[gregjor]

I suspect that the number of arcade machines the world might need would require only a small fraction of the discarded hardware available. Much of the discarded hardware will require labor-intensive repair work, offsetting any profits, and then there's the maintenance of those recycled machines to consider. You might have noticed that arcades have disappeared now that people can game with consoles and PCs at home.

[jamesandthewolf]

Yes and my thinking is to leverage this recycling old tec to reassign it one household one machine that only requires part replacement not full replacement and these parts are made from recycled hardware. Discarded Cellphones, computer, gaming consoles, all tec repurposed. Stopping waste a more effective renewable solution little to no waste

[gregjor]

Good luck with that. I think you’ll find out why no one is doing this. Recycling costs more than building new.

[jamesandthewolf]

Maybe it costs more but I'm not sure in the long run it will, if it can be brought down to just upgrading parts of a system it will be cheaper to maintain. Also governments are starting to look for the green alternative so it could in fact offset costs. It's a big idea I don't even know where or how to start but I know that on the current state of things it would take hold.

[gregjor]

Logistics. Collecting, storing, and distributing — all labor-intensive and expensive at scale — will turn into the biggest costs. Unless recycling happens at scale it doesn’t make a big enough difference.

[smoldesu]

I'm going to humor you, and give you the "Elon Musk" solution here. Take it, leave it or run with it, I couldn't care less.

- Start small, establish yourself on a site like Etsy and sell directly to the consumer. You cannot scale this up until you prove that it's possible to turn dead electronics into consoles quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.

- Focus on a single hardware architecture. x86 would be the easiest, as it gives you a super-solid base for running Linux and all of it's trappings, as well as a huge range of computers to pick from (2005-present day).

- Automate your software solution early. Make sure that your entire install process takes minimal interaction, this will be crucial for your scaling. Write a bash script to automate the installation of Linux and all of your emulation software.

If you can figure that out, you might have a cute home business and a fun alternative revenue source. Saving the planet though? Every little bit counts, but you're hardly saving the Earth by turning trash into slightly more fun trash. You'd hardly even be competing against other manufacturers, and they'd simply continue to pump out consoles faster than you can transform computers. If you want sustainability, go for the high-end market and drive insane margins with fancy wooden cabs. If you want to make a difference, you're going to need to optimize your manufacturing process to an impossible level of efficiency. I say this as someone who has home-made several arcade cabs at this point: I simply don't see a project like this making an impact. But it's your time, so feel free to chase it.

[gregjor]

Yeah use wood cabinets and then ship the arcades around by plane and truck. That will move the needle on climate change.

[smoldesu]

Oh, I'm definitely not coming at this from a save-the-earth perspective. Like I said, this is a fun side hobby at best, definitely not some eco-warrior type deal.