16 Nov
2002
16 Nov
'02
10:48 a.m.
Oh no, another rant from a pseudonym.
On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, John Galt wrote:
I'm a chip collector and I would like to take a
moment to defend my hobby.
1. Most chip collectors are very particular about protecting their chips.
We just don't
throw them in the bottom of a drawer like some "computer enthusiasts".
I don't know of any computer you can just "throw in the bottom of a
drawer" (unless you're talking about a Sinclair ZX81 or some handheld).
But even then, collectors don't throw their computers in the bottom of a
drawer.
I could not
count the times that I've bought chips on EBAY auctions that were
displayed
loose in a coffee can from someone who had found them in grandpa's
shop.
Do you really think these chips are better off going in the trash
than into some
chip collectors collection?
Yes, yes. We've heard your arguments before. But we aren't talking about
loose chips in a tin can. We're talking about pillaging working boards
for chips. If you're going to respond to a thread, at least respond
within the context (no straw men here).
2. Once a chip ends up in a chip collectors
collection it's not gone from
the face
of the earth. It's carefully preserved for future generations.
Yes, thank you. But hopefully it didn't come out of a board that is now
gone from the face of the Earth. For instance, what happened to that
Altair CPU board you bought because you wanted the CPU?
3. The argument that a chip is better off inside a
vintage computer is like
saying
a coin is better off in circulation serving its "intended" purpose than
in some
collectors collection.
If that's where the chip came from then yes, it is. By removing the chip
from a computer it once powered or helped work, you are
removing it from
its historical context. From a hobbyists point of view, you are
taking
something that once worked, removing one part of it that will make it
unfunctioning, and then relishing the one, now non-functioning, part over
the whole in which it once ran.
4. Many of the chips that chip collectors pay alot of
money for are "rare"
varieties
of "common" chips. For example, an Intel C8080 vs. C8080A. Vintage
computer enthusiasts don't "need" an Intel C8080. In fact, you would
probably
be better off with the more common and "improved" C8080A.
Well, chip collectors don't really "need" an Intel C8080 either, when a
C8080A will do quite nicely as a representative sample, right? Unless
you have a cereal box prize mentality and must "collect all 8!"
5. I think that alot of vintage computer enthusiasts
think that chip
collectors are
out there busting up Altair 8800's with sledge hammers to get the chips
out of
them. That's simply not true. Chip collectors hang out on in the same
areas of EBAY that you do. We know full well what rare machines are
worth.
I'll assure you, chip collectors are not breaking up old machines for
chips.
What happened to that Altair CPU board?
In fact, it's just the opposite. I know a
number of vintage machines
that have
been "saved" by chip collectors because they recognized what they were.
Examples? What happened to the chips?
If you really want a supply of vintage chips for
your vintage machines
in
20-30 years then you should be glad that a C8008 brings $100 on EBAY
because of chip collectors. The reason you should be glad is because
as the
word gets out that the early chips are worth money, less of them will
end up
in the trash.
You're assuming some chip collector 20-30 years down the road will be
willing to part with his rare C8008 that is now part of his amazing
collection of dead silicon. Because in all likelihood that's what it will
be anyway: dead.
that you guys have and not because of the chips
in them either. That
said,
we also recognize that the chips themselves have historic value and
should
be preserved.
And we do too. We're the greatest chip collectors because we have whole
computers full of them.
Many chip collectors would like to one day obtain a
working vintage machine but I know more than a few who have abandoned
this idea once they figured out that many vintage computer enthusiasts
have such a negative view of chip collectors.
Bullshit. You keep making this silly remark. I believe this is your
opinion and your opinion alone. You're not gaining any sympathy.
The same younger computer enthusiasts are the
very people you need to
keep your
hobby going but the sad thing is, many of the same people will try and
entire
your world from the world of chip collecting and be totally turned off
by your
attitudes toward chip collectors.
Blah blah. Name one chip collector that has been turned off by the
comments on this list. Now name all the chip collectors you steered away
from this list because you feel we are biased against
chip collectors.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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