21 Feb
2009
21 Feb
'09
2:58 a.m.
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
From: legalize at xmission.com
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:29:32 -0700
Subject: reasonable price for a working VT05?
What's a reasonable price for a working VT05 in good working order and
cosmetic condition?
By "reasonable price" I don't want to hear stories about how you found
one for $5 at surplus 10 or more years ago. Its irrelevant. So before
you go on about how these things used to be commonplace and cheap/free,
let's just inject a little reality into the discussion.
They don't come up on ebay with any sort of regular frequency; in
several years of running a standard search for DEC terminals, its never
come up once. VT52s/VT78s rarely show up anywhere, while VT100s are
fairly common. I'm not even aware of many collectors that have one;
I know the Wofford Witch project has one, but I don't think Henk in
the Netherlands has one (he has a VT55 link, but no VT05). The
Computer History Museum appears to have two in its collection, but
that's no surprise considering they've received a lot of stuff from
Gordon Bell (as I understand it).
--
Jup, I have, according to the tag at the rear side, a VT55-FB.
Till now I did not find the electrostatic paper for it. The terminal
has a printer built in at the righthand side.
I guess that 2 years ago (I can be wrong, time flies!) one VT05 was
for sale for $350 on the vintage computer site. If it was not in
Canada (IIRC) I would have bought it, but shipping costs are one
thing, getting it safe across the ocean is another thing. BTW, it
was on sale for 350 for some time before somebody grabbed it.
Personally, if an VT05 would appear in The Netherlands, I would pay
350 euro's (that's approx $430).
- Henk