Bid list

Its funny, I read through the list, crossing my fingers and hoping for a PDP-8 core stack, and 90% of it is PC junk. Then I kind of laughed because of course that stuff will probably be "collectable" for my daughter. Assuming she decides to collect computers. Although if history is any measure then she'll probably collect Pentium II machines since that will be the "hot" machine that she can't afford (stuck with a measly 75Mhz P5 :-) Another factiod registered which is PC collecting is going to be *much* more of an art than say mini-computer collecting is because the technology is changing soooo quickly. In case you haven't noticed there is a certain temporal component in the PC compatible space where the hardware, and more importantly the software, are tied together at their release dates. "Visual BASIC, Win 3.1, Borland C++, 486/66" they make a set. Use this stuff on a Pentium and it won't use half the features, use it on a 386 and it won't run acceptably. And how "long" was the 486 PC window? Perhaps 3-5 years? Compare that with the utter contempt with which people treat 486 motherboards (3 for $5.00 at Weird Stuff Warehouse) and you realize that these things are headed for landfill big time. Along about 2010 or 2015 and trying to put together a representative 486 system from the "early 90's" is going to be damn near impossible. Look at the PDP-8's which spanned 15 years of production and are now pretty difficult to get hold of. I don't know if I should laugh or buy an old Dell 486 box and wrap it up in plastic and dessicant and save it for 20 years. --Chuck