12 Aug
1997
12 Aug
'97
8:40 a.m.
On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Tim Shoppa wrote:
Unfortunately, the high demand for common
"trendy" machines (i.e. IMSAI's,
Altairs, whatever) often displaces the preservation of machines which
are much rarer, which are far more important historically, and which
present far greater difficulties to preserve, maintain, and use.
Not as long as there are people like us to preserve the balance of systems.
For example, any average Joe could assemble a perfect
IMSAI-lookalike
using still commercially available parts. The IMSAI chassis is certainly
the single most common S-100 box ever made. So why are IMSAI's regarded
as so valuable, while all the S-100 boards made by enterprising guys in their
garage in small quantities are undesirable? I really don't know. But I
do know that the guys making S-100 boards in their garages were the true movers
and shakers of leading technology for most of a decade.
In time, if this hobby becomes another speculator's attraction, these
boards will start to take on monetary value. As of now, the only real
value would be to those who need these boards to make a working system.
Other than that, most of us are just collecting them for the
preservational value, ie. the value inherent in preserving any bit of
history so that we may better understand our past when it is long forgotten.
Sam
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass