Sellam Ismail wrote: up on toaster pricing. It will seem strangely familiar. This is very judgmental and technist. I am surprised to see such comments posted here. I suppose, now you will go after the vacuum cleaner belt people?

Tony, I think you are alone in that. The rest of us are getting stinking rich stockpiling boring old electronics doo-dads. I just wish my hands didn't get so dusty touching the stuff, as it makes my cash dirty.

Roy J. Tellason wrote: Yeah, it's called irony. 8-)

Tony Duell wrote: them, good No, Tony, at least there is someone else who has the same appreciation (not in terms of monetary value doing such), but in the glory of design and implementation. I don't care about the value of the calculators in the Old Calculator Museum. Frankly, I really could care less what they are worth. I do what I do because I have a great passion for this particular part of our technological history, and there is such a wonderful diversity of methods that various companies and engineers invented to do the same basic functions, and each has its own beauty and individuality, as well as (in some cases) places in history that are significant. I state in the website that none of the stuff is for sale. It isn't. When I die, it'll be taken care of properly. That's all that matters to me. This stuff isn't an investment, except in the time that I spend pondering the designs and troubleshooting machines that there are no schematics for, or figuring out how to program a programmable calculator that there's no documentation known to exist in terms of its instruction set, as well as documenting what tidbits I can learn on the website for others to hopefully get some enjoyment and education from. Tinkering around with this stuff makes me happy. Digging through old documents and finding shreds of historical significance that tie together is the most wonderful kind of detective work. Communicating with folks who "were there", like Tom Osborn(HP 9100/9800), Allen Frankel (son of Stanley Frankel, developer of the SCM 240SR, and the design of the Diehl Combitron, and some early small computers, as well as being a nuclear physicist involved in the Manhattan Project), Harold Koplow (Microcode designer of Wang's 700-Series machines and others, including the 2200 BASIC computer, and word-processing systems), and many others is such a great privilege. Sharing what I learn is pure joy. The value is in those things, not dollars. I agree completely with Tony's philosophy. Others may feel differently about these kinds of things, and that's their right, and I'll fight to the death to defend their right to feel that way, as well as for the right for Tony and myself think the way we do. Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

Tony Duell wrote: them, good No, Tony, at least there is someone else who has the same appreciation (not in terms of monetary value doing such), but in the glory of design and implementation. I don't care about the value of the calculators in the Old Calculator Museum. Frankly, I really could care less what they are worth. I do what I do because I have a great passion for this particular part of our technological history, and there is such a wonderful diversity of methods that various companies and engineers invented to do the same basic functions, and each has its own beauty and individuality, as well as (in some cases) places in history that are significant. I state in the website that none of the stuff is for sale. It isn't. When I die, it'll be taken care of properly. That's all that matters to me. This stuff isn't an investment, except in the time that I spend pondering the designs and troubleshooting machines that there are no schematics for, or figuring out how to program a programmable calculator that there's no documentation known to exist in terms of its instruction set, as well as documenting what tidbits I can learn on the website for others to hopefully get some enjoyment and education from. Tinkering around with this stuff makes me happy. Digging through old documents and finding shreds of historical significance that tie together is the most wonderful kind of detective work. Communicating with folks who "were there", like Tom Osborn(HP 9100/9800), Allen Frankel (son of Stanley Frankel, developer of the SCM 240SR, and the design of the Diehl Combitron, and some early small computers, as well as being a nuclear physicist involved in the Manhattan Project), Harold Koplow (Microcode designer of Wang's 700-Series machines and others, including the 2200 BASIC computer, and word-processing systems), and many others is such a great privilege. Sharing what I learn is pure joy. The value is in those things, not dollars. I agree completely with Tony's philosophy. Others may feel differently about these kinds of things, and that's their right, and I'll fight to the death to defend their right to feel that way, as well as for the right for Tony and myself think the way we do. Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Museum http://oldcalculatormuseum.com

How many people with original Apple I's would run them very often if at all?

> Am I the only 'collector' who doesn't much care about the value of the > items hi his colelction? I collect things becuase I'm interested in them, > I find them beautiful (in a somewhat odd way, I can appreciate the good > design in a PDP11 or HP98x0 CPU, for example). I don't collect in the > hope that I'll be able to sell them later for more money.

I hope that my collection is worth enough when I die that it offsets the cost of disposal of the CRTs I am keeping. Would hate to die and leave somebody with a bill for cleanup.

It is more fun to collect things that are not worth that much. If you had a $250K guitar would you leave it in your room and play it all the time or would it end up in some expensive display case hidden from view incase somebody wanted to steal it? How many people with original Apple I's would run them very often if at all?