As someone who runs a museum - The Personal Computer Museum
(www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada I can tell you that it's a
lot more work than you might think to get it going, keep it running, etc.
As stated, there are many issues beyond just getting the place going. It
depends on local laws as well. I'm currently a not-for-profit organization
with "charitable objects". My "Charitable status" is still in the works and
takes months. Getting it means a lot for those who donate computers and
money, and in some cases for certain grants it is an absolute requirement.
There are also "museum standards" that must be adhered to. Policies on how
you manage the collection and everything else about it.
We are JUST starting to get international attention and are growing - but
I've been at it for almost 3 years of being open and I've been collecting
for over 20. I am hoping to be at it full time by next year--but it's a
SLOW process.
If you wish to talk to me about it privately, email me at sbolton at
bfree.on.ca and I'd be more than happy to share my experiences.
Greetings.
I am interested in purchasing a HERO1 (fro heathkit).
The original asking price from 1979 - 1982 was about $1,500.00
I think $150.00 would be a fair trade. What do you think?
Referenced here: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2007-December/089541.html
Thank you.
Atomkey.
At 07:35 AM 8/20/2008, William Donzelli wrote:
>And the answer is the American Museum of Electricity, in Niskayuna,
>NY, near Albany. In the early 1960s, some of the people involved
>apparently were very much forward thinkers, and planned to have an
>entire wing of their building dedicated to computers. Other wings
>dealt with other branches of electricity and electronics.
Here's a few ambitious pictures.
http://www.ginosrailpage.com/TandS/AME.html
- John
Yes, you can do better on shipping.
I am assuming that you're dropping the freight off at Craters &
Freighters.
With that in mind:
Call Craters back, and have them quote you JUST on the packaging.
Have them do the packing. . . they do good work.
Pick the unit back up from them (They will more than likely
put it into a large box, banded to a skid.)
Take the unit to Forward Air in Des Plaines,
and have them send it to Austin, hold for pickup.
(They can also deliver it in Austin, but that of course is extra.)
You can obtain a rate quote from them by calling their 800 number.
See their website at: http://www.ForwardAir.com
Forward Air will not accept unboxed or improperly packaged items.
Based on the dimensions you provided, 48" x 30" x 42",
I would GUESS that, packaged, you're looking at about
54" x 36" x 48" or so. . . That will give you a CHARGEABLE
weight of about 375 lbs. . . Forward Air would charge about
$207 total, to move it from Chicago to Austin.
(Again, that is only from their dock, to their dock in Austin.)
Although ForwardAir has relatively few problems with
larger, properly packaged items, I would still insure it.
As info. . . .
T
Just a quick introduction - besides being the guy who can't make his IBM
6904-20 Lighted Programmable Function Keyboard work on a serial port and
writing a TCP/IP stack from scratch that runs on a PCjr, I am also a
moderator at The Vintage Computer Forums web forum (
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/ ) . Some of you are regulars
there too, but it is more PC and smaller computer oriented than most of
you on this list are.
We have many of the same problems with well known auction sites that
many subscribers here have. We also have enough traffic in our 'for
sale' section of the forum to finally warrant a more structured auction
type service. So we are happy to announce "The Vintage Computer and
Gaming Marketplace" at http://marketplace.vintage-computer.com/ .
The idea is give vintage computer collectors an alternative to your
favorite big site that is more targeted to our specific interests. It
is simple to use, it supports auctions and normal fixed price sales, and
there is none of this sniping bogusness that happens on eBay. Best of
all, it's completely free to use - no listing fees.
Thanks for reading,
Mike
PCjr nutcase and soon to be TRS-80 Model 4 nutcase
One of my machines is an old Packard-Bell Legend 610 machine, to which I am
trying to fit a second hard drive.
The machine will not recognize any modern (or semi-modern) hard drive I have
attempted to fit. I have tried various master/slave combinations, to no avail.
My guess is that this is due to the BIOS being of am early type. The BIOS
chip is a socketed DIP package and the lettering on it is too faded to read.
The screen boot-up display is this:
PhoenixBIOS(TM) A486 Version 1.01
PB400 OPTI 486WB
Reference ID 08
Is this a reasonable guess?
If so, what might be done by way of a BIOS upgrade?
Thanks,
Kurt
I obtained the Wang 1200 word processor that was mentioned few weeks
>from list member Bradley Slavik (thanks!). it is sitting in my sister's
garage in Berwyn IL (just west of Chicago). I need to ship it to
Austin, tx.
My hand wave on the item, not having seen it, but having a picture of
one in a brochure. 4" wide, 2.5" deep, 3.5" high, 100 lbs or so. It
turns out 100 lbs is a price boundary, but up to 200 lbs is only about
$50 more.
Based on my hand wave of dimensions and weight, craters & freighters
quoted $500 to pick it up in berwyn (60402), crate it, and ship it to
austin (78737). Certainly you couldn't pay me $500 to do it myself, so
on that basis they are the best option I have so far.
I know various people on this list have had better or worse experience
with shippers, and I don't mean to get into that discussion again. I
was just wondering if this quote is reasonable.
Thanks
>Message: 22
>Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:40:17 -0400
>From: "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Opening computer museums
<snip>
>> Yeah, but part of the grant always goes to administrative overhead.
>Splat!
>"Administrative overhead" is a big red flag for the organizations that
>are issuing the grants.
<snip>
>> At any rate, the grant is going to be issued as the parent
>> organization and not directly to you; that's the whole point of
>> working under an umbrella organization. But yes, you're correct that
>> grants are legal documents with restrictions that have to be observed.
>It is wiser to keep any kick backs to the parent organization
>completely outside any grants, and wise to keep them above the table.
>--
>Will
Having worked at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and written a number of grant proposals, I can say that whether or not you include overhead depends both on to whom you are applying (do they allow overhead?) and the institution through which you are applying. Some institutions will let you get by without writing overhead into your grant, while others will insist on overhead greater than what you are asking for in the first place. Overhead rates are usually negotiated in advance between the institution and the granting agency, and the rates vary depending on the use of the money -? salary usually gets a higher overhead rate. At the FMNH, you couldn?t even _talk_ to funding sources without first clearing it with the grants office. The main reason for that was that, by asking the funding source about funding your project, you might jeopardize the funding of other projects that were already in the works or planned.
Bob
