[cctalk] Re: Revocable Living Trust for Computer Collectors

It isn’t simple. A company gets a lot of stuff that includes vintage computer equipment. They have no idea how to test it other than to power it on. They have no facilities to repair returned computers. But they are a business and need to make money to continue being a business. Do you really want them selling stuff at scrap prices and see things get scrapped, depending on who is looking when the item goes up for sale? About a year ago a Tatung COMPstation 40 (a SPARCstation 2 clone) came up on eBay. I have never seen one before, let alone had a chance to buy one. I negotiated the price down a bit but still had to buy a “disk” (SCSI2SD) and IDPROM and add memory from my stash to make a working computer. Six months after that an Axil 220 (a SS LX clone) came up. Again, I have never seen one before. I negotiated the 220 down to the same price as the Tatung (but it was more of a price drop from the asking price). I am still trying to get it to run (re-cap’ed the PSU, voltages look good around the board, but it doesn’t power up). A couple weeks ago, a “untested” Sun 3/80 system board and PSU came up. I offered the same as the systems above. He came down a third between the asking price and my offer. If it were something I “needed” I would have taken the offer. The next day someone else did. For some vintage computers, one has limited opportunity to purchase and may need to buy what’s available. alan