LET'S RESOLVE THIS ISSUE was (Re: Made a deal to get a Vax6000,2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and TOPS10???) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

24 Nov 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Rodrigo Ventura &lt;yoda(a)isr.ist.utl.pt&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Thursday, November 25, 1999 5:32 AM
Subject: Re: LET'S RESOLVE THIS ISSUE was (Re: Made a deal to get a
Vax6000,2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and TOPS10???)

...

>>>> "Richard" == Richard Erlacher &lt;edick(a)idcomm.com&gt; writes:

    Richard> This is starting to resemble an argument for putting
    Richard> things on eBay before scrapping them.  If they're
    Richard> priceless, then someone will at least attempt to buy them
    Richard> for somewhat less than that implies.

        The "priceless" stuff was an illustrating metaphor. I didn't
say minis are priceless. Usually the "price" of a good is determined
by the demand/offer situation of the market. Minis are cheap because
the demand is so low: isolated collectors, when they have space to
store it. These collective market is so dispersed that does not affect
the market prices. 
Ya right, I look a leave of absence so I can go out and buy minis for 2
cents a pound and resell them for 5 cents a pound???

Quite a few more people want minis than you think, at least the older ones
('60s) that they first touched... and it is not uncommon to get $20,000 or
more for such a unit (depending of course on the number of them left).

The collective market greatly influences the prices of such minis... and
bidding usually occurs.

Yes, a Vax 11/780 will get you a scrap metal price... an IBM1401
(unrestored) will fetch an easy $20,000 (a lot more if you put the word
out). I restore them and ship them running with software and docs, the value
goes up a lot more than that.

...

        But smart scrappers can be smart enought to bargain higher
prices, when  they are certain they are facing collectors. Take for
instance antiques: they are expensive just because of the high demand,
it's fashionable to have antiques. And who knows, sometime in the
future, a VAX board becomes an expensive antique... In fact, some
computing stuff is almost "priceless", for instance, ENIAC
boards. Would you scrap an originl ENIAC the way you scrap Fujitsu
minis? No you would not, unless you were brainless... Any computer as 

You can't compare Fujitsu to ENIAC.. The Fujitsu is *not* an original...
There are probably at least 10,000 of those *originals*.

...
 old as the ENIAC is a priceless asset to any museum!
Right?

Right, and those are the kinds of systems I am aiming for (well, I won't get
an ENIAC.. but UNIVACs can still be found).

...
     Richard> If nobody wants 'em badly enough to
pay the packing,
    Richard> shipping, and associated costs, plus the scrap value
    Richard> then, since it's too late to leave 'em inthe scrapyard,
    Richard> they need to be disposed of in some way, don't they?

        Yes indeed. It's not trivial to ship huge minis across the
world. That's one reason why these mailing lists exist: e.g. to
announce the availability of certain stuff in certain areas. I'd love
to have a PDP or a VAX, but I know that's virtually impossible unless
they appear in Lisbon/portugal area...

        Cheers,

--

*** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura &lt;yoda(a)isr.ist.utl.pt&gt;
***  Web page: http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda
***   Teaching Assistant and MSc Student at ISR:
***    Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa
***     Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, PORTUGAL
*** PGP fingerprint = 0119 AD13 9EEE 264A 3F10  31D3 89B3 C6C4 60C6 4585