26 Jun
2024
26 Jun
'24
11:25 p.m.
On 6/27/24 00:29, Sellam Abraham via cctalk wrote:
On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 9:17 PM Doc Shipley via cctalk
<
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Much, much more important than the money, though,
is the impact leaving
a large collection would have on my descendants. News Flash:
THESE TREASURES ARE THEIR TRASH.
It would be unconscionable for me to put any expectation on them to
"properly" dispose of my computers. To do so would require a silly
amount of self-education for them to know even what these things ARE,
much less what they're worth and where to sell them.
Not necessarily. It depends on the trash in question. The second-hand
market is huge, and the computer collecting hobby is currently a thriving
part of it.
Bottom line is that vintage computer stuff now has a lot of value, and
there's a generation of younger people coming up behind my generation that
has a definite interest in this stuff, from the 1990s PCs all the way back
to 1940s mainframes. So even if they were to hire one of those companies
that comes and hauls everything away and sells it all on eBay and gives a
cut back to the owner, it will still result in much of your effort to
preserve historical computer stuff not at all being in vain. Bonus if you
leave behind a detailed inventory with historical notes.
Sellam
My point was, and is, that my heirs must get a choice in all that. Even
casual listing on ebay takes time and attention, and in the case of
computers there's a significant up-front expense just *housing* them,
even temporarily.
All my kids have kids of their own and not a lot of available time and
attention. It's on me as a responsible father to make it available if,
and only if, they feel it's worth their time. Otherwise I'm leaving
them a burden that's not of their choosing.
I should add that organizing and making coherent the physical storage of
all this is a big part of my goal.
*I* know what that open topped cardboard carton of circuit boards is,
but J Random Helper will have no idea how to tell the ISA adapters from
the AGB cards from the QBus RAM boards, and even if there's a detailed
inventory, somebody would have to find the *correct* set of characters
on the silkscreens and look them up.
I feel that just sorting for some kind of coherency and consistently
labeling all the little parts and pieces, and packing them in stackable
cartons or tubs, will go a very long way toward making my collection an
asset to the heirs instead of a giant pain in the butt.
Doc