15 Apr
2001
15 Apr
'01
8:12 a.m.
I have recently found an Apple II that is a bit interesting. Its
color is very dark gray, almost black, and so is the color of the
matching Disk II. The labels on both the Apple II and Disk II say
"Made for Belle & Howell by Apple Computer, Inc" and have the logos
of both companies. Is this a special machine in any way?
I don't have it currently. I found it yesterday and have not yet
contacted the institiution that owns it to see if is available
(though it most likely is).
--
Jeffrey S. Sharp
jss(a)ou.edu
15 Apr
15 Apr
8:45 a.m.
On Sun, Apr 15, 2001 at 12:12:54PM -0500, Jeffrey S. Sharp (jss(a)ou.edu) wrote:
I have recently found an Apple II that is a bit
interesting. Its
color is very dark gray, almost black, and so is the color of the
matching Disk II. The labels on both the Apple II and Disk II say
"Made for Belle & Howell by Apple Computer, Inc" and have the logos
of both companies. Is this a special machine in any way?
Well, not *particularly* special -- just a bit of marketing creativity
on Apple's part. Bell and Howell make audiovisual equipment -- slide
projectors, transparency projectors, filmstrip stuff, multiple-headset
listening stations, and so forth -- and have a contract with pretty
near every elementary school board in North America, I bet. So, Apple
wanted to get their machines into the schools, so they arranged for
Bell and Howell to brand Apple IIs; that way, the machines were on
the standard Bell and Howell price list, and teachers/administrators
could just add one to their order instead of going through the
complexities of setting up a new supplier (and this at a time where
computers in the classroom were rare, but audiovisual teaching aids
were all the rage). A particularly clever bit of marketing,
indeed. :-)
There are certainly fewer B&H Apple IIs than normal ones, and as we
all know, black computers are faster :-), but I don't think it's
particularly /rare/.
-Rich
--
------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
11:09 a.m.
New subject: (uk) looking for atari 400/800
any books, bits, peripherals.
Also, looking to give away some old apricot kit to anyone who wants it.
Cheers.
stu
4:56 p.m.
New subject: (uk) looking for atari 400/800
I have a kid's BASIC book for the Atari 400/800 computers. It's more a
beginner's BASIC
book then it is an Atari book per se. But it does say "Atari" on it.
Eric
Stu wrote:
any books, bits, peripherals.
Also, looking to give away some old apricot kit to anyone who wants it.
Cheers.
stu
4:51 p.m.
Rich Lafferty wrote:
[...]
There are certainly fewer B&H Apple IIs than normal ones, and as we
all know, black computers are faster :-), but I don't think it's
particularly /rare/.
Not particularly rare, but of interest. I sold one on ebay a few months back for
$40,
that simply powered on (didn't know if it actually worked) and had two keys
missing!
But even if they sold 100 to 1 compared to their regular Apple II conterparts,
they wouldn't
be rare.
BTW, the guy I sold it to was into restoring old Apple computers.
Eric
-Rich
--
------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
6:02 p.m.
If in excellent condition, these units can fetch $100+ on Ebay. I've been
collecting Apple ][ & /// computers for over three years now, and I have
yet to see one "in the wild" or see a decent one sold online for a
reasonable price. They are very sought after machines in the vintage Apple
market. While their "absolute scarcity" may not be that high (in the
technical meaning of the term), I can personally attest to their "relative
scarcity."
If you have a nice one to sell, I have some nice cash.
Arthur Clark
At 09:51 PM 4/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
Rich Lafferty wrote:
[...]
There are certainly fewer B&H Apple IIs than normal ones, and as we
all know, black computers are faster :-), but I don't think it's
particularly /rare/.
Not particularly rare, but of interest. I sold one on ebay a few months
back for
$40,
that simply powered on (didn't know if it actually worked) and had two keys
missing!
But even if they sold 100 to 1 compared to their regular Apple II conterparts,
they wouldn't
be rare.
BTW, the guy I sold it to was into restoring old Apple computers.
Eric
>
> -Rich
>
> --
> ------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
> Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
> Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
> ------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ---------------------- 
8:08 p.m.
New subject: Bell & Howell Apple II
The "gray" rather than black color suggests that it was left outdoors for at
least a season, or in the window for a year or two. They were originally black.
I doubt that will affect things much, though. It's the innards that matter.
What all's inside this critter?
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Arthur Clark" <aclark(a)enviroweb.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2001 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: Belle & Howell Apple II
If in excellent condition, these units can fetch $100+
on Ebay. I've been
collecting Apple ][ & /// computers for over three years now, and I have
yet to see one "in the wild" or see a decent one sold online for a
reasonable price. They are very sought after machines in the vintage Apple
market. While their "absolute scarcity" may not be that high (in the
technical meaning of the term), I can personally attest to their "relative
scarcity."
If you have a nice one to sell, I have some nice cash.
Arthur Clark
At 09:51 PM 4/15/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Rich Lafferty wrote:
>
> > [...]
> >
> > There are certainly fewer B&H Apple IIs than normal ones, and as we
> > all know, black computers are faster :-), but I don't think it's
> > particularly /rare/.
> >
>
>Not particularly rare, but of interest. I sold one on ebay a few months
>back for
>$40,
>that simply powered on (didn't know if it actually worked) and had two keys
>missing!
>
>But even if they sold 100 to 1 compared to their regular Apple II
conterparts,
they
wouldn't
be rare.
BTW, the guy I sold it to was into restoring old Apple computers.
Eric
>
> -Rich
>
> --
> ------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
> Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
> Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
> ------------------------- rich(a)alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
8:35 p.m.
New subject: Bell & Howell Apple II
Quoting Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>om>:
The "gray" rather than black color suggests
that it was left
outdoors for at least a season, or in the window for a year or two.
It's probably sunlight. It sat on the floor in a remote corner of
a high school science lab for possibly as much as 10 years. It was
close to a large bank of windows and got lots of sunlight. The grey
is very *very* dark, and I could have mistaken it for black easily.
What all's inside this critter?
Power supply, keyboard, motherboard, Disk II card, and a printer
card.
--
Jeffrey S. Sharp
jss(a)ou.edu
8:32 p.m.
I have recently found an Apple II that is a bit
interesting. Its
Rare enough to be valuable, common enough to show on ebay regularly.
No idea exactly what one must be worth these days, the standard contents
and condition certainly apply. $100 to maybe $250 for a nice fairly
complete system doesn't sound too far fetched, but neither does $25.
16 Apr
16 Apr
9:15 a.m.
On Sun, 15 Apr 2001, Mike Ford wrote:
My recollection of an earlier dialogue on the same package is that they
were garden variety Apple IIs except for the black case, and that had
been sold to Bell & Howell for use as a part of their Computer
Correspondence School.
- don
I have recently
found an Apple II that is a bit interesting. Its
Rare enough to be valuable, common enough to show on ebay regularly.
No idea exactly what one must be worth these days, the standard contents
and condition certainly apply. $100 to maybe $250 for a nice fairly
complete system doesn't sound too far fetched, but neither does $25. 
11:30 a.m.
They have the black case and an integrated handle/power breakout box/ 1/4"
Phono jack cassette ports in back. Nothing exotic, just some extra jacks for
monitor/accessories, some jacks for headphones or the like, and a nice big
industrial-strength handle to wrap the cord around and carry the beast.
Sucker is HEAVY.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Maslin" <donm(a)cts.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: Belle & Howell Apple II
On Sun, 15 Apr 2001, Mike Ford wrote:
My recollection of an earlier dialogue on the same package is that they
were garden variety Apple IIs except for the black case, and that had
been sold to Bell & Howell for use as a part of their Computer
Correspondence School.
- don
I have
recently found an Apple II that is a bit interesting. Its
Rare enough to be valuable, common enough to show on ebay regularly.
No idea exactly what one must be worth these days, the standard contents
and condition certainly apply. $100 to maybe $250 for a nice fairly
complete system doesn't sound too far fetched, but neither does $25. 
1:38 p.m.
On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Don Maslin wrote:
My recollection of an earlier dialogue on the same
package is that they
were garden variety Apple IIs except for the black case, and that had
been sold to Bell & Howell for use as a part of their Computer
Correspondence School.
My recollection was that they had a different power cord, and a latch/lock
to prevent opening the case.
They were a clever marketing move. For a while, schools had difficulty
getting approval for computer purchases, since that was "territory" of
district data processing, and because school boards wouldn't recognize
products from little unknown companies named after fruit. But it was EASY
to slide it into a purchase order for Hell and Bowel, in between a couple
of projectors.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
1:40 p.m.
My recollection of an earlier dialogue on the same
package is that they
were garden variety Apple IIs except for the black case, and that had
been sold to Bell & Howell for use as a part of their Computer
Correspondence School.
That was more of a side issue, the main "deal", was selling Apples through
Bell and Howells established AV accounts with schools.
8480
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12 comments
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participants (10)
-
aclark＠enviroweb.org -
chomko＠greenbelt.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
donm＠cts.com -
edick＠idcomm.com -
jbmcb＠hotmail.com -
jss＠ou.edu -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
rich＠alcor.concordia.ca -
stuart＠zen.co.uk