< And not even original MITS memory to go with it! Now if it had a
< working (!) 4K dynamic MITS RAM board I would be impressed. That was a
< truly rare commodity, because of design flaws the memory usually didn't
< (remember, that is).
< Jack Peacock
So true. A working one was memorable. At one point I have 3 ea of the
88mcd-4k and 88s4k and neither were much fun save for mine were modified
to use UPD410 (static ram) that had the same pinout as the 4060. Those
actually worked!
Allison
Hmm, I guess that means either:
1) You sold a friend's Altair on their behalf; or
2) You bid on it yourself?
By the way, ya still owe me that ROM board, ya big lug! :)
Kai
-----Original Message-----
From: James Willing [mailto:jimw@agora.rdrop.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 3:01 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: RE: Altair prices
At 12:44 PM 8/13/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Geez, I'll bet our own Jim Willing is pretty disappointed that his only
sold
>for $4213.
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=24405966
>
>What the heck is with that? Two Altairs auctioned simultaneously, with a
3x
>price differential.
>
>Guess I'm sitting on a fortune with my 5 Altairs, but I'd never sell them
>(and I mean that, whereas Jim used to say he'd never sell his either).
>
>Kai
Ah... but you make an incorrect assumption... I still have all of my
Altairs.
(dontcha just love a good mystery?)
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
I can't vouch for the young lady personally, but she is a fairly decent
author. I have one (maybe two) of her HTML books around here somewhere.
Cliff Gregory
cgregory(a)lrbcg.com
-----Original Message-----
From: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
To: Cgregory <Cgregory>
Date: Thursday, August 13, 1998 6:25 PM
Subject: RE: Who Bought It (RE: Altair prices)
>
>| -----Original Message-----
>| From: Doug Yowza [mailto:yowza@yowza.com]
>| Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 2:17 PM
>| To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
>| Subject: Re: Who Bought It (RE: Altair prices)
>|
>| A babe with an Altair. I'm in love :-)
>|
>| -- Doug
>
>You obviously didn't read her FAQ :)
>
>Kai
>
>
>
>Are you single?
>-In the sense that I'm not married, yes. But I am taken. See Eric's home
>page.
>
>Will you go out with me?
>-No.
>
>Will you send me dirty email?
>-No.
>
>Will you post nude pictures of yourself?
>-No.
>
>Do you find horny geek questions like this really annoying?
>-How could you guess?
>But did she actually buy it? She placed her bid 6 mins before the
close of the auction when the high bid was only $3000. Right at
the end of the action, someone else placed a $12000 bid forcing
her bid to $12100 and the reserve still hadn't been met!
In casinos it is a common practice to have employees sit at card tables
and play conservatively to fill out the card table till enough regular
players are seated. This is so the games (usually poker) can continue
if there aren't enough real players to make it interesting. This is a
legal practice (here in Nevada) but their playing is limited and they
must leave the table as soon as enough players are there.
They are called "shills".
There is also a type of shill in auctions. They are usually friends of
the auctioneer and are briefed beforehand to make a minimum bid on
certain items, to ensure the item does not go for too low a price. The
auctioneer doesn't sell to the shill, just puts it back for another day.
In this case the legality is dubious. Caveat Emptor, it appears shills
are at work on E-bay (I'm shocked, shocked to discover price rigging!)
Jack Peacock
>That's a 600% increase from the last batch, and even beats the last Apple
>1 sale I know of.
What have the Apple I's been going for?
--
Sysop of Caesarville Online
Client software at: <http://home.earthlink.net/~tomowad/>
Here is the purchaser. NOT what I would have expected!
http://www.lne.com/lemay/
OK, pop quiz before you look at this site. Which of the following did you
think just paid $12,000 for an Altair?
A) A 60-year-old ex-Byte Shop manager
B) A retired aerospace engineer and ham radio operator with nothing else to
spend his money on
C) A Ferrari-driving vested-option veteran of a huge software company
D) A museum curator
E) An antique dealer/speculator
F) A 30-year-old female author with a nose piercing
Kai
-----Original Message-----
From: D. Peschel [mailto:dpeschel@u.washington.edu]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 1:22 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: Altair prices
> I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I find myself extremely
> depressed by this. Does anyone know (personally) the fellow who put in
> the high bid? Will the Altair be something of inherent value to him,
> or is it simply an investment?
I haven't looked at the URL but I'm sure I don't know anyone involved.
It IS depressing, isn't it? I've been thinking about this aspect of
computer
collecting for a while. Someone on alt.folklore.computers said that he had
verified the authenticity of an Apple I system (complete with original cover
letter receipt signed by Steve Jobs, etc.) just before it was shipped across
the country to a new buyer.
As I drooled over this, I realized that it's an extremely desirable thing to
have (and this one in particular sounded rare) but the economics are just
too
warped. There are only a handful of these machines, right? And they just
change hands and the prices go up. Also, it may be desirable to have, but
not
to USE. The RAM is expandable to almost 64K (though I've never heard of
this
being done) but there's only one slot and the only card built for it was a
cassette interface. The display is slow because it uses a shift register.
I'm just too practical, I guess. I believe in collecting things to use
them/
have fun with them, and the rarity of the Apple I is at odds with this goal.
I too have to wonder at the motives of the buyer of this Altair.
There IS the possibility that this is an elaborate "sour grapes" argument,
given that I have neither an Apple I nor an Altair. :)
-- Derek
Full S-100 chassis are actually pretty easy to find. I have an IMSAI,
and am planning on purchasing a Cromemco Z2-D, a Processor Tech SOL is
on the way, as is a NorthStar Horizon (an Advantage! too).
Tony
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sam Ismail [mailto:dastar@ncal.verio.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 4:39 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: Re: Altair prices
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, D. Peschel wrote:
>
> > > I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I find myself extremely
> > > depressed by this. Does anyone know (personally) the
> fellow who put in
> > > the high bid? Will the Altair be something of inherent
> value to him,
> > > or is it simply an investment?
> >
> > It IS depressing, isn't it? I've been thinking about this
> aspect of computer
> > collecting for a while. Someone on alt.folklore.computers
> said that he had
> > verified the authenticity of an Apple I system (complete
> with original cover
> > letter receipt signed by Steve Jobs, etc.) just before it
> was shipped across
> > the country to a new buyer.
> >
> > I'm just too practical, I guess. I believe in collecting
> things to use them/
> > have fun with them, and the rarity of the Apple I is at
> odds with this goal.
> > I too have to wonder at the motives of the buyer of this Altair.
>
> If you're interested in actually playing with one, the
> schematics for the
> Apple 1 are readily available with a little searching. You can just
> re-create your own. In fact, I'd imagine you could make a pretty
> lucrative business making and selling Apple 1 reproductions
> (as well as
> other early classics).
>
> S-100 parts are readily available as well, and again there
> are schematics
> out there if you put a little work into searching them out.
> If you want
> to actually play with your own S-100 box, building the chassis, power
> supply and backplane is relatively easy. You would then need
> to search
> out just the CPU, I/O and RAM boards, which would be
> considerably easier
> than finding a complete S-100 system at this point (it would seem,
> although S-100 boxes can still be found if you're not simply
> lusting after
> an Altair or IMSAI).
>
> People make re-creations of old cars all the time, so the parallels of
> that hobby to this one should extend into that realm as well.
>
> Sam Alternate e-mail:
> dastar(a)siconic.com
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> Ever onward.
>
> September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
> See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
> [Last web site update: 08/09/98]
>
> > And I thought I was getting fleeced paying $300 for my IMSAI.
>
> You got a good deal. Even new they were $429 for the kit,
> with 8080 CPU
> and static RAM card.
> Jack Peacock
>
Well, as mentioned before, I didn't get the RAM card (Still looking for
one) but I did get the PIO card and an Icom 8" dual disk system for an
extra $25.
Tony
> And I thought I was getting fleeced paying $300 for my IMSAI.
You got a good deal. Even new they were $429 for the kit, with 8080 CPU
and static RAM card.
Jack Peacock
