On Sat, 30 Nov 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote: This will be different for nearly everyone on the list. From an investment standpoint, I'd suggest keeping anything you've got that's truly rare or unusual unless you /really/ need the money badly. When I pared down my collection a bit about two years ago, I targeted the items which I didn't use (and wouldn't ever likely use), the items I used the least, the items which didn't have any nostalgic value, and then those which were rather bulky and could be substituted with something a bit smaller. About half of it ended up on eBay, the other half I traded for stuff I'd found more useful. My area of focus tends to be on Unix workstations and servers, and VAXen of all sorts. My 8-bit gear is limited to systems I enjoyed growing up. (I'd really like to get my hands on a PDP-11/05 and just about any PDP-8). I've yet to acquire a system with a proper front panel and blinkenlights. I found that trying to stick to my "areas of focus" has helped keep my collection under control. That's not to say there aren't exceptions for interesting or rare items. If someone offered me a Symbolics machine, or an Altair, or even the Super Foonly F1, I'd take them up on the offer. During the last round of cleanup, I got rid of all my video game consoles except for the Vectrex, all my Atari 8-bit gear, all of my Amiga gear, the TRS-80 Model 102s, and most of my Apple 8-bit gear with the exception of some IIc's and a complete Apple III system. The next things on the list to go will be the Commodore 8-bit systems and much of my TI-99/4a collection. The items I kept were all my VAXen, my NeXTs, some older Sun Sparcs, some newer Sun Sparcs, SGIs, terminals, a few junk PCs for running Linux and NetBSD, my CoCos (for nostalgic reasons), and an RS/6000 for running AIX. The collection has grown a bit again, mostly to be within those areas that I've limited my collecting; but then there's the Amiga 4000 which someone found stuffed in a corner at work and had planned to pitch. And there's the Mac Performa 476, also destined to be trashed. I simply couldn't let such crimes be committed. Sadly, I missed out on the palettes of about four dozen SGI Indigo^2s and half as many Indys which were carted off by the recycling guy. Anyone want to trade a PDP-11/05 for an Amiga 4000? -brian.

On Saturday 30 November 2002 01:44, Lawrence Walker wrote: I tired holding a swap meet on my drieway last summer to get rid of a bunch of older stuff. I traded an HP 712 for a Cromemco system 3, gave away a toshiba laptop, and at the end of the day there was a MAC Plus an APPLE II C, two Apple clones, TI99/4a, a 486 and a mother board that weren't there at the start. This past month I found a shop that was in need of an Apple IIc. I brought it in thinking to trade for repairis to a Powerbook 145. When I went it to see again they said no to the trade and that I owe them $69 for looking at the laptop. I don't have the space or money to trade any more machines. Shipping is also a big problem because the area collectors already have most of what I'm wanting to clear out. On the plus side I did pick up an HP 712 and Apple A/ux 3.0 this week. My wife wsa thinking of PEI for vacation this year but maybe northern Manitoba may have some interesting garage sales :)

Simply put my interest seems to have become centered on DEC-VAX-QBUS. I save systems with some place in my own personal history timeline. I was sysmgr/applications programmer on an 11/780 (at >1500 lbs) around 1981-1988 and microvaxes are cool manageble versions (at <100 lbs) of the same thing. Right now I'm trying to build an RSX-11M PDP 11/34. My save strategy encompasses all electronic equipment that I see, but it goes like this: Did a well regarded company make it, Is there no damage, Will/Does it work, Does it have an OS/software, Docs, Yes>How much does it cost?, Weigh, Is it very hard to find elsewhere. And, ultimately 'what will I have to throw out to keep it?'* No name PC's and anybodies' 286-486 I seem to have no problem in dropping. People on the list know that sometimes I will pick up systems just for them too. I would disagree that classic computers are being tossed less frequently. There is a sliding window of what is old relative to where we are now. Ten years ago the hot old computer (5~10yo) would have been the workstation. Now its the 486/P75/P100 and those are definitely being tossed (and boring, but that's another issue). John A. *If the answer is 'the couch' then you've lost it.

I've been thinking along the same lines. I've collected a fairly large number of old computers, and they're beginning to feel like a ball and chain for a lot of reasons. I enjoy the hunt (a sign of a true collector,)and I enjoy the process of disassembling and cleaning them up. I also enjoy the feeling that I get when I repair a computer that's been broken for years but for me, once I've done all that, I usually package them up neatly and store them away. That means that I have a lot of clutter and "junk" around, and I'm getting kind of tired of it. Sellam knows that I've been thinking about this for a while now, and yet I continue to collect, although not as aggressively as I was a year or so ago. I'm warming to the idea (for me) of just picking one system, and focusing on it. Mine would probably be my Apple IIe. The IIe's are as common as dirt but of all my Apple II's and clones, it's the one I use most. I also wonder about my Basis 108, or even my Morrow MD3. I haven't decided yet but it's likely that within the next year, I'll find new homes for the majority of my old computers, and try to live a less cluttered life again. That, or I'll get rid of my collection of Apple II clones with the idea that I will continue to collect, repair, and document clones that I don't already have. Then latter on, sell them too and continue the process, thus adding new systems to my web page for the main purpose public reference. E.

On a serious note, is eBay even worth the effort when it comes to thinning out a collection? Zane -- | Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator | | healyzh(a)aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast | | | Classic Computer Collector | +----------------------------------+----------------------------+ | Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, | | PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. | | http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |