure to get a receipt: A donated computer is a tax deduction.

Old Computer Fun

Early personal computers were nothing like present day computers, they had personality!

Each was different and more exciting than the previous, with new features and capabilities.

This website is dedicated to the preservation and display of these vintage computer systems.

To the left you can examine these computers from the dawn of time and re-live the past, possibly YOUR past! "Click" on any system to learn more and view recent pictures.


Browse the old computer ads, and have a chuckle at early attempts to convince the consumer which computer was "right for you!".

For fun, all 100 old computers at the same time to appreciate how diverse and interesting they are.

25 things you never knew about old computers.

Feel free to contact us for more information, to sell us your old system, or to learn more about this website.

USED,OLD- Second HAND COMPUTERS, MONITORS, LAPTOPS, IMPOR-TERS, SUPPLIER, KARACHI LAHORE ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN USA AFGHANISTAN

Technocrat Computers offers quality Used Computers and I.T equipment via our trade warehouse and on-line website.

We are supplying used computer equipment (PC's, Desktops, Towers, Base Units, Complete Systems, Monitors, Laptops, Notebooks, Printers etc.) to the trade, educational sector, individual retail customers and export. We have a large stock of warranted used, tested and refurbished computer equipment for sale at cheap, discounted prices. 

We are Computer and IT equipment disposal/clearance contractors who buy, collect and recycle surplus and redundant I.T. equipment from USA, Canada, UK and other European companies. We buy in bulk and can pay you a good price. If you have surplus or redundant IT and computer equipment that you would like valued then Technocrat Computers is the company you have been looking for...

Pakistan to band import of old and used computers

Old Computers For Charities

Computers For Charities aims are to promote the efficiency of charitable and voluntary organisations by the provision of computer services, support and training within the UK and Overseas.

Computers For Charities began in 1994, recycling and refurbishing donated Computer equipment, primarily to enable viable computer access and IT development for UK Charities.

This is further enhanced by their "loan scheme", contrary to the normal practice of donating equipment. Their ethos is to ensure a wider usage of equipment for defined periods to charitable organisations, entailing a clear environmental stance by CfC for end use of such items.

Computers For Charities is a non profit making organisation and operates totally through skilled volunteer support, comprising diverse expertise from accounting to network skills. They are committed to ongoing development, primarily with the provision of emerging dedicated IT programmes, providing further benefits to charities and the community, some of which are outlined on their Web site.

Computer Monitor Disposal

We can all make use of such devices and we can always learn new things about computers if we are interested in improving our skills in working with computers. It is also important for us to pay attention to the necessity of improving the functions of our computers as well so that we might only obtain good results by working with them.




There are numerous computer components that we should consider when discussing about improvements that can be done to our computers and the monitors can also be included within this category. What is also important to be mentioned at this stage is the fact that it is not only important for us to be concerned with the computer components that we are currently using but also to pay attention to what we should do with computer components such as the monitors once we have decided to replace them with new ones that might present innovative features and that we might consider to be more useful to us.

This is why discussing about computer monitor disposal is also useful and necessary these days when not everyone knows what should be done with a computer monitor once it is useless to them or when not everyone actually does what should be done.

When discussing about computer monitor disposal it is first of all important to be considered the fact that there are numerous computer recycling companies nowadays and that we can always choose to ask for further assistance from because they all have good specialists that can help us dispose of our computer monitors properly.

Many of these companies usually work with companies and deal with disposing of large numbers of computer monitors but there are also few companies which work with individuals and which can help you take the right decision when you might decide to dispose of your old monitor.

Unfortunately, it has also been noticed the fact that in most cases even when you might be interested in dealing with the disposal of your own computer monitor in a proper manner you still have to deal with bureaucracy and this makes numerous people avoid it. This is another reason why it can prove to be a great idea to ask for assistance from specialists who are used to dealing with the bureaucracy fast and easy and more important, who are willing to deal with it for you so that you might not have to worry about anything. Certainly, this also means that you will have to be willing to pay a certain sum of money for having access to such services but if we take into account the effect it might prove to be totally worth it.


It is very important for old computer monitors to be recycled properly nowadays because they have a negative impact on the environment if they are just discarded by everyone without anyone paying attention to these aspects.

CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES   Workslate

Convergent Technologies of Santa Clara, California introduced the Worslate the same time as the Tandy Model 100. Although it was about the same size of the Model 100, the Workslate was primarily a spreadsheet machine. No other software could be loaded except some application which was adaptations of the basic spreadsheet program.

The Workslate used a CMOS version of the old 6800 processor and 16B KB of RAM. RAM size couldn't be extended and allowed a limited 720 cells spreadsheet to be filled. The keyboard with circular rubber-keys was hard-to-use for text entry. However, with its phone book, memo pad, and financial calculator, the Workslate was designed for those who only wanted a business tool and didn't want to learn about computers.

Also built-in were a tape drive able to record and play data's or voice annotations, a 300-baud modem and a printer port.

The Workslate was first launched in the American Express Christmas catalog, and was sold as a high-tech novelty product. But no one was interested in buying a limited spreadsheet machine for $895. Convergent Technology planned to sell 200,000 units within a year, but only 5,000 systems were sold in the U.S.A plus some hundreds in Europe. The product was discontinued in July 1984, and the company lost about $15 million.

If you notice the keyboard has a "DoIt" key. The President of the fledgling company Allen Michaels used to roam the halls of the company at night and spray paint "DoIT" everywhere, hence the key name.

NAME	Workslate
MANUFACTURER	Convergent Technologies
TYPE	Portable
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	December 1982
END OF PRODUCTION	July 1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE	None
KEYBOARD	61 rubber keys with numeric keypad and 5 function keys
CPU	Hitachi 6303 (CMOS version of the Motorola 6800)
SPEED	1.228 MHz.
RAM	16 KB
ROM	64 KB
TEXT MODES	46 chars x 16 lines. LCD display
GRAPHIC MODES	Unknown
COLOrsc	Monochrome
SOUND	Unknown
SIZE / WEIGHT	28 (W) x 21.5 (D) x 2.5 (H) cm. / 1.5 Kg.
I/O PORTS	Telephone jack, Printer
BUILT IN MEDIA	Micro-cassette drive
POWER SUPPLY	4 x AA size batteries or AC adaptor
PERIPHERALS	Printer, universal peripheral adapter
PRICE	$1795 - Pen-type printer/plotter: $399

TANDY RADIO SHACK

1000 TX The Tandy 1000 TX was similar to the Tandy 1000 in that it had an external keyboard and casing. The difference, however, was the addition of an 80286 CPU on the TX model; otherwise, it was nearly identical to the Tandy 1000, including the odd parallel port edge connector. The TX had a 3.5" drive, with an optional 5.25" drive. It contained hookups for two joysticks in the front along with the keyboard, and included a volume control with a phono input on the front. The back had all of the same ports as the Tandy 1000. The memory size was 640k (upgradable to 768k, which was devoted to video) and the computer came bundled with Deskmate II. The TX had a special function to the F4 key that would reduce the speed of the processor to half the normal rate for programs(mainly games) that 8-10 mhz was simply too fast for. To activate this function, you held down the F4 key during boot-up. We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful. NAME   1000 TX MANUFACTURER   Tandy Radio Shack TYPE   Home Computer ORIGIN   U.S.A. YEAR   ? 1986 KEYBOARD   Full stroke keyboard, 92 keys, 12 function keys CPU   Intel 80286 SPEED   8 MHz RAM   640 KB (up to 768 KB) TEXT MODES   80 x 25 / 40 x 25 GRAPHIC MODES   CGA/TGA, 160 x 200, 320 x 200, 640 x 200 COLOrsc   16 colours SOUND   3 voices + 1 sound channel SIZE / WEIGHT   354 x 290 x 97 mm I/O PORTS   keyboard, 2 x joysticks, monitor video output, composite video output, lightpen, parallel port, serial port, 5 internal expansion slots, audio mono output BUILT IN MEDIA   one 3.5'' floppy disk drive + optional 20 MB hard disk or 5.25'' floppy disk drive OS   MS-DOS 3.22, DeskMate 2 and GW Microsoft Basic included with the system POWER SUPPLY   Built-in power supply PRICE   $1000.00 US (1986)

OLD COMPUTER

 PC 1640

The Amstrad PC 1640 was the successor to the Amstrad PC 1512. It had the same characteristics as its predecessor except for added memory (640 KB instead of 512 KB) and the EGA graphics standard.

It also had great success, but to a lesser extent than the PC 1512. As the PC 1512, the Amstrad PC 1640 came with the GEM graphical user interface, from Digital Research, an alternative to Windows.


The PC-1640 was marketed under the name PC-6400 in the USA. It was also sold in Germany and maybe some other European countries under the name Schneider.


Three different kinds of monitors where supported, monochrome (-> Hercules), low-res (max 640 x 200) and hi-res (max 640 x 350). The hi-res monitor had a fan for the power supply as opposed to the other monitors which where fan-less. With the low-res monitor you could choose between a full CGA compatible mode (required for many CGA games) and an EGA mode (used for 640 x 200 x 16 eg. for GEM or 320 x 200 x 16 for several games).


Contributors: André Janz


Charles Da Silva adds:
The 1640 was first introduced in the US and after a few months in Europe (which infuriated the British media, some of them having already been harsh critics on the 1512 : fan problems - forgetting that since the PSU was in the monitor, it was not needed - not 'fully' compatible as it was then thought. All of this proved to come from IBM itself, which made Alan Sugar really angry).
You can find all this info in 'Alan Sugar' from late D. Thomas.


Ex Cathedra's memories:
I did a large amount of development on these machines in the late 80s. They were surprisingly good, with only a few bugs and incompatibilities with the IBM PC standard. Bearing in mind the price differential, we had no problems living with these.
The RTC and BIOS settings were preserved by 4xAA batteries under the monitor - a configuration I wish we still had today! There was a minor (patchable) bug in the BIOS which caused a div/0 error at midnight each night if you'd left it running a long compilation.

NAME	PC 1640
MANUFACTURER	Amstrad
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	United Kingdom
YEAR	1986
CPU	Intel 8086
SPEED	8 mHz
RAM	640 KB
VRAM	256 KB ?
ROM	64 KB
TEXT MODES	40 x 25 / 80 x 25
GRAPHIC MODES	All EGA graphic modes (maximum : 640 x 350) Hercules mode for monochrome versions (maximum 720 by 350)
COLOrsc	16 among 64
SOUND	Beeper
I/O PORTS	Four 8-bit ISA slots (one being reserved of the internal HD controller), Centronics, RS232c, Mouse port (proprietary)
BUILT IN MEDIA	one or two 5.25'' disk-drives, 20 or 30 MB HDD
OS	MS DOS 3.2
POWER SUPPLY	PSU built-in
PERIPHERALS	Most of the standard IBM/PC cards

OLD COMPUTER TERTA TAP - 34 TAP 34 is a self design of Terta company from Hungary. Primarily it was designed as a terminal for big computer systems but it was also able to process data alone. The main integrated circuits were assembled in the USSR and in Hungary by Tungsram, but several parts were imported from other countries. The built-in monitor was a DME-28 monochrome CRT made by Orion. This company was famous for its televisions in Hungary and the other KGST countries. The floppy drive attached to the computer was regular 8 inch 77 track drive using IBM format. This drive, which could use single and double sided disks, was a hungarian product also, made by the MOM. The first design had some communications software in the EPROM, but at the end of the 80's the computer was redesigned. This second design had only 2 kBytes of EPROM, containing the bootloader software for the CP/M. The CPU card, the Ram card, the CRT card and the floppy controller card were all placed into a coloured plastic case. The system was designed around the classic 8080 circuits. - Display controller: i8275 - Floppy controller: i8271 - DMA: i8257 - i8255 PIO, i8253 CTC, i8251 USART TAP-34 had the number EC-8534 in the EC-serries (united serries of computers) of East block and ex-USSR. Abbrevation "TAP" states for Teletype Abonents Point. There were three known modifications of EC-8534: original one, EC-8534.02, and EC-8534.3. The last one had optional capability to boot CP/M clone called VDOS. The standard software included some built-in teletype programs and BASIC (Terta-BASIC). There was also a so called DP (Developer Package) floppy bootable system for assembly development (included editor, assembler and debugger). Some constructive features of TAP-34 and the mentioned software suggest that there was some prototype CPU as well as original development software which were borrowed to design the TAP-34. ________ Contributors: Kun-Szabo Marton, Cyril Murzin Source = www.machines.hu  NAME   TAP-34 MANUFACTURER   Terta TYPE   Professional Computer ORIGIN   Hungary YEAR   1980 END OF PRODUCTION   Unknown BUILT IN LANGUAGE   Bootloader for CP/M KEYBOARD   Hall-sensor CPU   K580 (Russian 8080 clone) SPEED   2 MHz RAM   60 KB VRAM   Unknown ROM   2 kByte bootloader TEXT MODES   80 x 25 GRAPHIC MODES   none COLOrsc   green / black (monochrome) SOUND   Tick sound when a key pressed SIZE / WEIGHT   Unknown I/O PORTS   keyboard, floppy drives, reader, modem, printer OS   CP/M on floppy disk POWER SUPPLY   Unknown PERIPHERALS   Floppy drive (2 X 8 PRICE   300000 HUF

OLD COMPUTER

Pertec Computer Corporation

PCC 2000 is a professional computer released in 1978. It was designed in 1978 by Pertec, the company which merged with MITS by the end of 1976.

The PCC is conceived as a monobloc machine, where the display and two 8" floppy disk drives are built-in the main case. The mechanical keyboard offers separated numeric and editing keypads.

The system is powered by an Intel 8085 microprocessor and offers 64 KB RAM. The whole thing was apparently delivered with an extended Basic language, which has DOS commands built-in to control the disk drives.

Options advertised were:
- CP/M, Cobol, Fortran, Basic compiler languages
- 10 MB hard disk
- wordprocessor software
- multi-terminals
- multi-tasking


The PCC 2000 was originaly called the MITS 300/15 and renamed to reflect the Pertec brand. This machine replaced the MITS Altair S-100 computers.

The PCC 2000 was also marketed by Ordisor in France, as the Ordisor PCC 2000.

NAME	PCC 2000
MANUFACTURER	Pertec
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	1978
END OF PRODUCTION	Unknown
BUILT IN LANGUAGE	Unknown
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke QWERTY keyboard with editing and numeric keypads. 12 function keys
CPU	Intel 8085
SPEED	3 Mhz
CO-PROCESSOR	Unknown
RAM	64 KB (up to 1MB)
ROM	Unknown
TEXT MODES	Unknown
GRAPHIC MODES	Unknown
COLOrsc	No
SOUND	Unknown
SIZE / WEIGHT	Unknown
I/O PORTS	Unknown
BUILT IN MEDIA	2 x 8'' floppy disk-drives (500 KB/axis)
OS	MTX (multi-user operating system), CP/M optional
POWER SUPPLY	Built-in power supply
PERIPHERALS	10 MB hard disks, floppy disk drives, dumb terminals, printers
PRICE	Unknown

OLD COMPUTER TRIUMPH ADLER TA-1600

The TA 1600 system was introduced in 1983 at the CeBIT (which was only a part of the "Hannover-Messe" by that 

time). TA showed a few sample applications and the 1600 family in general.

Triumph Adler's hardware included also the 1600/20-3 which was supplied with a permanent-swap-HDD-unit. This unit had a memory/storage capacity of 2 x 8 MB (Winchester technology).

Triumph Adler said the system (the 1600) will fit the demand of medium-sized businesses, due to the facts that these companies will need more storage capacities and much more flexibility at the external storage solutions. For the 1600/20 as well as the 1600/30 models were new 64 KB chipset modules available which extended the RAM to a maximum of 1 MB.

Software on the 1600 systems had the focus on the classic office computing (EDP). The standard package was called "TABS 1600" and included applications like, payroll accounting, stock management. But also, there were applications for special businesses available.

The pricing of the 1600 family started at 13.000 DM (German Mark) for a single system up to 250.000 DM for a "Multi-user-dialogue-system".