VCF and Collecting

Although I've never attended a VCF but would love to (Midwest USA, anyone?), I can agree with the above. Just starting serious collecting a little over a year and a half ago, many many people around here are amazed and bewildered that I have any interest in their old "piece of junk" systems. As I get the news out, more and more computers are coming in....people call me up, saying, "I heard from so-and-so that you take old computers." It's great. I guess I would say that although the idea of alerting more people to the world of collecting sometimes makes the prices for such items go up, I'm not as all-fire-concerned about prices as I am about the philosophy. We, as collectors, are taking pieces of history into our own (sometimes capable, sometimes plain lucky) hands to repair, restore, and work on these old, beautiful machines. If I can persuade someone else into thinking that old computers are pretty neat, then I feel really good about it. I want more people than just myself to feel the power and beauty and wonderment at playing with an old, big-chipped machine. It makes the collectors into a community. And therefore our resources as a whole (knowledge, parts, service) increase, making us each a better collector in the long run. Tarsi 210