14 Apr
2005
14 Apr
'05
10:04 p.m.
On Wed, 13 Apr 2005, Eric Smith wrote:
Vince wrote:
Just to prove my point that you can find anything anywhere, I ducked into
a used book store in Key West, Florida, when I was there the week before
last and found some great old computer books, including Volumes 2 and 3 of
The Handbook on Artificial Intelligence by Ed Feigenbaum (Volume 1 seems
to be particualr scarce since I always seem to find copies of 2&3 together
but hardly ever 1) and A History of Engineering & Science in the
Bell System: Transmission Technology (1925-1975). Good stuff.
I didn't find any old computers in the only Salvation Army there, but then
I didn't really have time to check out the half dozen or so pawn shops
that seem to litter that little island. I'm sure there was at least a
Commodore 64 somewhere ;)
On my last night in Florida in Miami Beach, I walked into a used bookstore
around the corner from my hotel and found _Xanadu: The Computerized Home
of Tomorrow and How It Can Be Yours Today_ by Roy Mason (a limited number
of copies available online). A very cool book from the early 1980s that
attempts to describe the home of the future (and gets it mainly wrong, but
the pictures are cool).
The thing is you can find anything anywhere if you just put the time and
effort into looking. And I don't mean just once. The 4th dimension
(time) comes into play as well. If you make the rounds enough times,
something very cool will eventually show up. You also have to do
intelligent research, for instance, hunting down all the old hams in your
area as at least one of them is bound to have an Altair or some other
seminal S-100 computer.
People with visions of moving to the Silicon Valley and harvesting a
bounty of vintage computers will be sorely disappointed if they ever get
to act out this fantasy. This is one of the most picked over places in
the world as we have a lot of collectors here. You can still find plenty
of gems, but you just have to work harder at it, and you have to be doing
it constantly. I've long since cut way back on my collecting simply
because I just don't have the time I used to and I am always running out
of space anyway. I'm much more interested in focusing on what I already
have. So there's an opening for the newbies ;)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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I think it's like confusing Silicon Valley
(or Portland, Oregon) with the
world :-). Maybe if I lived and worked where you do, I would see hundreds
of different venues doing a brisk business in this stuff.
If only!!!
In my experience it's easier to find interesting old stuff just about
anywhere *other* than in Silicon Valley. I find more in Colorado, which
I visit a few times a year, than I do in SV.
But don't everybody rush to Colorado to grab all the good stuff before I
get there!