Alto II (was Re: PDP-8 prices

Tony replied to my post about Al's Alto II auction: Were you interested enough to email Al with questions? He put "as is" on the eBay description because it was the easiest way to describe it, and not set unrealistic expectations. If I had an Alto II that I knew to be in perfect working order, I probably wouldn't be willing to sell it on any basis other than "as is". But if you had asked him for more details, I'm pretty sure he could have told you a lot about the condition of the machine. Getting one of these machines running takes a lot more effort than a Xerox Star (8010), and it took a huge effort by multiple people inside and outside of Xerox (including Al) to get an 8010 fully operational for the "Last Public Demo of the Star" at PARC recently. There were many hundreds made, perhaps more than a thousand. I don't know the numbers. The Alto II specifically was built by the Xerox El Segundo facilty, which was normally chartered with building full-production equipment for revenue sale. All standard engineering practices for "real" products were in place, i.e., document control, ECOs, and the like. The only part that was missing was sales and marketing. So yes, in any conventional sense of the term I think it is accurate to say that it was mass-produced. It just wasn't mass-marketed. Al has already donated a bunch of Altos to The Computer Museum, and one to CHAC. He has been extremely unhappy with the results of the donations, such that he is probably disinclined to donate any of his few remaining units to anyone. Under the circumstances, I don't blame him.