At 06:53 AM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:
>>Bruce, and everyone else. I just heard from Bill. He got in a car wreck
>>going over to Bruce's place to pick some stuff up. Not knocking ya Bruce
>>but from now on we can call a wreck - getting Bruced 8-) He is OK but in
Or perhaps being "Whit"led (it was Bill Whitson?) could mean willing to go
to any length (including getting your car hit and breaking bones) in order
to rescue classic computer stuff? 8^)
Hope he gets well soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn(a)crl.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
> I have some. I also live in the UK (Cambridge) so shipping won't be
> much. I actually have a Superbrain Jr. I can't remember what density
> disks it has but I will check tonight. What model is yours.
Excellent. Thank you very much. I too shall check such things tonight
- if I can (I have no documentation at all)
> Did the company Intertec make any other machines?
According to Kai Kaltenbach's recent post, it seems they made something
called a Compustar. The name doesn't ring any bells for me, however.
If you're in Cambridge, you ought to belong to the Cambridge University
Computer Preservation Society. I think Richard Davies (rjd27(a)cam.ac.uk)
will be able to tell you more.
I shall be at CUCPS next term, on 4th November, hopefully demonstrating
the Tektronix 4052, if you're interested.
Philip.
Hello, all:
I got a message from my friend with the Altair scans (list previously posted
here). On Monday, he mailed me a Zip disk filled with scans. It really makes
me wonder if this guy has a job! Actually, he must work for a publishing house
or something, somewhere where he has access to high-volume scanners.
Anyway, when I get this, I'll put together a disk/tape and Fedex it to Bill
Whitson {Bill: I need your physical address and telephone#} and have him post
it to the ftp site.
More to come...
------------------------
Rich Cini/WUGNET
<rcini(a)msn.com>
- ClubWin Charter Member (6)
- MCPS Windows 95/Networking
I received this today, can anyone here help him out? If so, send him
an email.
Thanks.
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Bill Creager" <creagerb(a)ix.netcom.com>
To: <dlw(a)neosoft.com>
Subject: HELP
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 15:44:50 -0400
Found your wanted ad for Cromemco's. I have a need for a programmer with
a Crememco and the know how to program a EPROM chip for a Hand Held data
terminal (MSI 85)..... any help or leads would be greatly appreciated.
Bill Creager
CREAGERB(a)ix.netcom.com
----------------------------------------------------
-----
David Williams - Computer Packrat
dlw(a)neosoft.com
http://www.neosoft.com/~dlw
> The problem I see with this view, is that it does not fully take into
> consideration the class/capabilities/intent of "people" who are
> throwing
> these outlandish amounts of money around!
>
Do we have any evidence of outlandish prices actually being paid?
There are lots of newspaper articles referencing ridiculous amounts for
an Apple I like $10-$15K, but no facts to back them up. The only
documented sale in existence is the one at the 1996 Computer Bowl
charity auction for $22K, but that hardly counts.
Does anyone have any facts about Altairs or IMSAIs going for thousands?
> The 'speculators' who are out to try to make a quick buck on these
> machines while having no regard for their preservation or history will
> only make life much more difficult (and expensive) for those who would
> preserve both the machine and its history.
>
While there seem to be quite a lot of "Altair / IMSAI Wanted" ads on
USENET, I've never actually communicated with anyone who was in this for
the speculation. Does anyone know someone who is?
My advice to anyone who actually wanted to speculate in old computers
would be to buy a ton of Apple IIe/IIc's and Commodore 64's - like a
warehouse full. They're common as dirt right now and go for garage sale
prices. When all of those people whose first computer was one of those
hit age 50 (in approximately 2015) they're going to have to buy one, and
you'd be in fat city :)
> Once the percieved value of a given item is (publically) driven up,
> either
> by speculators with too much money to spend or too many badly out of
> touch
> New York/L.A. Times articles, it can take a very long time for the
> prices
> to return to reality (if they ever do).
>
That's the truth brother.
> And once an item is in the hands of one of these money oriented types,
> it
> may well languish in a vault(sic) until someone will pay the 'proper'
> prices, or when the novelty has worn off the item may still end up in
> the
> trash rather than being released for a more reasonable price. (don't
> laugh, I regularly deal with a *lot* of these types!)
>
Really?!? Egads.
> There has got to be a balance somewhere, I'm just not sure how to get
> there.
>
> Are *you* prepared to pay $500US for an Osborne or a TI99-4a ???
>
Geez, I found homes for a couple of nice Osbornes at your Tigard swap
meet for $15-$20 apiece. What was I thinking! :)
Kai
> From: Kevin McQuiggin
> Most of the hype and hoarding has been with bakelite radios from the
> late
> 40s and 50s
>
Occam's Razor says it's more likely that the baby boomers who owned or
wanted to own such radios in the 40s and 50s are now of the age where
they have a lot of nostalgia and a good deal of money to spend. That
doesn't mean that speculators are driving up prices.
Kai
One machine I hear very little about nowadays - the Superbrain.
It was one of the CPM machines that competed with the later PETs and
things, and there used to be one that sat in the librarian's office
where I work. One day I saw it being trundled towards the stores, and
sure enough it appeared in the skip soon afterward.
A little discussion with our procurement (= disposals) people, and the
machine went home with me. It now sits on my shelves, waiting for
someone to give it a boot disk.
Anyone know where to get system disks for this machine? I have one
friend who keeps promising to ask his neighbour (etc....) to get me one,
but said neighbour never seems to be available. Can anyone else get me
a disk? - I will pay all reasonable costs involved, of course.
Philip.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Bloedem Volke unverstaendlich treiben wir des Lebens Spiel.
Grade das, was unabwendlich fruchtet unserm Spott als Ziel.
Magst es Kinder-Rache nennen an des Daseins tiefem Ernst;
Wirst das Leben besser kennen, wenn du uns verstehen lernst.
Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
Hi Philip,
Don Maslin has the list of Intertec stuff below in his collection of
CP/M boot disks. He is kind enough to distribute these in the U.S. for
his cost of $3/first disk and $1/each additional. Contact him at
donm(a)cts.com and see what it would run for international shipping.
Kai
INTERTEC SUPERBRAIN & COMPUSTAR
Name Format Description
QD-BIOS4 DSDD System disk w/ experimental BIOS
QD-UTILS DSDD System-specific utilities
QD-ZCPR3 DSDD ZCPR BIOS and source
QDHDBIOS DSDD Hard disk BIOSes
SBRAIN32 SSDD SUPERBRAIN v 3.2 system disk
VPU-COMM SSDD COMPUSTAR communications files
VPU30ENH SSDD COMPUSTAR enhanced system disk
VPU30NON SSDD COMPUSTAR non-enhanced system disk
VPU30NRM SSDD COMPUSTAR non-enhanced system disk
WATSTAR DSDD COMPUSTAR(?) network BIOS & files
COMPUSTR TXT System description
SBRNINFO TXT Boot-up information
CMPSTR30 ZIP COMPUSTAR system files
CSR-COMM SSDD Backup to VPU-COMM
CSR30ENH SSDD Backup to VPU30ENH
CSR30NON SSDD Backup to VPU30NON
CSR30NRM SSDD Backup to VPU30NRM
NEW.COM Short program to allow 'smarter' C'Star to run
non enhanced operating system
NORMAL.COM Restores screen to normal video
> ----------
> From: Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
> Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 1997 9:20 AM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Superbrain
>
> One machine I hear very little about nowadays - the Superbrain.
>
> It was one of the CPM machines that competed with the later PETs and
> things, and there used to be one that sat in the librarian's office
> where I work. One day I saw it being trundled towards the stores, and
>
> sure enough it appeared in the skip soon afterward.
>
> A little discussion with our procurement (= disposals) people, and the
>
> machine went home with me. It now sits on my shelves, waiting for
> someone to give it a boot disk.
>
> Anyone know where to get system disks for this machine? I have one
> friend who keeps promising to ask his neighbour (etc....) to get me
> one,
> but said neighbour never seems to be available. Can anyone else get
> me
> a disk? - I will pay all reasonable costs involved, of course.
>
> Philip.
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Bloedem Volke unverstaendlich treiben wir des Lebens Spiel.
> Grade das, was unabwendlich fruchtet unserm Spott als Ziel.
> Magst es Kinder-Rache nennen an des Daseins tiefem Ernst;
> Wirst das Leben besser kennen, wenn du uns verstehen lernst.
>
> Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by
> Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk
>
>
I saw a thing on SCO's webpage about submitting a success story to win a
prize. I decided it was time for some shameless plugging!
Look what I got in return... He almost gets the point...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:23:52 -0400
From: Jim Sullivan <jim(a)sco.COM>
To: dseagrav(a)tek-star.net
Subject: Re: Success Story
Well this came in through a strange interface....
At 05:20 PM 8/11/97 MDT, you wrote:
>Name: Daniel Seagraves
>Telephone: 692-5893
>
>Customer's Environment: I have a PDP-11. I bet it would make for some
>pretty decent advertising if you'd give me the
>source to compile Unix on it... :)
Well, since much of the early UNIX development was done on PDP11s, a version
of UNIX could possilbe be found for it, but it's probably very old and
out of date. Of note, my first job in the industry was with a company
called Human Computing Resources (later HCR, later merged with SCO).
HCR was one of the pioneers in the UNIX industry and was the provider of
UNIX ports and layered implementations of UNIX across many platforms,
including PDP11s. PDP11/Unity was one of our products. Of course, we
don't sell it anymore and haven't sold it for over a decade.
I seriously doubt that the current UNIX source code could easily port
to the PDP11 environment.
>The Economics: To be determined.
Probably not worth it...
>System Configuration: 2 systems:
>PDP-11/44 Unknown RAM, RA81 475MB 12" harddisk
> 32 terminal ports, FPP, misc. goodies.
>PDP-11/23+ 1 meg RAM, KDF11-B CPU, No harddisk, 2
> RX02 8" Floppy drives.
Well, loading UNIX, as it exists today, into 1M, may be impossible.
Good Luck, but I don't think I can help you.
----
Jim Sullivan "Don't plant your bad days. They grow into bad
SMB Segment Marketing weeks and then bad months and before you know it
SCO - jim(a)sco.com you've got a bad year" - Tom Waits
416 216 4611
