Strange computer find

[peekaboo]

a couple of days ago as i was leaving my apartment the elevator opened and in it was a computer (unescorted).
i got in and travelled down to the parking lot, expecting the person who left it there to call the elevator.
i travelled all the way back to the top and still nobody called it.
so i put the computer in my apartment and went down to the lobby.
i put a notice on the notice board that said "if you lost (forgot) you computer in the elevator, call ####(my number) or email xxxx (my email)."
nobody called and nobody emailed.
today i saw that the notice has been torn off. not taken off nicely by removing the tacks but actually ripped off.
i am puzzled.

on the one hand it is a pentium 3 so it may have been on its way to the garbage but on the other hand it has ubuntu installed (i couldn't help myself from turning it on) so it's unlikely that someone who uses linux would just leave his computer in an elevator (am i right?).

what do you guys make of this?

[David M]

The gods are smiling upon you.

[Doobie]

maybe it was a windows user that wanted to convert to linux but didnt like it and could not figur out how to get rid of linux. I would put the notice up again and if you get no response just keep the computer.

[mairving]

Take a picture of it like they do the lost dog picture and post it on the board. Leave off the Ubuntu part so that you could actually verify that it was theirs. Still if they left it on an elevator, they would have surely come looking for it if they wanted it.

[peekaboo]

taking a picture, going to a shop and getting it printed and posting it on the board is a little too much like hard work.

i think i did my part. within 5 minutes of finding the computer, a notice was up with my phone number and email address.
if it were my computer that was lost i'd be actively looking for it.

i think i'll call it my new computer now.

[blue60007]

Better check the inside of it for a bomb or drugs or something! :D Seriously though, you should. Someone doesn't want it found.

[peekaboo]

the building manager just called.
some guy is claiming it's his. i guess the building manager took the note off (strange that he would just rip it off).
i told him i'd have to drop it off later (so that i could put it back together).
it's all over the floor now.
whoever owns it will get it much cleaner but minus thermal compound (i've taken off the heat sink too).
another couple of days and he would have gotten it minus all his data too.

[David M]

The elevator gods giveth...and the elevator gods taketh.

[peekaboo]

i'm not giving up yet.
i'm hoping that some guy saw the notice and is trying to get a free computer.
i will not bring it to the office.
the owner can either call me and tell me what os is on the computer or he will not get it.
i hope he calls and says windows xp.

[blue60007]

Good idea...if I found a watch or something, you'd have to describe it or something. Where there any names on the computer (on the hard drive) that would help you identify it's owner?

[peekaboo]

it has a bigfoot 5.25" hard drive along with an ibm deskstar.
the os is linux.
the owner of the computer should know that (at least the os).

[blue60007]

Any Linux user should know what the OS is.

[David M]

Set him up with a false question: "What type of Mac?" That will make it easy if he is trying to scam you.

[peekaboo]

i'm going to ask "which version of windows is installed?" and hope for a windows answer.
but so far i've only heard once from the building manager (two days ago) who said some guy was supposed to hold the elevator door for some other guy and the computer got away.
in exactly one week i'm on a plane to the other side of the world (for 6 weeks but i'm not coming back to this building) and if i weren't so busy these days trying to get my university assignments finished before i leave, that computer would already be formatted and calling me daddy.

[spartan015]

hahaha if he really cared he'd called you by now

[peekaboo]

ok.

i believe i've waited long enough.

i now declare this computer officially mine.

[RazorDX]

Congratulations on your new companion.

[peekaboo]

last night i took out one of the hard drives and replaced it with one of mine.
i formatted the 5.25" quantum bigfoot hard drive (which said unallocated anyway).

10 minutes ago i got a call from a guy claiming it was his computer.
i asked him to describe it and he did (white, firewire ports...)
i asked what version of windows is on it and he said "no man, it's got linux on it".
so i went down and gave him the computer.

and so ends the story of my strange computer find.

I asked him what took him so long and he said that this had happened on his way moving out of the building and that the building manager tried to track the usage of the elevator (all keys are coded) but couldn't.

i apologized for formatting his disk but there's not much else i can do.

he didn't seem too pleased.

I don't think i should feel bad because i put a note up two minutes after taking the computer and i only formatted it last night (and yet i do feel a little bad).

[HAL9000]

I wouldn't be too happy either.. looking at your posts, you only gave it 5 days... I would think a MINIMUM waiting period would be 30 days... put it this way.. if you lost your wallet with cash in it.. and somebody found it... posted a lost and found for 5 days... but you didn't see it for whatever reason until the 6th... would you be happy that he claimed the money as his and spent it?

[peekaboo]

it hasn't been 5 days, it's been a week and a half.
i may have been a bit too eager to claim it as my own but i think the fact that it was a pentium III (256 Mb ram), really dirty and unclaimed for a relatively long time considering whoever lost it knew exactly where he had lost it and there was a notice up there two minutes later, does make my decision to format it more reasonable.

i'm pretty sure that the drive that i formatted was unallocated (it did not show up when i explored through slax and only showed up as unallocated when slaved).
i did not format his master hd so really no harm has been done.

[Panama Red]

Let me plant a little life experience on ya. When you mature enough to quit thinking "What's in it for me?" and start thinking "How can I help someone else?" you'll begin to realize rewards that will seem unexplainable. And stop trying to justify your actions. You messed with someone else's computer after you had been notified that the real owner was trying to reclaim it. That was AFTER your note was taken down and yet you did nothing more to help the real owner reclaim his lost property. Hal's point of the lost wallet is a perfect example and I hope, for your sake, you never lose anything of value. Chances of you getting it back are pretty slim cuz, "What goes around, comes around" or as a book I've read says it "You reap what you sow."

[peekaboo]

Listen guys,

I'll admit that i was too quick to treat this computer as my own but the bottom line is that the original owner got his computer back. maybe (maybe) lost some data to a quick format but otherwise safe and sound.
if i wanted to steal this computer i would have not posted a notice up and would have not answered this guys unidentified call.
i am no thief and the damage is not really that bad so while i accept responsibility, i don't think it's an issue for cosmic retribution (or anything coming around).

[Two|Bit]

I wouldn't have touched the computer at all in the first place...it seems like you are in need of a computer