20 Nov
2009
20 Nov
'09
10:35 p.m.
I think it has its place, personally I'm not
disputing that - I'm just trying
Oh, it certainly has a place in the history of computing. I can't
disagree with that. It doesn;'t mean I have to want one :-)
to get my head around where this business of it being
worth quite so much
hails from.
It's 'worth' that amount of money because somebody will pay that for it.
That's the only reason.
I've seen reports of antique clocks selling for a lot more than that
(horology is another of my interests). Yes, they are beautiful pieces of
machineru, and I'd love one. But realisitcally, a 5 quid quartx clock is
going to be a much better timekeeper. So why are the antiques so
valuable? Beacuse somebody will pay that.
And I've already mentioned postage stamps. And there must be many other
'collectables'
I seem to rememebr you can buy a replica Apple 1 for considerably less
money (although still a significant sum). Personally, I'd be as happy
with that as with an origianl, becuase it does the same thingsi n the
same way, I can connect my 'scope or logic analyser to it and see the
same waveforms, and so on. Of course I do accept an original has more
'collector cvalue' and would be really unhappy if I'd paid for an
original and ended up witha copy.
I acutally
have an MK14, I have no idea what it's worth. I must get round
to repairing it (the unheatsinked -- thanks Sinclair! -- 7805 went dead
short and wiped out many of the chips. Fortuanely the monitor ROMs
survived, and I do have a replacement SC/MP somehwere). It was my first
computer, which means it has some sentimental value to me, but that's
about the only reason I keep it. The hardware design is not pleasant
(It's pretty obvious from the circuit diagram that the display latches
should be 74175s, but some idiot oredered 74157s by misatake and they
were kludged in (a mux with one input tied to the output will make a
transparent latch -- most of the time)
Yes, another not-very-good design, although I'd still quite like one. I used