13 Aug
1998
13 Aug
'98
6:22 a.m.
> Might this cabling 'trick' apply to the
Apple III as well?
>
> And if so, does anyone know what's special about the cable? That might be
> the source of my Profile problems with my III.
Doug, as I said, there's definitely nothing amazing about the cables for
the ///, at least not with the controller cards I have (I don't know if
anyone ever made any third-party controller boards?). They're either
straight through or complete crossover, but there's no odd connections
or anything.
cheers
Jules
13 Aug
13 Aug
2:34 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
$12100 for the world's flakiest S-100 box:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=24409570
(and the reserve was still not met, but I bet the guy sells, what do you
think?)
That's a 600% increase from the last batch, and even beats the last Apple
1 sale I know of. I'll bet that the bidders get solicitations for about
100 Altairs in the next few days.
-- Doug
2:56 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, Doug Yowza wrote:
$12100 for the world's flakiest S-100 box:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=24409570
I've just been dumbstruck dead.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 08/09/98]
3:01 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 1444 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/19980813/f2f1f082/at…
3:21 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I find
myself extremely
depressed by this. Does anyone know (personally) the fellow who put in
the high bid? Will the Altair be something of inherent value to him,
or is it simply an investment?
I haven't looked at the URL but I'm sure I don't know anyone involved.
It IS depressing, isn't it? I've been thinking about this aspect of computer
collecting for a while. Someone on alt.folklore.computers said that he had
verified the authenticity of an Apple I system (complete with original cover
letter receipt signed by Steve Jobs, etc.) just before it was shipped across
the country to a new buyer.
As I drooled over this, I realized that it's an extremely desirable thing to
have (and this one in particular sounded rare) but the economics are just too
warped. There are only a handful of these machines, right? And they just
change hands and the prices go up. Also, it may be desirable to have, but not
to USE. The RAM is expandable to almost 64K (though I've never heard of this
being done) but there's only one slot and the only card built for it was a
cassette interface. The display is slow because it uses a shift register.
I'm just too practical, I guess. I believe in collecting things to use them/
have fun with them, and the rarity of the Apple I is at odds with this goal.
I too have to wonder at the motives of the buyer of this Altair.
There IS the possibility that this is an elaborate "sour grapes" argument,
given that I have neither an Apple I nor an Altair. :)
-- Derek
3:39 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, D. Peschel wrote:
If you're interested in actually playing with one, the schematics for the
Apple 1 are readily available with a little searching. You can just
re-create your own. In fact, I'd imagine you could make a pretty
lucrative business making and selling Apple 1 reproductions (as well as
other early classics).
S-100 parts are readily available as well, and again there are schematics
out there if you put a little work into searching them out. If you want
to actually play with your own S-100 box, building the chassis, power
supply and backplane is relatively easy. You would then need to search
out just the CPU, I/O and RAM boards, which would be considerably easier
than finding a complete S-100 system at this point (it would seem,
although S-100 boxes can still be found if you're not simply lusting after
an Altair or IMSAI).
People make re-creations of old cars all the time, so the parallels of
that hobby to this one should extend into that realm as well.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever onward.
September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2.0
See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 08/09/98]
I can't
put my finger on exactly why, but I find myself extremely
depressed by this. Does anyone know (personally) the fellow who put in
the high bid? Will the Altair be something of inherent value to him,
or is it simply an investment?
It IS depressing, isn't it? I've been thinking about this aspect of computer
collecting for a while. Someone on alt.folklore.computers said that he had
verified the authenticity of an Apple I system (complete with original cover
letter receipt signed by Steve Jobs, etc.) just before it was shipped across
the country to a new buyer.
I'm just too practical, I guess. I believe in collecting things to use them/
have fun with them, and the rarity of the Apple I is at odds with this goal.
I too have to wonder at the motives of the buyer of this Altair. 
4:55 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 1700 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/19980813/d4a68f76/at…
5:02 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
At 01:01 PM 8/13/98 -0700, you wrote:
>
> $12100 for the world's flakiest S-100 box:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=24409570
>
> (and the reserve was still not met, but I bet the guy sells, what do you
> think?)
< snippage>
(Note to interested sellers: About the only thing I'd be willing
to pay $1000 for is an original table-top "straight" PDP-8 in working
condition. Hey, look at me, I'm a sucker! Now if only I could find
someone with the bait, I'd snap at it :)
Good luck... I had an offer out for quite a while to trade an Altair
straight across for a "straight" 8, and no one took me up on it...
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
16 Aug
16 Aug
8:08 p.m.
New subject: Altair prices
Good luck... I had an offer out for quite a while to
trade an Altair
straight across for a "straight" 8, and no one took me up on it...
-jim
I had arranged to sell a rack-mount straight-8 to someone in Oregon for $1500,
some time ago. I never heard back from him after he went to investigate
shipping prices from Ohio.
There is a table-top straight-8 at the Smithsonian (as well as a hand-made
wooden-cased Apple I and an Altair of some vintage). If it's good enough
for the Smithsonian, it's good enough for my house. ;-)
-ethan
9642
days inactive
9645
days old
8 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dastar＠ncal.verio.com -
dpeschel＠u.washington.edu -
erd＠infinet.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
JRichardson＠softwright.co.uk -
sethm＠loomcom.com -
yowza＠yowza.com