test-drb

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

101090 discussions

by bcw＠u.washington.edu

Hi all. I've been away vacationing and intended to read the list but my laptop bit the dust 2 days into the trip (damn PC crap ;). At any rate, I'll be reading and catching up again but if there is anything pressing, please get in touch. I'll also be getting back to work on the web site stuff and the FAQs over the next couple weeks as I've been slacking lately. To those I was going to meet up with on the trip - sorry I lost all phone numbers/directions/etc with my hard drive. If anyone knows where to get a cheap hard drive for a Compaq Contura 430 please let me know ;). ------------------------------------------- Bill Whitson bcw(a)u.washington.edu (mail may come from alternate addresses) Classic Computers List Operator/Owner http://haliotis.u.washington.edu/classiccmp

28 years, 6 months

On the hunt at Goodwill . . . .

by thedm＠sunflower.com

Well if you see a working 128D or anymore 1702 monitors grab one! ---------- > From: Kai Kaltenbach <kaikal(a)MICROSOFT.com> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> > Subject: RE: On the hunt at Goodwill . . . . > Date: Monday, September 22, 1997 3:44 PM > > Geez, you must not be on the west coast. Around here, VIC-20/C64/C128 > hardware is like weeds. There isn't a thrift store in the entire > Seattle area without a Commodore piece for <=$5. Can't give 'em away -- > literally. > > Kai > > > ---------- > > From: Jeff Kaneko[SMTP:Jeff.Kaneko@ifrsys.com] > > Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu > > Sent: Monday, September 22, 1997 12:30 PM > > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > > Subject: On the hunt at Goodwill . . . . > > > > Guys: > > > > I dredged this up from comp.sys.cbm. Alot of you guys out there have > > been talking about hunting down 'Heavy Iron'. Here's one who's struck > > the Mother Lode of 'Lite Plastic'. I sure wish I knew where this > > place was . . . . > > > > > > Jeff > > > > ------------>>>> Forewarded Message Follows<<<<--------------- > >

28 years, 6 months

Shipping & IBM Parts

by jrbrady＠delphi.com

> On Sept 29, starling(a)umr.edu wrote: > are? I've got a friend offering me an IBM 3278, and I can't remember > if that's a dumb terminal or if it's something more exciting. The 3278 is a dumb terminal used for information display on IBM mainframes. It requires a 3270-type controller unit attached to an I/O channel in order to function, along with the requisite software on the host processor. These are not ASCII devices. Regards, Jason Brady jrbrady(a)delphi.com Seattle, WA

28 years, 6 months

IBM System/38 Available for Free, Is It Worth It?

by chemif＠mbox.queen.it

At 22.57 21/09/97 -0400, William wrote: >People are abandoning System/36 boxes like crazy these days. If you >search, you should be able to find a deskside system for free in little >time. > >> 2) But the main thing that keeps me away from IBM machines (and towards >> DEC/Philips/etc) is that IBM machines are often almost impossible to hack >> and repair. The chips are those strange IBM square metal cans with >> unlisted numbers. Schematics and spares are impossible to obtain. A >> binary listing of the instruction set is sometimes a pain to find. >You do have a valid point, IBM does things weird. The chips are far from >off-the-shelf. The solution is to build up spares from donor machines. For >my RS/6000s, I saved some extra motherboards (planars, as they call them). >For System/3x stuff, there seem to plenty of machines in the scrapyards >that can be picked apart. IBM tended to cram lots of stuff in a small CPU >box, situated inside the normally spacious cabinet. Pulling an entire CPU >should pose no problems. > The best thing for repair is to get donor boards. I fully agree with William's opinion. Unfortunately here in Italy IBM had a great fame, comparing to others (Digital,Honeywell, etc.) I can say that talking with many general manager about the first installation of a computer system in the company where they were working during early 70'S, everyone confirmed that was IBM the first approach. This, together with the incompatibility of the hardware of other producers, leads many company here (once sticked in the net of the IBM-spider) to have no way out rather than the same "system". So, in few years, during '70 years, too many IBM S/3X were installed in many companyes and today IBM is still present there. This big park of machines needed to have many company to be involved for programs and maintenance. I can say that those machines reached a level of diffusion here nearly to be compared to the success of the VHS system as a consumer video system. If all above said seems to help a collector to find plenty of those system, this is not true. In fact there is a market of used hardware for those units that are still requested. Why? 1)The "family" is so well known by programmers 2)There are many IBM and specially ex-IBM programmers available for those systems (=low price know-how) 3)Park of twinax peripherals already installed (=why change all?) 4)Strengthness of IBM Hardware (=if it last is very good) 5)Low price of faster used CPU (=easy upgrading/maintenance) 5)Customerized application running ONLY on them. All this keep high in price and request of used S/3x hardware. I remember one of those specialized company based in Milan to have a "STOCK-EXCHANGE-LIKE" price list of S/3x machines as advertisement in PC-WEEK last year. This sort of "market fever" keeps working IBM system far from scrapyards. CIAO RICCARDO ROMAGNOLI .

28 years, 6 months

Apple II info for CHAC

by kaikal＠MICROSOFT.com

- Original Apple II: introduced April 1977, code name "Annie", $1300 with 4K - Apple II+: introduced June 1979, $1195 with 16K - Apple III: introduced May 1980 (ships February 1981), code name "Sara", $4340 with 128K - Apple IIe: introduced January 1983, code name "Super II", $1395 with 64K - Apple III+: introduced December 1983, $3000 with 256K - Apple IIc: introduced April 24, 1984, numerous code names, $1300 with 128K - Apple IIe enhanced: introduced March 1985 - Apple IIgs: introduced September, 1986, code name "Phoenix" - Apple IIe platinum: introduced January 1987 - Apple IIc+: introduced September 1988 Kai > ---------- > From: Kip Crosby[SMTP:engine@chac.org] > Reply To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu > Sent: Saturday, September 20, 1997 10:25 AM > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers > > Hi ClassicCmp, > > Issue 4.2 of the CHAC?s journal, the ANALYTICAL ENGINE, will > commemorate > the 20th anniversary of the Apple ][ and its descendants. As it > happens, > I?m in the middle :-) of writing the lead article :-) and I?m > wondering if > you could help me with a few data points. In spite of the laudable > work > done by Liethen, Mates and Weyhrich -- all of which I've gone through > with > some care -- the rest of this stuff is still remarkably hard to find. > > What I?m looking for is: > > · Date, or at least month and year, of introduction, and location if > pertinent > · "Secret" (internal development) name ? I realize there may have been > several > · Price of typical config at introduction > · Total number produced, even if approximate (tough) > · Date, or at least month and year, of discontinuance (sometimes > tough) > > and for these models: > > Original ][ > ][plus > ][ europlus > Original //e > //e Enhanced > "Expanded" //e (1987, the one with 64Kx4 RAM) > //c > //c+ > //e Emulation Card for Mac LC > IIGS ROM 00, 01, 03, and the prototype-only 04 > IIGS Upgrade Kit for //e, especially what it cost > > I'm also in need of everything about the Black Apple II marketed by > Bell & > Howell, including not only the above, but its technical > specifications. > And, if anybody ever actually SAW a IIx and remembers what it looked > like, > please let me know. > > If there?s a model I?m missing, and I don?t think there is, please > clue me; > but I hope that what I?m asking for, and the way I?m asking for it, > will > reassure you that I?ve done some homework already. I have at least > ONE of > these data items for every model listed, except the ][ europlus, but I > don?t have ALL of them for ANY model listed. If I could complete this > table with solid information, IMHO, it would be a significant > contribution > to the literature. > > Thanks in advance for your time and attention, and I hope you can and > will > contribute. You?ll understand that I want the CHAC?s commemoration of > this > quasi-eternal computer to be as good as we can make it. > > cheers, > > __________________________________________ > Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org > http://www.chac.org/index.html > Computer History Association of California > >

28 years, 6 months

On the hunt at Goodwill . . . .

by Jeff.Kaneko＠ifrsys.com

Guys: I dredged this up from comp.sys.cbm. Alot of you guys out there have been talking about hunting down 'Heavy Iron'. Here's one who's struck the Mother Lode of 'Lite Plastic'. I sure wish I knew where this place was . . . . Jeff ------------>>>> Forewarded Message Follows<<<<--------------- Hey All, For those of you in the U.S. looking for backup systems, extra drives, or just new and different Commodores, I have a small story to share. This weekend I had the privilege (sarcasm) of putting together a low-end IBM-compat system for my dad. After hunting around, I found that Good Will is now selling their computer systems separately at a place called Good Will Computerworks. As I priced the PC items with them, I asked casually if they ever dealt in old Commodore 8-bits. "Well", the Good Will lady said, "we do get them in all the time, but we typically put them in a salvage bin, where they end up as scrap or garbage." At that moment, I felt like one of those animal rights activists watching the Science channel. "If you like, though", she went on, "you can come down and sign our request book." Not an hour later I was at Good Will Computerworks, making a deal on a VGA monitor for $50.00 and asking about signing up to have Commodore hardware set aside. The lady asked what specifically I was after, and I mentioned a few items. She then introduced me to another lady who was in charge of salvage. She, in turn, brought me to the salvage bin. The Good Will junk pile for computers. As I sit here folks, my eyes got as big as saucers when I saw this bin. Commodore 128's, 1571's, 1541's, Vic-20s, bread box C64s, printers, ALL of it-- just lying there like turtles on thier backs. Yesterday, my friends, I drove home with a VGA monitor for $50.00, and another box with a flat Commodore 128, Commodore 1571 DSDD disk drive, assorted software in the box, a Commodore VIC-20, and power supplies and power cables all around for $5.00!!!!!! I spent the rest of the day testing, cleaning, and tinkering. It's all in perfect condition. The VIC-20 was a particularly special find, as I had been looking for one. Today I've been downloading VIC-20 software from ftp.funet.fi and playing some really great little games on it. The charm of this computer can not be understated. If you can get your hands on one, I highly recommend it. The moral of this story? I'm not sure there is one, except that there are Commodore computers all over this country on their way to their deaths at the hands of the "Good" Will folks. Only we can stop them, and as for my part, it's been a pleasure to. - Bo

28 years, 6 months

AS/400 and S/38

by fmc＠reanimators.org

Kip Crosby <engine(a)chac.org> wrote (after a correspondent I've lost track of): > At 09:58 9/22/97 BST, you wrote: > >The IBM AS/400 is, I am told, based on the S/38. > > I'd be interested in knowing how, and to what extent. When my company was > installing a bunch of Novell LANs in the late eighties, we used to call an > AS/400 "a '386 surrounded by a lot of expensive air," but I suspect that > that was the same kind of disparaging performance benchmark as comparing an > S/38 to an 8088. I also suspect that what's inside an AS/400 box has > changed an _awful lot_ over the years while the badge has provided continuity. Doug Jones wrote a nice little explanation of this in a.f.c in early 1996. It's in dejanews if you want to go looking (long URL follows): http://xp8.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?recnum=4528820&server=db96q1&CONTEXT=8749… The summary is that there's a capability-based CISC architecture that derives from the System/38. That is what the compilers compile to. The AS/400 loader takes that code and generates RISC code for the underlying AS/400 CPU. That underlying AS/400 CPU has changed over the life of the product, and they can change it again. Pretty nifty. Apparently the underlying RISC architecture doesn't have much in the way of access protections; all that is implemented in the loader-generated code. It's not clear to me whether this means that linked executables can be moved from one flavor of AS/400 to another, or you have to recompile >from source, and I don't enough about AS/400s to know whether its users really care about stuff like that. -Frank McConnell

28 years, 6 months

AS/400 and S/38

by engine＠chac.org

At 09:58 9/22/97 BST, you wrote: >The IBM AS/400 is, I am told, based on the S/38. I'd be interested in knowing how, and to what extent. When my company was installing a bunch of Novell LANs in the late eighties, we used to call an AS/400 "a '386 surrounded by a lot of expensive air," but I suspect that that was the same kind of disparaging performance benchmark as comparing an S/38 to an 8088. I also suspect that what's inside an AS/400 box has changed an _awful lot_ over the years while the badge has provided continuity. __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 6 months

Shipping & IBM Parts...

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

> 1) Is there a FAQ somewhere that lists all IBM part nubmers and what they > are? I've got a friend offering me an IBM 3278, and I can't remember > if that's a dumb terminal or if it's something more exciting. > > not that i know of, although i think you can call boulder parts for parts > lookup. 800.388.7080 i can look up fru part numbers when i'm at work though. > > 3278 isnt worth much unless you have an ibm mainframe to connect it to. its > just a plain old ugly terminal. i think the 3279 was colour and the 3278 was > monochrome. I do have most of the parts to an ibm xt3270 around here > somewhere... "xt3270"? When I was at IBM, we called it the "3270-PC". Very nice machine, but not as nice as the 3270-PC/G or 3270-PC/GX, the graphics terminal versions. The latter had a graphics coprocessor box almost as large as a PC, and a 19 inch monitor (I think 1280x1024 resolution) 3278 is an extremely dumb terminal. It not only needs a mainframe, but AFAIK it needs a 3274 or 3174 "terminal controller" - a minicomputer dedicated to MUXing terminals to an IBM channel, which also ran most of the local loop on the terminal and sent packets to the mainframe (a sort of PAD, I suppose). I can't remember how much of the "dumb terminal" functionality was in the 3274 but I used to suspect it was quite a lot... 3278 is indeed monchrome, 3279 the colour version. Superseded (mid '80s) by 3178 and 3179, and some cheaper monochrome ones (3196?) To reply to some other comments on the recent IBM thread, Yes, I might take a system/38 if someone offered it to me. I don't have anywhere to put it but I might find room at the back of my garage. I'd prefer a System/34 though - mainly because that's the machine I worked on when I was at IBM. I agree with Tony, though - difficult to maintain with all the custom chips. Allison, I don't think when [previous contributor] described it as a "room-sized 8088" he was talking about the processor involved. The processor is a custom IBM minicomputer on ?several boards, based on the System/32 and System/34 and things. I think he was making a performance comparison, and probably being a bit unfair. The IBM AS/400 is, I am told, based on the S/38. Philip.

28 years, 6 months

Weekend (tiny) haul

by manney＠nwohio.com

(4) PCjr cartridges -- Lotus 1-2-3 (2 carts) Managing your money BASIC PCjr program disks -- Your PCjr Sampler Exploring the PCjr Snoopy's Reading Machine (Random House) Charlie Brown's ABC's (Random House) Math Rabbit (The Learning Company) Make an offer... ps Also have a bwoken PCjr system available -- probably bad motherboard. manney(a)nwohio.com

28 years, 6 months

Shipping & IBM Parts...

by SUPRDAVE＠aol.com

In a message dated 97-09-21 21:51:33 EDT, c. starling put forth: << Two questions: 1) Is there a FAQ somewhere that lists all IBM part nubmers and what they are? I've got a friend offering me an IBM 3278, and I can't remember if that's a dumb terminal or if it's something more exciting. >> not that i know of, although i think you can call boulder parts for parts lookup. 800.388.7080 i can look up fru part numbers when i'm at work though. 3278 isnt worth much unless you have an ibm mainframe to connect it to. its just a plain old ugly terminal. i think the 3279 was colour and the 3278 was monochrome. I do have most of the parts to an ibm xt3270 around here somewhere... david

28 years, 6 months

IBM 5120

by Philip.Belben＠powertech.co.uk

>>>My second job as a computer programmer put me in front of an IBM 5120. >>>It was a desktop model which incorporated a B&W monitor, keyboard, and >>>two 8" floppy drives in the main cabinet. > > Sounds like an early Datamaster to me. I have a Datamaster (5123), but it has > a green-screen, not a B&W one. Otherwise the description matches. Interesting. My datamaster is a 5322, and calls itself System/23. It doesn't match the 5120 description except in the eight-inch drives. In particular it does not blank the screen (that I recall) during I/O. The screen is green; the keyboard is built into the system unit but looks very like an early PC keyboard. A brief speculation on IBM numbering. 5123 is probably a derivative of 5120 in some sense. 5322, on the other hand, looks like a variety of System/32 (the 5320). System/32 begat System/34 (5340) begat System/36 (5360 = large, 5362 = desk side, 5364 = dekstop) begat AS/400 (I think). System/38 also fits in there somewhere (5380) so you would expect a System/23 to be called 5230. > As I understand the Datamaster, it really was the predecessor to the PC. It > was desktop based, although you needed a large desk <g>. It had an ISA-like Nonsense! I've got mine on a very small desk! However, system unit and printer between them take up the whole desk. > bus into which you could plug-in cards. My guess, from talking to someone who > worked on the project, that it was a business machine (A/P, billing, word > processing, etc.) that fell out of favor when IBM introduced the PC in 1981. It was indeed. There were two video options, Data Processing and Word Processing. The DP video card had one byte per screen character, the WP card having two. The difference to the user was that on the WP you could set the attributes (blink, underline, intensify, inverse video) for each character individually; on the DP model you used up a character space to make the change, which then took effect until another attribute code appeared further down the screen. Mine, being a DP model, came with some sort of accounting application that I've never used. CPU was an 8085, using bank switching to access 128k each of RAM and ROM. Very slow. The large ROM, though, had almost a complete mainframe basic with matrix operations and all sorts. Character code was EBCDIC, unlike the PC. What did 5100 use? > The PC was 1/3 the size, probably 1/4 the weight, much faster, and used 5-1/4" > diskettes. And less than 1/4 the price. The previous owner of my datamaster paid L11000 for it in 1980. The PC when it came out in the UK (1983?) was L2399 I think. > There are several Datamaster owners here who can fill in more about the > actual specs. I don't use mine much because I have a blown ROM chip that > prevents me from booting... I was hoping that one of those hand-held machine EPROMS advertised here a few weeks ago might act as a replacement. (No, I haven't forgotten!) Philip.

28 years, 6 months

Shipping & IBM Parts...

by starling＠umr.edu

Recently signed back on the list after being absent for a few weeks... hope I haven't missed anything! :) Two questions: 1) Is there a FAQ somewhere that lists all IBM part nubmers and what they are? I've got a friend offering me an IBM 3278, and I can't remember if that's a dumb terminal or if it's something more exciting. 2) Anyone have any suggestions for a **MASS** shipment of computer stuff? I'm mainly concerned with keeping the cost down. I'm working on a deal right now that might involve as many as five desktop-type machines with monitors, lots of repair parts in original boxes and a "shelf of software". I'm the one getting the goods, so shipping cost is my problem. Are there any companies other than UPS I should look at? Should I try to minimize the number of boxes, even if it means bigger and heavier boxes? Is it completely insane to try to get this much stuff shipped? Perhaps I should just drive down to Florida and pick the stuff up... thanks... chris starling

28 years, 6 months

IBM System/38 Free to Good Home

by engine＠chac.org

>> At 02:25 9/21/97 +0100, ARD wrote: >Hmmm... Well, us HP71 owners have the problem that the IDS.... >cost about \pounds 1000 >when it came out in the UK. That makes it _very_ difficult to find >second-hand, since so few were ever sold. >>choke<< talk about an HP collectible.... >> Which [the PC CP/M-86 binder] is sort of pink, for those who are hunting. > >Is it? I've seen a grey Digital Research binder for CP/M86 >for the PC. The IBM PC -- not DRI -- binder for CP/M-86 a la Principles of Ops is covered in calamine-pink vinyl. I've got one, seen another. __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 6 months

IBM System/38 Free to Good Home

by engine＠chac.org

At 02:25 9/21/97 +0100, ARD wrote: >The >releasing of the full TechRef for the first PC was something of a suprise >to hackers used to IBM's behaviour in the past. It is worth remembering, though, that the above-captioned item was a $125 extra-cost option, which did tend to (as someone once said about something roughly similar) chase away the squirrels. What's fun is to find one of those now, in its oh-so-refined lavender binder. The only strictly comparable prize is an IBM PC CP/M-86 manual. Which is sort of pink, for those who are hunting. __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 6 months

IMS Computer

by engine＠chac.org

At 15:04 9/21/97 -0700, Don Maslin wrote: >No I don't [know who wants the IMS,] Pete, but I am forwarding this to classic computers list >where it will get much wider distribution. > - don I just told McCracken that we did. The first computer I ever owned was one of the IMS all-in-one-piece single-user desktops, which is now in our collection (still running, video weak,) and it would be excellent to have one of the multi-terminal minis to go with it. Thank you Don. __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 6 months

IMS Computer, TurboDos w/dBase 3.0, CYMA, & Wordstar

by donm＠cts.com

On Sun, 21 Sep 1997, Pete V. McCracken wrote: > Have access to an IMS (Z-80 based???) multi-user, TurboDos computer > system with dBase 2.0, CYMA Accounting System, Wordstar 3.0, three > terminals and keyboards. > > Do you know of anyone who might be interested? It is planned for the > scrapheap in the very near future. No I don't, Pete, but I am forwarding this to classic computers list where it will get much wider distribution. - don > -- > Pete V. McCracken > Country Western Style Dance Center > 341 E. Olive Ave., Porterville, CA 93257-4890 > CWSDanceCenter(a)ocsnet.net 209 784-2341 FAX 209-784-6192 > donm(a)cts.com *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Don Maslin - Keeper of the Dina-SIG CP/M System Disk Archives Chairman, Dina-SIG of the San Diego Computer Society Clinging tenaciously to the trailing edge of technology. Sysop - Elephant's Graveyard (CP/M) - 619-454-8412 *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--* see old system support at http://www.psyber.com/~tcj

28 years, 6 months

[Fwd: Free Computer Books & Stuff!]

by gmast＠polymail.cpunix.calpoly.edu

Thanks to all those that responded but the books are all spoken for. Greg

28 years, 6 months

IBM System/38 Available for Free, Is It Worth It?

by allisonp＠world.std.com

As non-ibm-er I'd find the sys-38 interesting as an example of a non PC implementation of the 8088 and likely a fast machine for it's time. Allison

28 years, 6 months

IBM System/36

by dseagrav＠bsdserver.tek-star.net

Remeber that S/36 I was gonna get for $200? I just got it for free. I'm told it runs RPG. The key for it was lost, so I can't boot the machine 'till I short the appropriate pins to Service position. All the docs and disks are gone too. Any idea what to do with it? I'm trying to find a twinax terminal for it now.

28 years, 6 months

INfo on Apple Techstep

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Picked up a Apple Techstep testing unit with case and all manuals, sofware, and cables. Unit has modules for MAC Classic,SE,SE/30, II, IIx, IIcx and SCSI HD's. I would like to find the test modules that work on the machines made after the IIcx, if Apple made any. I went to their web site and found nothing about these units. The one I have is from 1992. Also this wek picked up the following items; Apple graphics tablet interface card with pen (free), ThunderScan unit for MAC (free), Franklin PC8000 (.80), New unopen box joysticks for Color computer, and about 6 different manuals from early micro's to IBM maintenance analysis procedures for the 6360 diskette unit 6580 display station. All told it was a very good week. Keep computing !!

28 years, 6 months

Sol Computer (Auctionweb Grumblings)

by gmast＠polymail.cpunix.calpoly.edu

On Fri, 19 Sep 1997, Sam Ismail wrote: > AuctionWeb is ridiculous. While there are some great finds there, I've > realized that whatever I bid on I will end up finding a week or two later > locally for a tenth or less of what I bid. The prices for stuff on there > are horribly inflated. That's jus like all auctions. People get caught up in the bidding and forget what things are really worth. I see prices both ways. I've sold things there for way less than their value also. They always sell for less than the average asking price on usenet. Recently, bidding is way down. Either due to the good weather or the influx of other on-line auction companies. Apple IIc-$15, Mac 512 complete-$24. > Don't bid on the item. That is, not until the last 5-10 minutes of the > auction. This serves two purposes that ultimately benefit you. 1) If you > bid early, it gives someone a chance to come in and outbid you early, then > you will counter-bid, then he will, then you will, etc. You get into a > bidding war. 2) If you bid just before the auction is over, you avoid 1). > You'll get in with a low-ball bid and hopefully nobody else will get a > chance to outbid you in the last remaining minutes, although I've had some > close calls. I once bid on an item (forgot what) at the last minute and > some character tried to do the same but his bid was late. In the same > token, I've had that happen to me where I was just too late. The problem > is, if you try to bid just before the auction ends (like within 1-2 > minutes of closing) there are about 14 other dweebs like you trying to put > in last minute bids. The record in the database for that item becomes so > locked up that nobody can make a bid, and your effort is futile. That's how the experts do it. I've seen auctions where after the ending time of the auction, the bidding can continue for 5 minutes (Onsale?). This means whenever a bid is entered, there's 5 minutes added to the clock. That would eliminate that scenario. I've had lots of people email me with higher offers because they didn't get in quick enough. I've missed items because my connection is slow. > The seller usually comes out on the short end of the stick. > Bidders wait until the last possible second and put in a bid that's not > necessarily fair market value. You can always put in a reserve price. You are also allowed to bid on your own item once during the auction. This rule is a little strange but I assume they allow it because bidding might be way below what they want to sell the item for. Doesn't make buyers happy though. I've only used it a couple times when someone locally made a legitimate offer for an item, never to boost the bid. > In real life, the bidding keeps going until one person concedes or passes > out. These onlines auctions need to instate some similar format. The system used by Onsale (I think) eliminates this. > I just realized this message is horribly off-topic but I just had to > complain about something today. My reply is off-topic too, oh well. Since many people here use AuctionWeb it's not that far off. I like using it because I usually don't have a clue what this stuff is worth. It's worth what people will pay.

28 years, 6 months

No subject

by engine＠chac.org

Hi ClassicCmp, Issue 4.2 of the CHAC?s journal, the ANALYTICAL ENGINE, will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Apple ][ and its descendants. As it happens, I?m in the middle :-) of writing the lead article :-) and I?m wondering if you could help me with a few data points. In spite of the laudable work done by Liethen, Mates and Weyhrich -- all of which I've gone through with some care -- the rest of this stuff is still remarkably hard to find. What I?m looking for is: ? Date, or at least month and year, of introduction, and location if pertinent ? "Secret" (internal development) name ? I realize there may have been several ? Price of typical config at introduction ? Total number produced, even if approximate (tough) ? Date, or at least month and year, of discontinuance (sometimes tough) and for these models: Original ][ ][plus ][ europlus Original //e //e Enhanced "Expanded" //e (1987, the one with 64Kx4 RAM) //c //c+ //e Emulation Card for Mac LC IIGS ROM 00, 01, 03, and the prototype-only 04 IIGS Upgrade Kit for //e, especially what it cost I'm also in need of everything about the Black Apple II marketed by Bell & Howell, including not only the above, but its technical specifications. And, if anybody ever actually SAW a IIx and remembers what it looked like, please let me know. If there?s a model I?m missing, and I don?t think there is, please clue me; but I hope that what I?m asking for, and the way I?m asking for it, will reassure you that I?ve done some homework already. I have at least ONE of these data items for every model listed, except the ][ europlus, but I don?t have ALL of them for ANY model listed. If I could complete this table with solid information, IMHO, it would be a significant contribution to the literature. Thanks in advance for your time and attention, and I hope you can and will contribute. You?ll understand that I want the CHAC?s commemoration of this quasi-eternal computer to be as good as we can make it. cheers, __________________________________________ Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org http://www.chac.org/index.html Computer History Association of California

28 years, 6 months

HP-16 emulator

by manney＠nwohio.com

Just ran across a Windows emulator for the HP-16 calculator (if you want an RPN calc instead of AOS, this is neat Besides, it does hex, binary and octal calculations.) It's freeware. http://www.teleport.com/~dgh/hpsim.htm#wrpn This is part of the HP calculator museum, which has all kinds of keen stuff, including shots of old slide rules. It's at http://www.teleport.com/~dgh/hpmuseum.html

28 years, 6 months

C64 Software

by manney＠nwohio.com

Just picked up a used (very used) Print Shop for C64. Anyone want? manney(a)nwohio.com

28 years, 6 months

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