Ebay posts + Austin,TX giveaway

Richard wrote: ... ... Since Jay is the host/list owner, I think his opinion should count a heck of a lot more. Jay manages things with a very light hand, so if he is speaking up, it is time to listen. To the sheep, the grass on the next hill looks as good as the grass here, but the shepherd nudges them back since he has to draw the line somewhere, even though the sheep don't see it. How's that for a pained metaphor? Why, that was so painful, it was like having your tooth pulled from the wrong end of the canal? Ooch, that was a strained simile. How strained was it? Like it went through a cheesecloth. Let me stop there by noting that with free association you get what you pay for. OK, I relent (it is Lent after all). To atone, I'll share a true classiccmp story. I recently accidentally acquired five apple IIs via four acts of impulsiveness. I meant to get one, A II+, just to have it, since I spent a couple summers programming one (one of the black Bell & Howell models, which is appropriate since I was working at B&H). Another reason to have one is that the Apple II/II+ circuitry put Wozniak in the TTL hall of fame even if he never did anything again. Which, other than the Apple II disk controller, is basically the case. Having made the decision, I bought a II+ off ebay for cheap, owing to the lack of picture and poor description: "It beeps when I turn it on but I don't know anything else." For various reasons, including a death in the seller's family, it took more than a month for it to get sent. I was impatient, the whole thing had planted a seed, so I stopped by an eco-cycler in Round Rock because I happened to be near. They had a pallet of IIe's, some model 4P TRS-80s, and some other random stuff, mostly in rough shape. It was being sold at $0.20/lb. I picked up the two best looking IIe's and a TRS-80 coco3 and gave him a $20 since I felt bad for wasting his time. It went right to the pizza fund I'm told. The three machines I picked out worked just fine. Shortly after that my original II+ arrived -- a bit corroded, and when powered up, it beeps alright, and keeps beeping. It wasn't exactly what I wanted. It is close to working, as the video displays OK and the 6502 shows it is kicking. Another good sign is that it exhibits the same "random" behavior on each power up, so there is a deterministic fault there. Meanwhile I did more ebay damage looking for software for my II's -- and picked up another IIe since it was bundled with a bunch of software. Then when I was in san antonio I stopped by the computer works and there was a II+ in mint shape for $25. It turns out it also had an Accelerator IIe card inside, making it a 3.5 MHz II+ (vs the stock ~1.0 MHz). I took off the numeric keypad dongle as it sullied the rest of it. Does anybody living in Austin want to come by and pick up a IIe or two? Or perhaps have more time than me and want to debug the II+? Otherwise I will drop some of them off at austin computerworks next time I'm near. As long as I'm mentioning it, I have a semi-functioning Osborne Executive. It boots and runs, but the video is intermittent. It seems ripe for fixing, except I already have too many project machines, and this one I have no emotional connection to. It has a boot disk or two. Again, in Austin, for pickup. How about a working Kaypro 10? That is the model with the floppy plus a hard disk (I forget if it is 5 MB or 10 MB). I still can't decide if Kaypro was more about selling computers or more about selling sheet metal. Even if you don't care, the kaypro 10 could be flipped on ebay for a few bucks (10s seem to fetch $80-$150, although the earlier models usually go for a song). At least somebody who cared would then own it. The last time I tried a giveaway there were no takers, and my fully decked out HP 85 and HP 86, plus 50 lbs of manuals, software, and accessories went to the Austin goodwill computerworks. I was fairly disappointed when they told me to go around to the drop off door where all the goodwill donations go, since the person there didn't seem to give a rats *** about the importance of putting the computers and their accessories in the same spot. Plus, in my four trips there in the 20 months that I've lived in Austin, their "museum" has always been closed. One of the things I miss about leaving Silicon Valley is the monthly foothill and livermore swap meets. They were great for finding things, but even better for disposing of things. You knew whatever you left at the curb with a "free" sign would just make somebody's day.