4 Sep
2001
4 Sep
'01
7:20 a.m.
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
Rich
==========================
Richard A. Cini, Jr.
Congress Financial Corporation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
30th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 545-4402
(212) 840-6259 (facsimile)
4 Sep
4 Sep
8:35 a.m.
At 03:20 pm 04/09/2001 -0400, you wrote:
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
Up to you entirely.
eBay suggests that unbuilt ZX81s are worth silly money (think ?300 ($450)
upwards).
Cheers!
Ade.
--
B-Racing: B where it's at :-)
http://www.b-racing.co.uk
11:10 a.m.
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12:35 p.m.
Tony's right in what he says, but if you have an unassembled kit with the
packaging in good-to-excellent condition, you can use the included documentation
(they included documentation back in those days) to replicate the item in
question, package the replica however it suits you to do so, and then sell the
item on eBay, where you'll get enough for it to allow you to take a nice
vacation, buy a car (not a BMW) or some such.
It's YOUR stuff and what other think isn't as important as what YOU want do do
with it. If you want to make points with others, sell it and give away the
proceeds.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 5:10 PM
Subject: Re: Keep or assemble???
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
My views are, as ever, the opposite to the ones I've already seen here.
To me, the answer is obvious. Build it. An unassembled computer kit is a
box of chip. An assembled computer kit is a machine that can be
interesting to use, to hack, etc. I don't collect boxes of chips. And I
certainly have no interest in how the kits were packaged about 20 years
ago.
No, I'd enjoy building the kit (soldering up PCBs is restful for me), and
I'd enjoy using it.
-tony
1:39 p.m.
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11:45 a.m.
Simple,
I suspect your itching to build them, but concerned about any impact on their
'value' as unbuilt kits.
So build them, but as you do so, make a video of the progress, and document any
oddities you'll likley find as you complete the kits and get them working.
Frankly, a good job of documenting the (generally low) quality of kits from that
era
is probably more 'valuable' than the unbuilt kit.
"Cini, Richard" wrote:
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
Rich
==========================
Richard A. Cini, Jr.
Congress Financial Corporation
1133 Avenue of the Americas
30th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 545-4402
(212) 840-6259 (facsimile)
7 Sep
7 Sep
12:15 p.m.
Cini, Richard skrev:
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the
pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
If you're not going to use it, you could just as well get any kind of PCB
scraps. I've got a sack full of old PC mobos which you could... whatever you'd
do with an unassembled kit.
The kit was meant to become a computer, not a piece of furniture or an
investment of some kind.
What pros could there possibly be?
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
"It's better to have loved and lost, than to be gang raped in a Turkish
prison."
5:24 p.m.
Cini, Richard wrote:
Hello, all:
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Thoughts?
Probably I'm too late for this thread. But I would keep and at the
same time get a second assembled ZX81 to play with. To hell with the
monetary value, but it's nice to have one machine to run and another
box of parts to see, feel, and show off what it is made of. I recently
covered my own future with C64s and I bought two. One to run the other
to keep. If there had ever been a kit, I would have kept the kit
for the second one.
regards
-Gunther
--
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org
24 Sep
24 Sep
6:06 p.m.
I'm wondering, without creating flame bait, the
pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Two questions;
Can you buy a working unit without too much trouble?
How important is it to you to build the item? If you just want a functional
item, leave the kit alone and buy a working unit if you can.
OTOH if the kit is common and working units rare, reverse it.
25 Sep
25 Sep
1:21 a.m.
"OTOH if the kit is common and working units rare, reverse it."
What? How do you "un-solder" a kit and leave it looking new?
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Ford" <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 12:06 AM
Subject: Re: Keep or assemble???
I'm
wondering, without creating flame bait, the pros and cons of
keeping a computer kit versus assembling it?
I have an unbuilt Sinclair ZX81 kit that I'm toying with assembling.
I also have a TV Typewriter-6 kit. I bought the TVT6 for my KIM-1 and the
ZX81 I got in a trade.
Two questions;
Can you buy a working unit without too much trouble?
How important is it to you to build the item? If you just want a functional
item, leave the kit alone and buy a working unit if you can.
OTOH if the kit is common and working units rare, reverse it.
7:25 a.m.
I think someone pointed out weeks ago that the working units bring a lot less
money on the open market (a.k.a. eBay) than complete but unassembled kits.
To me, it makes sense to take the $100 for the unassembled kit and buy an
assembled unit for $30 as previous posts suggest they cost, if you really want
the unit. My initial impression was that the original posting was from someone
wh really didn't even particularly want the assembled/working unit.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Ford" <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:46 AM
Subject: Re: Keep or assemble???
"OTOH if
the kit is common and working units rare, reverse it."
What? How do you "un-solder" a kit and leave it looking new?
Reverse my advice, ie build the kit to make hopefully one more working unit.
10:25 a.m.
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7:15 p.m.
Well, if enjoyment was an objective of the one originally posting this question,
it wasn't apparent from his remarks. Your point about the entertainment value
of soldering up the kit and subsequently knowing it's been done right is
certainly valid. $70 isn't a lot to pay for an afternoon's entertainment.
However, if, under slightly different circumstances and priorities, one wants to
USE the finished product and has little/no interest in burning one's fingers,
it's ceratinly a different question, isn't it? Under those circumstances,
building up the kit might, in fact add to the cost in that one has to buy
equipment, materials, burn ointment, whiskey, MAALOX, and prune juice. Under
those conditions, I'd be inclined to buy an already-built-and-working one for
$30 or so just to see how I like it, and, if I don't, get rid of them both.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 4:25 PM
Subject: Re: Keep or assemble???
>
> I think someone pointed out weeks ago that the working units bring a lot
less
> money on the open market (a.k.a. eBay) than
complete but unassembled kits.
>
> To me, it makes sense to take the $100 for the unassembled kit and buy an
> assembled unit for $30 as previous posts suggest they cost, if you really
want
The only other issues are 'do you enjoy assembling kits'. And 'how much
enjoyment would you get out of assembiing the kit, compared to other uses
of the money'
In other words, if it took me a couple of days to assemble the kit and I
enjoyed all of it (that would not be the case with a ZX81 kit, but it
would be the case with some of the Heathkits I've read the manuals for)
then $70 is pretty cheap entertainment ;-)
And of course, if I've built it myself, I know it's been built correctly....
-tony
26 Sep
26 Sep
7:25 a.m.
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8488
days inactive
8510
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14 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
avickers＠solutionengineers.com -
bshannon＠tiac.net -
edick＠idcomm.com -
gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
optimus＠canit.se -
RCini＠congressfinancial.com