Old junk or rare and valuable hardware?
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I still have my first computer, a Netronics Elf II from 1978. It was a kit and I had to scrape together my allowance to get parts and components. I did what I could, but I never got all the neat expansions and had to content with 4k RAM and great black and white graphics at a resolution of 64 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. Now I came across someone who wants to sell his old computer. Unlike mine it has practically everything the manufacturer had to offer, including several 4k and 16k memory expansion boards. The four 4k cards cost about 110$ each back then. I know. At least I have one of them. And the two 16k cards were extremely expensive. I would be crazy enough to buy it, but it's only sold completely and the seller wants at least 6000$ for it. That price probably would be equivalent to what the entire computer cost back in 1978. I suppose, I will pass on that offer, but what is the right price? The technology is more than obsolete. I could easily get a 64k RAM chip for a few dollars. It would need little additional logic and making the circuit board would be the hardest part. From that perspective, the price is laughable. On the other side it's a rare old machine. I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbNow you've got me wondering if my old TRS-80 Model 100 Portable is worth dragging out of the closet.
Everybody SHUT UP until I finish my coffee...
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I still have my first computer, a Netronics Elf II from 1978. It was a kit and I had to scrape together my allowance to get parts and components. I did what I could, but I never got all the neat expansions and had to content with 4k RAM and great black and white graphics at a resolution of 64 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. Now I came across someone who wants to sell his old computer. Unlike mine it has practically everything the manufacturer had to offer, including several 4k and 16k memory expansion boards. The four 4k cards cost about 110$ each back then. I know. At least I have one of them. And the two 16k cards were extremely expensive. I would be crazy enough to buy it, but it's only sold completely and the seller wants at least 6000$ for it. That price probably would be equivalent to what the entire computer cost back in 1978. I suppose, I will pass on that offer, but what is the right price? The technology is more than obsolete. I could easily get a 64k RAM chip for a few dollars. It would need little additional logic and making the circuit board would be the hardest part. From that perspective, the price is laughable. On the other side it's a rare old machine. I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbCDP1802 wrote:
I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
In short: no. $6000 can be translated as "I don't really want to sell it, but give me enough money to solve some of my financial problems and I'll part with it." Rare items have value when they're sought after by significant numbers of people. I wouldn't expect to find too many takers for such a device at the $100 price level, let alone $6000. Its day has passed, and unless you find someone who built his back in the 70s only to have it destroyed in a fire, you're very, very unlikely to find a market for one. I suspect most computers of that vintage follow the same trajectory my C-64 did: I couldn't part with it, so it spent the last 15 years I owned it in a box in my basement (stacked on top of the VIC-20). :laugh: Finally I needed to purge old crap (to make room for new crap! ;P) and they both went to a Freecycler. If you're attached to this thing and have the time and money to invest, by all means upgrade it. If money is not a problem, offer this guy $500 for his (he'll probably take it). If you can't see yourself doing either of the above, sell yours as spare parts to the guy who wants $6k for his, and move on with life. Personally, I'd find a different hobby. --Geoff
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CDP1802 wrote:
I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
In short: no. $6000 can be translated as "I don't really want to sell it, but give me enough money to solve some of my financial problems and I'll part with it." Rare items have value when they're sought after by significant numbers of people. I wouldn't expect to find too many takers for such a device at the $100 price level, let alone $6000. Its day has passed, and unless you find someone who built his back in the 70s only to have it destroyed in a fire, you're very, very unlikely to find a market for one. I suspect most computers of that vintage follow the same trajectory my C-64 did: I couldn't part with it, so it spent the last 15 years I owned it in a box in my basement (stacked on top of the VIC-20). :laugh: Finally I needed to purge old crap (to make room for new crap! ;P) and they both went to a Freecycler. If you're attached to this thing and have the time and money to invest, by all means upgrade it. If money is not a problem, offer this guy $500 for his (he'll probably take it). If you can't see yourself doing either of the above, sell yours as spare parts to the guy who wants $6k for his, and move on with life. Personally, I'd find a different hobby. --Geoff
I would not sell it, not even for 6000$. And I have contact with a few users who also have the same or a similar old computer. When someone has a totally wrecked expansion, I'm tempted to save it from the trash bin and get it working again. I have my sources for ancient parts at an affordable price, so that will cost about as much as lunch in a restaurant. But you are probably mistaken what the buyers are concerned. I saw two auctions at Ebay a few years ago. One was more or less the same as mine and the other one was barely more than the CPU board. Both went away for about 1500$. Unfortunately this seller now has also seen those auctions and hopes to get away just as well. I doubt he will get 6000$, but his computer is the most complete I ever saw. Who knows?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverb -
It is what kept you up at night drove you crazy when you had to modify something you coded six months before. FTFY
JimmyRopes wrote:
code like the person that is going to maintain your code is a psycopath who knows where you live.
He is and he does. :)
If you keep doing what you been doing you'll keep getting what you been getting http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
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I still have my first computer, a Netronics Elf II from 1978. It was a kit and I had to scrape together my allowance to get parts and components. I did what I could, but I never got all the neat expansions and had to content with 4k RAM and great black and white graphics at a resolution of 64 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. Now I came across someone who wants to sell his old computer. Unlike mine it has practically everything the manufacturer had to offer, including several 4k and 16k memory expansion boards. The four 4k cards cost about 110$ each back then. I know. At least I have one of them. And the two 16k cards were extremely expensive. I would be crazy enough to buy it, but it's only sold completely and the seller wants at least 6000$ for it. That price probably would be equivalent to what the entire computer cost back in 1978. I suppose, I will pass on that offer, but what is the right price? The technology is more than obsolete. I could easily get a 64k RAM chip for a few dollars. It would need little additional logic and making the circuit board would be the hardest part. From that perspective, the price is laughable. On the other side it's a rare old machine. I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbCosmic Elf! Yes! I have one with everything! And, expansions, etc. Have to dig it out and set it back up now. LOL I had it playing "The Entertainer" one day at work. (Boredom) Also, have a pile of AppleIIe's, C's, Plus's, Even one Imsai 8080, with the Wargames front panel. Cool days back then. Yes on the drinks, Marq's...
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I still have my first computer, a Netronics Elf II from 1978. It was a kit and I had to scrape together my allowance to get parts and components. I did what I could, but I never got all the neat expansions and had to content with 4k RAM and great black and white graphics at a resolution of 64 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. Now I came across someone who wants to sell his old computer. Unlike mine it has practically everything the manufacturer had to offer, including several 4k and 16k memory expansion boards. The four 4k cards cost about 110$ each back then. I know. At least I have one of them. And the two 16k cards were extremely expensive. I would be crazy enough to buy it, but it's only sold completely and the seller wants at least 6000$ for it. That price probably would be equivalent to what the entire computer cost back in 1978. I suppose, I will pass on that offer, but what is the right price? The technology is more than obsolete. I could easily get a 64k RAM chip for a few dollars. It would need little additional logic and making the circuit board would be the hardest part. From that perspective, the price is laughable. On the other side it's a rare old machine. I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbI've just sold an old Commadore Amiga 500 on eBay, and 'upgraded' to a Commodore Amiga A1200; with PCMCIA slot and a whopping 64Mbyte (yes megabyte) hard disk. Back to the heady days of Workbench 3.1. Now if only I could get it to load a CD I could upgrade even further to Workbench 3.9 and really enjoy some pre-emtive multitasking. :cool:
I'm too lazy to Google it for you.
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Anybody aware of an operational or non-operational ECIL/TDC-316 anywhere? I was in the system software development team for that model during late 1970's.
Not a clue? Seems to be Indian specific and even when I googled it there wasn't a lot available. Good luck.
If you keep doing what you been doing you'll keep getting what you been getting http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
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Cosmic Elf! Yes! I have one with everything! And, expansions, etc. Have to dig it out and set it back up now. LOL I had it playing "The Entertainer" one day at work. (Boredom) Also, have a pile of AppleIIe's, C's, Plus's, Even one Imsai 8080, with the Wargames front panel. Cool days back then. Yes on the drinks, Marq's...
COSMAC, not cosmic :) That was the name RCA used for CMOS.
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverb -
:laugh: :laugh: I wasn't going to tell anyone. :) I communicated with a guy that used to work on my team back then and he said the thing that impressed him about me was that I had the instruction set memorized.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut occasionally. http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
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Yeah, I used to have the 6800 (yeah, just two zeros) instruction set memorized, and used this knowledge for programming in hex. Not really all that hard a skill to acquire when you're doing it every day. Still, mem were men in those days.
It was pretty easy back then and like you say if you used them every day as we did it didn't take long.
If you keep doing what you been doing you'll keep getting what you been getting http://www.hq4thmarinescomm.com[^] [My Site]
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Let's say that in a more impressive manner. How about this: You have forgotten more about programming than most young hotshots ever knew. And what's left is more as well :)
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbI like this one: "I know everything that's worth knowing and most all the rest."
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I still have my 1985 Macintosh 128k M0001P in working conditions including mouse keyboard and printer. No idea on its current value, but its not on sale anyway.
Similarly here. Macintosh 512KE, Floppy disk drive (Wooooo 800K !!!) Apple ImageWriter II dot matrix printer. Mouse. Floppy disks for OS, MacPaint, and MacWrite.
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I remember knowing the Z80 instruction set on a similar basis when coding with a ZX81, then Spectrum. That and the Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly book helped write fairly efficient machine code (I had no assembler!)
I thought about building a Z80 at one time, but I was just too busy at the time and never got around to it. I was working on mainframes and mid size machines back then. I didn't get a PC until 1992 when I was out of work and had some time to learn a new platform.
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
I still have my first computer, a Netronics Elf II from 1978. It was a kit and I had to scrape together my allowance to get parts and components. I did what I could, but I never got all the neat expansions and had to content with 4k RAM and great black and white graphics at a resolution of 64 x 32 pixels or 64 x 64 pixels. Now I came across someone who wants to sell his old computer. Unlike mine it has practically everything the manufacturer had to offer, including several 4k and 16k memory expansion boards. The four 4k cards cost about 110$ each back then. I know. At least I have one of them. And the two 16k cards were extremely expensive. I would be crazy enough to buy it, but it's only sold completely and the seller wants at least 6000$ for it. That price probably would be equivalent to what the entire computer cost back in 1978. I suppose, I will pass on that offer, but what is the right price? The technology is more than obsolete. I could easily get a 64k RAM chip for a few dollars. It would need little additional logic and making the circuit board would be the hardest part. From that perspective, the price is laughable. On the other side it's a rare old machine. I would not hope to find 1000 of them in working condition on the entire planet. But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
"I have what could be described as the most wide-open sense of humor on the site, and if I don't think something is funny, then it really isn't." - JSOC, 2011 -----
"Friar Modest never was a prior" - Italian proverbCDP1802 wrote:
But are there really enough people around who are interested enough to pay such a price?
somebody once said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
---Guy H ;-)---