On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Marvin wrote: I'lll check mine when I get home, but it sounds like a serial number to me. What's the latest date code on the chips? I've heard about the case being available, but I've never seen one. Picture please. Or should I wait for it to show up on ebay? :-) -- Doug

Marvin wrote: Hmmm, now that I look at it closer, it looks more like a rubber stamp using silkscreen ink (notice the contour of the letters.)

On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Marvin wrote: Good stuff. It doesn't mean that it's board #1, but a date code after about 6/76 would have pretty much decided against it. Ooh, I want a case for mine! How much? OK, I'm convinced. How much? Despite what some people may think, ebay is far from the best way to maximize value for something like this. Give Sotheby's a call. (I might be able to give you a contact if you need one.) -- Doug

My boxed KIM has 6502 dated 4875, and latest onboard date 0376. My Users Guide is dated March 1976, the Cross Assembler (preliminary) manual August 1975, and wouldn't you (&%^% know it, the machine-postage-stamp on the box omits a date :(. There's a white inkstamped number (078) on the back of the KIM. Leftmost digit, if present, is under rubber foot. Digits look the same (slightly messier) than the 0001 in the URL Marvin supplied. Looks fairly safe to say that the number on the back IS a serial number, and my copy, board #78, was manufactured around March/April 1976. Cheers A -- adavie(a)mad.scientist.com visit the Museum of Soviet Calculators at http://www.comcen.com.au/~adavie/slide/calculator/soviet.html

Date sent: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 06:57:41 -0600 (CST) Send reply to: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu From: Doug Yowza <yowza(a)yowza.com> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: RE: Kim-1 Computer Originally to: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> OK. I had to look. My second KIM is #1051 with a Rev. A board. It has the white ceramic MOS chips. This one shows plenty of wear, however. It's mounted on a piece of masonite with a socket for the one edge connector, a little bracket for a couple of 1/8" phone plugs (tape connections), an expansion port (Centronics-type, I assume this is where it was cabled up to a modified Selectric) and a terminal strip for power. The LED's have had sockets installed under them, since I assume the originals burned out. The 6502 also is socketed. This KIM was used by Stan Ockers and Jim Butterfield while writing the "First Book of KIM". Stan would take it, in the little briefcase he gave me along with it, to a computer club meeting in Chicago where a guy had an IBM Selectric that he had modified to work as a printer. Stan would load the programs he, Jim, and their partner (sorry -- don't have my FBOK in front of me and the other name escapes me) had written, and then print them out on the Selectric. These printouts were then cut and pasted into the layout for the book. Is the bottom numbe on the die cover the date code? If so, my 6502 is dated 1576. The thing is, regardless of how much they sell for on e-pay, it means so much more to me that Stan sat down and talked to me for an hour and a half about the book and computing in those days and then gave me his KIM that I couldn't think about selling it. Paul Braun NerdWare -- The History of the PC and the Nerds who brought it to you. nerdware(a)laidbak.com www.laidbak.com/nerdware

Sam Ismail wrote: I've seen serial numbers screened onto a circuit board, and done during the processing rather than after the board was built up. It does add to the cost of the board though! Take a look at the picture in my last message. I'll take some better pictures of the unit, especially if it is going to be sold (which it rather looks like although I can probably keep it for a while.) I do plan on testing the board in one of the other working Kim-1 setups though.