Say you had access to a bunch of old xboxes, bought a bunch of computers at auction or otherwise had access to a bunch of old computers. Would mining cryptocurrencies be a good use of these resources? If not, how else could you get value out of them?
Even on brand new high efficiency setups I'm doubtful crypto mining is cost effective <i>unless you're doing it somewhere you don't pay for the electricity bill</i>.<p>Depending how old they are, you may find charities that will accept them.<p>Or use them to learn about clustered systems?
You sound new to this, so I recommend you make it someone else's problem. As in, sell, trade, or give them to someone who specializes in acquiring outdated hardware, whether it's a repurposing shop, a recycler, a charity, etc.
I've heard that old PCs can be turned into the equivalent of a Chromebook without too much trouble. Haven't had the opportunity to try it myself.
Similar to what kirkyl said, but with a twist.<p>Your end user is the 6th grade version of myself. (Curious and interested in computers but no mentors/guidance to get started/lay breadcrumbs). My family/friends came from blue collar background, so their programming skills are effectively zero. Asking for help doesn't really exist since I didn't know anyone to talk to or know where to go on the internet.<p>When I was much younger (10 years old), a big part that delayed me from getting involved in programming, was not understanding "the point" of programming and figuring what to search for when trying to learn.<p>I (10 year old version) seriously thought that all programming was:
cout << "What is your name?";
cin >> name;
cout << "Hi << name;
return 0;<p>Based on the C++ book I had access to, I didn't understand what I could tangibly build from knowing the idea of int,strings,arrays etc. I also thought that when people made games, they hardcoded the raw pixel values for every possible state/character/action. (Dumb, I know.)<p>I also thought you programmed "cool" games, by throwing a stupid amount of time in hardcoding each pixel value.<p>So I paused on programming for 10 years and picked up paintball/cars/Mechanical Engineering instead.<p>Make and install custom Ubuntu image with all of the needed packages/software to do introductory tangible dev work on. Make it work for 3 large dev camps(Python, Web Dev(Basic HTML,CSS,Javascript),Embedded electronics (Arduino).
Sure the 10 year old kid can install everything via command line scripts themselves.<p>But knowing that you need a './" in front of 'script.sh' isn't entirely obvious at that age. It is also incredibly demotivating when your getting your feet wet, and can't figure the './' out.<p>Have links on the Desktop to the Mozilla Developer Network, Python Docs/ Game Tutorials, the github explore tab, Intro to Python/Web Dev online courses and StackOverflow.
As well as a challenge for the 10 year old: Like make a pong-like video game.<p>The mission statement for this entire idea, "We gave you all the tools and they work well. Now the only thing stopping you from being a hacker/programmer is yourself."<p>Distributing it via old hardware would be nice, because most kids/parents are worried about "ruining" their existing computer by migrating to Linux and losing Windows.(At least I was)<p>Having a separate dedicated physical box, will give the kids a good environment to try things and fail in. Without worry about accidentally deleting everything on the file system. Like family vacation photos.<p>Do FB marketing and target parents that have kids in middle school and want them to go college and be doctor/lawyer/engineer types.<p>Sell it at (cost + $20 +shipping). Plug and play.