The last there was proactive about saying prices are negotiable, and you could expect "up to 50%" off. I'm not about to pay up to $1K for one of those corroded disk packs, so... On Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 2:11 PM William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com wrote:

They have probably 25 boxes of 10, 8" DSDD floppies each that are still in their sealed packaging if that's of interest! On Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 2:29 PM Grant Taylor via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org wrote:

They have until the end of June 2019. On Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 4:24 PM William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com wrote:

Well, I got outta there with: - IBM 6360, $45 - IBM 4868-002, $20 - 10 pack DSDD soft sector 8" floppies, $10 - Life magazine from 1941 with pretty lady on the cover, $5 Did I get swindled or is this par for the course? On Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 4:56 PM Peter Cetinski <pete at pski.net wrote:

On 2/16/19 3:37 PM, Anders Nelson via cctalk wrote: Okay. From my naive point of view, those prices look reasonable. I would not feel bad if I left a swap meet having spent what you did. Are they a steal? I don't think so. Is it anything worth getting upset about, I doubt it. Can you do better, maybe. Is it worth arguing, probably not. -- Grant. . . . unix || die

I passed on mint complete word processors at a recyclers ages ago because I had no use for them. I almost picked up a huge IBM typewriter but changed my mind. Everybody has limited space so we try not to fill it with things way outside of our normal collecting. If anything I regret not grabbing some terminals when I had the chance. I guess if you are in the business of reading old word processing floppies with proprietary formats then snagging a few machines might be worth it. -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk Sent: Monday, February 18, 2019 12:23 PM To: Bill Degnan via cctalk Subject: Re: Kemners Surplus - Real time walkthrough On 2/18/19 8:10 AM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote: I probably have at least one sample of a Lexitron floppy in my stash; I don't think they were particularly rare back in the day. The problem today is that nobody (or almost nobody) collects old word processors, due to their limited application and appeal. As an example, where I worked in 1977, we had at least two Artec word processing systems. Basically Diablo Hitypes hooked to large floor-standing units with 8" diskette drives and using a one-line LCD mounted on the Hitype. After the IBM PC and similar machines debuted, the word processor market collapsed quickly. Artec was purchased by Pitney-Bowes and merged into Dictaphone, another acquisition. By 1983, P-B had abandoned the WP business entirely. How many people have heard of, much less collect, smart typewriters made by Exxon Qyx, for example. Or old Harris/Lanier word processors? --Chuck --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Simple databases were also a killer app. I still recall a small stamp/coin shop firing up a C64 to look for inventory in the early/mid 80's. I hated using a typewriter for school reports so when I purchased a C64 in the 80's I used that for reports. The only thing an electronic word processor had over a C64 was a very nice display (monochrome) compared to a TV for the C64. I forget if the printers on those things were dot matrix or actual characters. -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Guzis via cctalk Sent: Monday, February 18, 2019 6:11 PM To: CCtalk Subject: Re: Kemners Surplus - Real time walkthrough I can remember sitting in discussions about "killer apps" (they may have not been called that), but word processing, spreadsheet and the basic accounting (AP, AR, GL, Payroll and Inventory) suite were essentially the way you sold a business computer. --Chuck --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

I'll add a postscript to my bit on Wupro disinterest. Exxon went into the WP business briefly by purchasing Vydec along with Qyx. Nobody seems to remember those either. Who collects old FAX machines, for example? FWIW, on eBay, there's an Exxon Verbex voice recognition box that seems to have garnered little interest. Lear Siegler licensed the technology, but I don't know what they did with it. Bottom line is that you'll very often find these business-related bits of hardware in old warehouse detritus. It seems that unless someone used a system while in school or can play games with it, there's no interest, no matter how groundbreaking the technology. --Chuck

Gone, I'm sorry to report! -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com On Tue, Feb 19, 2019 at 10:05 AM Derek Newland <derek.newland at gmail.com> wrote: