I know the Thomas Haddock book, A Collector's Guide to Personal Computers
and Pocket Calculators, is not well liked around this group, but I just
thought I would mention that there is a copy in my local book store
(Heffers) and if there is anyone in the UK that wants it then I could get
it for them.
--
Kevan
Collector of old computers: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.990301181341.12293B-100000(a)genco.haggle.com>
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Doug <doug(a)blinkenlights.com> wrote:
] On Sun, 28 Feb 1999, Noel Fields wrote:
] > So far, the bid is 1.00 on it. Thought someone here might be interested :)
]
] If there was already a bid on it, somebody was obviously interested in it,
] but I guess he won't be getting it for $1 anymore :-(
Doug wrote once before (21 Jan 1999):
... the moral is the same: if you're contemplating an
action that has an equal chance of helping or hurting,
watch a movie instead.
That stuck in my head, because it has the Ring of Truth(TM)
to it.
Of course, if posting these "heads-up" messages has an equal
chance of helping or hurting, then *failing* to post them
does too, as does discouraging people from posting them. So
how come people keep doing that, instead of watching movies?
Anyway, as far as I can see, posting it here is a win,
probabilistically, because it increases the chance that a
list member will get the item.
If I don't favor any particular list member, then posting
the news here is the best way to get the item to the person
that wants it most. Keeping it secret means hurting the
guy that wanted it most, more than it helped the guy that
wanted it less - a net loss.
We are all friends here, right? Giving the same news to
everybody is perfectly fair, and increases the chance that
one of our friends will win (instead of a total stranger).
As for the "logical extreme" of posting 17000 items from
e-bay to here, nobody does that because, contrary to your
assertion, it is not a duty to post these things; it is a
nicety. Making the leap from that to "duty" is nuts. (And
I think your guestimate of 17000 interesting items is high
by about a factor of about 10000. But that's beside the
point.)
The more ridiculous the arguments become, the more obvious
it is that you are just being selfish, and want the rest of
the world to help you along with that. Prove me wrong here;
the next time you find a great deal out there, post an article
here saying how much you bid, and explaining why everyone
else here should let you have it for that great price and
not interfere. Explain why you deserve it more than anyone
else. If you can't do that, then you have no right to be
upset when people notify others whom they think will be
interested, and those people bid.
Having said all that, I must also point out that since another
mailing list was set up just for posting these announcements,
that is the most appropriate place. Snipped from another old
message of Doug's (from 26 Jan 1999):
] ... the idea of an auction mailing list, so I've created one.
] You can subscribe by sending a message to:
] majordomo(a)nut.net
] with the body:
] subscribe ccauction
]
] I, for one, will not be on this new list, but I'll respond
] to admin requests.
YOU ARE ALL HEREBY COMMANDED TO SUBSCRIBE!
... thus ending the notification wars once and for all.
Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? :-)
(BTW, is the ccauction list mentioned in the classiccmp FAQ?)
Cheers,
Bill.
Hi Barry,
I was thinking about attending the computershow in Dayton in a couple of
weeks. You say that there is no flea market. Does that mean that
(classiccomp) systems aren't sold there??? And can I get a general set of
directions to the Hara..
Maybe we can do a lunch between or drink after the festivities
Regards
- MIke
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry A. Watzman <Watzman(a)ibm.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classicmputers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, February 13, 1999 11:31 PM
Subject: Dayton Hamfest
>The Dayton Hamfest is a fabulous show. It is THE LARGEST amateur radio
convention [it's "official" purpose]. The Hara arena is a very good size
facility, I'd guess in the over 100,000 sq. ft. range (perhaps WAY over),
and it's all indoor, heated/air conditioned [not that it works with 35,000
people in the facility], and all commercial vendors, many, many of which are
used computer and surplus dealers (there is lots of new stuff also). It's
about 60%-70% computer, the rest general electronics and communications
[radio] equipment.
>
>The flea market takes up the entire parking lot, in excess of 2,500
vendors. There are many commercial exhibits in the parking lot also, you
will find a number of very large tents (10,000 square feet range each).
Mendelson surplus always has a large tent, and almost every year Radio Shack
[as in Tandy] collects their entire surplus and returned merchandise stuff
>from all over the nation and sends it all to a big tent at the Dayton
Hamfest where it is sold for often ten cents on the retail dollar. However
they didn't do this last year, for the first time I can remember, but they
still had a huge indoor exhibit with many items, new, at 25% to 50% below
normal store and catalog prices.
>
>The show is logistically difficult to attend for several reasons. First,
it brings in so many people [over 25,000 plus a large local population] that
poor Dayton, which is hardly a tourist mecca, is complete swamped. You can
forget about finding a hotel at this point, the people who do this show get
their reservations a year in advance. You may have to stay in Columbus or
Cincinnati [both about 70 miles away], fortunately both are directly on an
interstate highway and it's not a bad drive. The other problem is parking,
since the entire lot is flea market there isn't any ! There are some LARGE
fields around the complex that are used for parking, expect to pay $5 to $10
per day, and they are not paved, or very close, which become a real issue in
bad weather. Then there are remote lots with busses, but that's a hassle
also.
>
>The show is May 14, 15, 16.
>
>Here is an alternative, the Dayton Microcomputer association has a twice a
year computer show at the same site. It's just about as large as the
Hamfest, and it's ALL computer. There is no flea market, the parking lot is
used for - surprise ! - PARKING ! It's almost like having 3 Dayton Hamfests
a year, except that two of them don't have the flea market. This year's
dates (it's only a two-day show):
>
>Spring: March 13-14
>Summer/Fall: August 28-29
>
>I plan to attend all 3 events.
>
>
>
u
I guess this is on-topic for the moment.
Two of my on-line friends have unsubscribed from this list
publically; only Derreck is in a position to know how many have
lapsed silently.
It is the old usenet/mailist syndrome. A disagreement starts,
escalates, sides are chosen, persons come in halfway and add
distorted fuel, endless changes are rung on is/is not, did/did not,
me/no, me!... etc ad nauseum. And when the noise achieves it's
sustained reaction peak, valuable contributors take the step of
severing thier connection with the source of the noise... be it
bandwidth, emotional, harrasment, or other klinds of Internet 'noise'.
The response that always works for me is the 'delete' function in
my mail software.
I personally refuse to descend the slippery slope of Victim
Conciousness, no matter how alluring the bottom might seem. I don't
like some of the discussions posted here, but I have a noise blanker
in Pine, invoked by pressing 'D' once for each instance of a noisy
message. And I take responsibility for what I write, and for the
manner in which I respond to others using this medium of expression.
Okay this is too long. Heavily moderated lists are quiet but
necessarily fascistic. Not a bad thing, qua the list in question.
Loosely moderated lists generate fabulous discussion and info, but
suffer what we now see on classiccmp.
A rhetorical question: on what emotional level do you engae this
List, and the Net in general? A lot of people espouse Anarchy and
Chaos, until one fine night the other Anarchists decide they want
your farm more than you do....
:}
Cheers
John
PS: I hope Andrew and Doug reconsider in the fulness of time. I will
miss them.
At 08:54 PM 3/2/99 -0800, you wrote:
>On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
>
>> Anyway, his view is that if he takes a lower price then people will start
>> expecting him to sell cheaper. Therefore he sets a price and he doesn't
>> care how long it sets, he won't come off that price. Sooner or later he'll
>> scrap it. We just scrapped a brand new $100,000 circuit board component
>> placing machine today. It was brand new and was still in the original
>> (HUGE) crate.
>
>That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! That is a ludicrous way to do
>business in my opinion. What have you gained from purchasing something,
>spending money to store it, and then deciding to write-off the whole
>thing rather than at least make a little money on it (or even break even).
>I just don't get it.
>
Sam,
I agree completely. You're better off to get something for it instead of
nothing IMO. He thinks he's keeping the prices up by doing it that way,
but price doesn't matter if you can't sell it.
Joe
At 07:08 AM 3/2/99 -0800, Sam wrote:
>On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Mike Ford wrote:
>
>> I am a bit touchy right now because yesterday I had a very unpleasant phone
>> exchange. Typical story, guy buys a few pallets at auction, and finds in
>> this case some old macs in with the PC stuff he wants. He has, once it is
>> cleaned up and checked out, if it is as he describes maybe $400 retail of
>> goods. He doesn't just decline my very fair offer (about $150 for the
>> curious) in light of the actual untested pile of stuff on a pallet
>> condition, but tells me he will just throw it in a dumpster if he can't get
>> a retail price. Ignore the fact he paid 3 cents a pound or $20 a pallet,
>> and wants me to buy the part he doesn't want.
>
>This is the worst kind of asshole and I've encountered them a few times.
>I can't understand what goes through the puny mind of someone with this
>sort of attitude.
>
I understand them. In fact, I'm working with one of them right now. He
just tossed a whole pallet load of PS-2s and another pallet load of HPs. (I
wasn't there that day or I would have tried to get them but they know that
so I'm sure that's why they were pitched the one day I wasn't there.)
Anyway, his view is that if he takes a lower price then people will start
expecting him to sell cheaper. Therefore he sets a price and he doesn't
care how long it sets, he won't come off that price. Sooner or later he'll
scrap it. We just scrapped a brand new $100,000 circuit board component
placing machine today. It was brand new and was still in the original
(HUGE) crate.
Joe
At 11:50 AM 3/2/99 -0800, Sellam wrote:
>
>Yes they will. But the sellers are always welcome to go through the
>hassle of using ebay rather than the simple immediate exchange of cash for
>computers. Cleaner and easier than ebay.
Huh? Attending VCF in person and renting a flea market spot and
dealing with customers is easier than using eBay? Wow, you really
do put a positive spin on VCF. :-)
- John
>Anyone have a manual for the DEC LA75S-A2? This model has both parallel and
>serial ports, although the serial port is the skewed RJ-45 connector.
MMJ. See the comp.os.ultrix FAQ for pinouts and comon adapter cables.
>I haven't been able to find out anything about configuring/setting up this
>printer.
Hmm - my LA75 has a SETUP button on the front. Hold it down, power
the printer up, you get a menu of options to change. Is the SETUP
button not on yours?
> There seems to be a little info on the Web on how to set up up for
>DOS/Windows, but I want to use it with DEC equipment (VT-220, VT340, Pro,
>etc.), and I don't even have a new enough manual to give a description of it.
With DEC equipment, you plug it in, turn it on, and go.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
Trying again. I just discovered the listproc looks at every message and
there is a hold command.
Hold the setup button while you turn it on. It will then print its current
setup. You can change values with the other buttons. The button names that
are below the buttons are for the setup mode. You want the DEC emulation
for VT420 etc. use and the "other" emulation is IBM proprinter.
Dan
>Anyone have a manual for the DEC LA75S-A2? This model has both parallel
and
>serial ports, although the serial port is the skewed RJ-45 connector.
>
>I haven't been able to find out anything about configuring/setting up this
>printer. There seems to be a little info on the Web on how to set up up
for
>DOS/Windows, but I want to use it with DEC equipment (VT-220, VT340, Pro,
>etc.), and I don't even have a new enough manual to give a description of
it.
>
>It looks like it will take a font cartridge, too? Anything useful?
>
>Thanks,
>Dave
>
