On Nov 11, 2007, at 11:21 PM, cctalk-request at classiccmp.org wrote: There's another factor here - people like Will and Paul and Sellam (probably) don't cater to deep-pocket collectors as their primary customers. They cater to businesses who still use the machines in day-to-day operations and are happy to pay what's needed for a part so they can get it next-business-day. The other market is lawyers looking for prior art evidence. In both cases the bankroll is substantially bigger than almost any collector, so collectors get locked out through no nefarious intent of the dealers. Remember there's quite a lot of overhead in locating, buying, storing, organizing, and dealing that one part that one person will need every 5 years (or longer for the lawyers - maybe only once in 50 years, but they're willing to pay). Off of this there is a certain amount of hype-induced market pumping (lookit how much that old thing sold for! I'm gonna dump my beanie babies and invest in cawm-pew-tuhs (yes, more sophisticated certainly, but it's a fun image), but that is vapor wealth because those people don't have the support to deal to businesses and probably have no interest in doing professional lawyer supply so the investment is probably as good as shares in "Gobi Rainforest Woods Limited" I certainly wouldn't mind trying out a HP2100 or 3000, or an IBM mini/mainframe, but definitely same boat here - wussy micros only (unless you count the TAAC board which might be a mini). I'm a bit gunshy too, after the trouble it took to outfit my $25 VAX 4200 I'm hesitant to get into something that I don't know especially if it's pricy.