21 Oct
2005
21 Oct
'05
5:51 a.m.
Take a look at item #8707485844
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8707485844&rd=1&a…
which ended on Thursday. It went for USD $7,877.11 for a supposedly serial number 3 unit,
run up by bidders from Switzerland, the US and finally the UK. It had been heavily
modified internally, with even a hard disk inside.
My question to all is that was the unit more valuable (because of the low serial number)
than a later unit that had all of the original MITS cards, motherboard and powersupply?
My experience with car collectors (Corvettes), is that a unit in stock factory condition
is more valuable than one that has been heavily modified.
I suppose the buyer is going to restore the original MITS cards as it was first available,
or is he going to keep it intact as it was sold to him? It would be interesting (to me)
to know peoples collecting philosophies about that.
Gary Fisher
Tristone Capital Inc.
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21 Oct
21 Oct
6:10 a.m.
wholey !@#$$% $7K !?!?!?!?! Great, now all the lunatics who've had
something like this in their garage, basement or attic are going to run
out to post them up with starting bids of $5,000 Better hope some
idiotic news site or worse some news TV station doesn't make mention of
this, or then it'll get really ugly.
Curt
Gary Fisher wrote:
Take a look at item #8707485844
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8707485844&rd=1&a…
which ended on Thursday. It went for USD $7,877.11 for a supposedly serial number 3 unit,
run up by bidders from Switzerland, the US and finally the UK. It had been heavily
modified internally, with even a hard disk inside.
My question to all is that was the unit more valuable (because of the low serial number)
than a later unit that had all of the original MITS cards, motherboard and powersupply?
My experience with car collectors (Corvettes), is that a unit in stock factory condition
is more valuable than one that has been heavily modified.
I suppose the buyer is going to restore the original MITS cards as it was first available,
or is he going to keep it intact as it was sold to him? It would be interesting (to me)
to know peoples collecting philosophies about that.
Gary Fisher
Tristone Capital Inc.
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If
you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail,
delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by
a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. Unless
otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not
endorsed by the author's employer.
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7:27 a.m.
Am 21 Oct 2005 6:51 meinte Gary Fisher:
Take a look at item #8707485844 which ended on
Thursday. It went for USD $7,877.11
Nice catch
for a supposedly serial number 3 unit,
Neat
It had been heavily modified internally, with even a
hard disk inside.
As with most S100 boxes where.
My question to all is that was the unit more valuable
(because of the
low serial number) than a later unit that had all of the original MITS
cards, motherboard and powersupply?
Short answer: the little '3' is a value in itself.
My experience with car collectors (Corvettes), is that
a unit in stock
factory condition is more valuable than one that has been heavily modified.
I always love to compare comouter collecting to car collecting. It fits
in many ways. And a good comparsion for an Altair or IMSAI is after all
the Ford Model T. Way to many have been build as that it is anywhere
near extinction or rare at all, still, it's definitly an early collectable.
Also quite a lot of T's have been modified to extend their life time, or
fit various needs - after all, part of the success of the T was not only
the relative cheap price, but also that you could remove parts (or all)
of the cabin and use convert it to whatever suited your needs. way like
it was with S100 boxes.
Now, regarding your implication, yes, a nice like new car has it's value,
but then again, a special sub serie might even catch a higher price when
not shiny, and then there are modifications. Thing of a Shelby GT with
added race trim. that would definitly catch a better price than a regular
(already expensive) Shelby GT.
Now, the above Altair could be compared again to a hot-rodded Model T.
Lager engine (Z80) added high performace stuff (Hard Disk) and so on.
Such a Car has a value in itself, and restoreing it to a factory like
version should be considered vandalism.
I suppose the buyer is going to restore the original
MITS cards as it was
first available, or is he going to keep it intact as it was sold to him?
It would be interesting (to me) to know peoples collecting philosophies
about that.
Well, tough question. As for myself, I guess I would keep it the way
it is right now. THe usage, the add ons _and_ the fact that it's ser#3
add together for a very unique exhibition piece. 'Restoring' it would
take away the life and history.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a 'do not touch' thing, unlike some
weired car collectors, who buy cars and let them rust on purpose, I
would go ahead and restore (if needed) the Altair to its last working
condition. Make it show room able, but don't take away it's history.
If the original cards where available with the unit, I wouldn't put
them back in, but rather use as part of a proposed displa, maybe
mounted on a wall behind the unit.
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa 7.0 am 29/30.April und 01.Mai 2006 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
7:53 a.m.
I find interesting the big dollars that IBM manuals
are going for (>$900)
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=suetbandit…
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8:53 a.m.
Hey Sellam! Your friend Dennis Kominsky strikes again! :-)
At 07:53 AM 10/21/05 -0700, you wrote:
I find interesting the big dollars that IBM manuals
are going for (>$900)
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=suetbandit…
t=10&page=1&rows=50&since=30&rdir=0
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http://farechase.yahoo.com
25 Oct
25 Oct
1:34 p.m.
On Fri, 21 Oct 2005, Joe R. wrote:
Hey Sellam! Your friend Dennis Kominsky strikes
again! :-)
Ya gotta love it!
--
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21 Oct
21 Oct
10:11 a.m.
New subject: Big dollars paid for -> manuals going for a lot
steve wrote:
I find int
I got zapped by this dk ahole on a manual I needed, and would have gladly
scanned and put in the bitsavers collection. If dk is on here and doing
that,
thank you, if not, shame on whoever it is if they don't
Please dont reignite the earlier thread on this bidder, there was one in the
recent past that can be refered to rather than rehashed.
Jim
10:19 a.m.
New subject: Big dollars paid for -> manuals going for a lot
>> Please dont reignite the earlier thread on
this bidder, there was one in
the recent past that can be refered to rather than
rehashed.
Agreed! But we might as well call him by his name, Dennis Komisky, and not
just DK.
Unless we're putting an "ic" in the middle. :)
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of jim stephens
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 1:12 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Big dollars paid for -> manuals going for a lot
steve wrote:
I find int
I got zapped by this dk ahole on a manual I needed, and would have gladly
scanned and put in the bitsavers collection. If dk is on here and doing
that, thank you, if not, shame on whoever it is if they don't
Please dont reignite the earlier thread on this bidder, there was one in the
recent past that can be refered to rather than rehashed.
Jim
11:30 a.m.
New subject: Big dollars paid for -> manuals going for a lot
'Computer Collector Newsletter' wrote:
Wouldn't that be a waste of an IC? 8-)
Peace... Sridhar
>>Please
dont reignite the earlier thread on this bidder, there was one in
the recent past that can be refered to rather than rehashed.
Agreed! But we might as well call him by his name, Dennis Komisky, and not
just DK.
Unless we're putting an "ic" in the middle. :) 
9:59 a.m.
A confession. I'm not a collector. I don't understand collectors,
particularly the exhaustive ones. You see this sort of thing a lot in
musical instruments. I know an attorney for Micron who has warehouse space
for his tuba collection (which numbers in the hundreds). He can't possibly
play them all.
But then, people collect Beanie Babies and I haven't the faintest idea of
what they're good for.
It's getting tempting to run my own 8800 up the eBay flagpole to see who
salutes. It's been sitting on a shelf in the garage since about 1978, when
I migrated to an Integrand Systems box. Still have both, mostly because
I've been too lazy to do anything about them.
Speaking of old stuff, when looking for something else, I ran across the
serial and RAM cards for the SWTP TV Typewriter--are they worth anything or
are they better used as landfill material?
Cheers,
Chuck
8:54 a.m.
At 09:59 AM 10/21/05 -0700, you wrote:
A confession. I'm not a collector. I don't
understand collectors,
particularly the exhaustive ones. You see this sort of thing a lot in
musical instruments. I know an attorney for Micron who has warehouse space
for his tuba collection (which numbers in the hundreds). He can't possibly
play them all.
But then, people collect Beanie Babies and I haven't the faintest idea of
what they're good for.
It's getting tempting to run my own 8800 up the eBay flagpole to see who
salutes. It's been sitting on a shelf in the garage since about 1978, when
I migrated to an Integrand Systems box. Still have both, mostly because
I've been too lazy to do anything about them.
Speaking of old stuff, when looking for something else, I ran across the
serial and RAM cards for the SWTP TV Typewriter--are they worth anything or
are they better used as landfill material?
Put them on E-bay and make up a good story to go with them and you'll
probably make 100s of dollars!
Joe
Cheers,
Chuck
11:29 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
A confession. I'm not a collector. I don't
understand collectors,
particularly the exhaustive ones. You see this sort of thing a lot in
musical instruments. I know an attorney for Micron who has warehouse space
for his tuba collection (which numbers in the hundreds). He can't possibly
play them all.
I'm a collector, but I use everything I collect. Sometimes it takes me
a long while to get around to getting something running.
But then, people collect Beanie Babies and I
haven't the faintest idea of
what they're good for.
For throwing at people, of course. 8;-)
Peace... Sridhar
11:42 a.m.
Chuck,
You wrote:
Speaking of old stuff, when looking for something
else, I ran across the
serial and RAM cards for the SWTP TV Typewriter--are they worth
anything or
are they better used as landfill material?
I'd be more than willing to give them a good home. I can use them as spares
for my TV Typewriter.
Regards,
Bill
http://www.swtpc.com
31 Oct
31 Oct
3:06 p.m.
SWTP being a Texas company they would go well in our museum. What are you
looking for?
Gil
...
Speaking of old stuff, when looking for something
else, I ran
across the serial and RAM cards for the SWTP TV
Typewriter--are they worth anything or are they better used
as landfill material?
Cheers,
Chuck
A. G. (Gil) Carrick, Director
The Museum at CSE
University of Texas at Arlington
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Box 19015, 471 S Cooper Street
Arlington, TX 76019
817-272-3620
http://www.cse.uta.edu/TheMuseum at CSE/
3:31 p.m.
On 10/31/2005 at 5:06 PM Gil Carrick wrote:
SWTP being a Texas company they would go well in our
museum. What are you
looking for?
Gil, I'm not a collector. Just finding someone with a SWTP TVT that
they're trying to get operational would be sufficient. I also have the
assembly instructions and schematics.
I've long since discarded the (very heavily modified) main board. One of
the first changes I recall doing was modifying it to display 16 lines of 64
characters and recognize a few more control characters. Interestingly,
that last was mostly done with diodes and pullups instead of TTL gates.
Shortly after that, I graduated to a Beehive Super Bee terminal.
The serial board has an NE555 installed on it with a small trimpot as a
baud rate generator. IIRC, 7497's were pretty hard to come by back then.
I think I've got a taker, for the cards, BTW. Just need to get them into a
small Priority Mail box and off to the PO.
Cheers,
Chuck
...
Speaking of old stuff, when looking for something
else, I ran
across the serial and RAM cards for the SWTP TV
Typewriter--are they worth anything or are they better used
as landfill material?
Cheers,
Chuck
A. G. (Gil) Carrick, Director
The Museum at CSE
University of Texas at Arlington
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Box 19015, 471 S Cooper Street
Arlington, TX 76019
817-272-3620
http://www.cse.uta.edu/TheMuseum at CSE/ 
26 Oct
26 Oct
9:51 a.m.
On Fri, 2005-10-21 at 06:51 -0600, Gary Fisher wrote:
Take a look at item #8707485844
It went for USD $7,877.11 for a supposedly serial number 3 unit
Heh, so now the
first three Altairs are accounted for, then? #1 lost in
the mail, #2 in the basement of Robert Cringely (sp?), and now #3 :)
-toresbe
12:47 p.m.
For the record I have Zenith Z100 #2 stored away. I know for a fact #1 was
scrapped for parts, and I waited several years before someone in the lab
fulfilled an old lunch room promise and saw to it that it found its way to me.
You can not believe the shock when one night someone showed up at my
cave and said they had a computer for my collection.
It was the first contribution to my collection that I or my father did not purchase
new for big bucks :)
The first time I saw #2 was when I tested a Corvis interface I had designed
and built as a contractor of a Zenith Distributor. I had to give it back when
testing was finished. I made the request at the time, that when they junked
that old motherboard, not to throw it away, I wanted it.
The Corvis project was big point in my life as it was the first PCB I ever
designed and eched. I made the bios mods to implement the Corvis
shared file system over the world worst interface.
The test system I was given to use, had been heavily modified over time.
It started it's life out as a test board, and has has a zillion wire mods on the
back and front of the first generation mother board.
In it's second life, I added a 5 1/4 hard disk and an 8087.
I mostly ran Autocad on it. It will most likely continue to rot in storage
until I run out of money and I am forced to ebay it , to pay my internet bill :)
I can only hope that by then Denise has had his fill of IBM stuff, and takes
a likings to the early days of micro development.
Are there any other Z-100 collectors out there ?
Bob Bradlee
On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 18:51:52 +0200, Tore S Bekkedal wrote:
On Fri, 2005-10-21 at 06:51 -0600, Gary Fisher wrote:
Take a look at item #8707485844
It went for USD $7,877.11 for a supposedly serial number 3 unit
Heh, so now the
first three Altairs are accounted for, then? #1 lost in
the mail, #2 in the basement of Robert Cringely (sp?), and now #3 :) -toresbe
6992
days inactive
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16 comments
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Bob＠BRADLEE.ORG -
cclist＠sydex.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
GFisher＠tristonecapital.com -
gilcarrick＠comcast.net -
gkicomputers＠yahoo.com -
Hans.Franke＠siemens.com -
jwstephens＠msm.umr.edu -
news＠computercollector.com -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
toresbe＠ifi.uio.no -
vcf＠siconic.com -
whdawson＠nidhog.net