13 Apr
2005
13 Apr
'05
4:45 p.m.
Vince wrote:
I think it's like confusing Silicon Valley (or
Portland, Oregon) with the
world :-). Maybe if I lived and worked where you do, I would see hundreds
of different venues doing a brisk business in this stuff.
If only!!!
In my experience it's easier to find interesting old stuff just about
anywhere *other* than in Silicon Valley. I find more in Colorado, which
I visit a few times a year, than I do in SV.
But don't everybody rush to Colorado to grab all the good stuff before I
get there!
Eric
15 Apr
15 Apr
1:04 a.m.
On Wed, 13 Apr 2005, Eric Smith wrote:
Vince wrote:
Just to prove my point that you can find anything anywhere, I ducked into
a used book store in Key West, Florida, when I was there the week before
last and found some great old computer books, including Volumes 2 and 3 of
The Handbook on Artificial Intelligence by Ed Feigenbaum (Volume 1 seems
to be particualr scarce since I always seem to find copies of 2&3 together
but hardly ever 1) and A History of Engineering & Science in the
Bell System: Transmission Technology (1925-1975). Good stuff.
I didn't find any old computers in the only Salvation Army there, but then
I didn't really have time to check out the half dozen or so pawn shops
that seem to litter that little island. I'm sure there was at least a
Commodore 64 somewhere ;)
On my last night in Florida in Miami Beach, I walked into a used bookstore
around the corner from my hotel and found _Xanadu: The Computerized Home
of Tomorrow and How It Can Be Yours Today_ by Roy Mason (a limited number
of copies available online). A very cool book from the early 1980s that
attempts to describe the home of the future (and gets it mainly wrong, but
the pictures are cool).
The thing is you can find anything anywhere if you just put the time and
effort into looking. And I don't mean just once. The 4th dimension
(time) comes into play as well. If you make the rounds enough times,
something very cool will eventually show up. You also have to do
intelligent research, for instance, hunting down all the old hams in your
area as at least one of them is bound to have an Altair or some other
seminal S-100 computer.
People with visions of moving to the Silicon Valley and harvesting a
bounty of vintage computers will be sorely disappointed if they ever get
to act out this fantasy. This is one of the most picked over places in
the world as we have a lot of collectors here. You can still find plenty
of gems, but you just have to work harder at it, and you have to be doing
it constantly. I've long since cut way back on my collecting simply
because I just don't have the time I used to and I am always running out
of space anyway. I'm much more interested in focusing on what I already
have. So there's an opening for the newbies ;)
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
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I think it's like confusing Silicon Valley
(or Portland, Oregon) with the
world :-). Maybe if I lived and worked where you do, I would see hundreds
of different venues doing a brisk business in this stuff.
If only!!!
In my experience it's easier to find interesting old stuff just about
anywhere *other* than in Silicon Valley. I find more in Colorado, which
I visit a few times a year, than I do in SV.
But don't everybody rush to Colorado to grab all the good stuff before I
get there! 
10:01 a.m.
From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf at siconic.com>
Just to prove my point that you can find anything
anywhere, I ducked into
a used book store in Key West, Florida, when I was there the week before
last and found some great old computer books, including Volumes 2 and 3 of
The Handbook on Artificial Intelligence by Ed Feigenbaum (Volume 1 seems
to be particualr scarce since I always seem to find copies of 2&3 together
but hardly ever 1) and A History of Engineering & Science in the
Bell System: Transmission Technology (1925-1975). Good stuff.
[ more examples]
The thing is you can find anything anywhere if you
just put the time and
effort into looking. And I don't mean just once. The 4th dimension
(time) comes into play as well. If you make the rounds enough times,
something very cool will eventually show up. You also have to do
intelligent research, for instance, hunting down all the old hams in your
area as at least one of them is bound to have an Altair or some other
seminal S-100 computer.
Technically, you have shown evidence you can find *something* anywhere. And
I believe that. However, I'm not convinced you can find *anything*
anywhere, except in the "anything's possible" sense.
Finding (for example) a Posibus peripheral backplane, in any of those venues
seems improbable, to the point that I wouldn't even try. (Omnibus stuff is
easier to find, but I think it would still be a waste of time.)
Which is related to my point about different venues and different prices.
There are places you can buy Posibus peripherals and parts. But they aren't
cheap, and there aren't many). There are places like eBay where you have a
fair chance to find them, they are cheaper, and places where your chances to
find them are slimmer, and the prices are cheaper yet.
Which makes economic sense to me. I can spend my time and money searching,
or spend it at the higher priced venue. I was, in part, arguing that the
premium for having it "already found" should be part of our view of
"market
price". (Same as we do for "already working".)
Vince
11:20 a.m.
On Fri, 15 Apr 2005, vrs wrote:
Technically, you have shown evidence you can find
*something* anywhere.
And I believe that. However, I'm not convinced you can find *anything*
anywhere, except in the "anything's possible" sense.
That might be a more accurate way of describing it, sure. But I've seen
some pretty amazing things come out of the most unexpected places.
Which is related to my point about different venues
and different prices.
There are places you can buy Posibus peripherals and parts. But they aren't
cheap, and there aren't many). There are places like eBay where you have a
fair chance to find them, they are cheaper, and places where your chances to
find them are slimmer, and the prices are cheaper yet.
Which makes economic sense to me. I can spend my time and money searching,
or spend it at the higher priced venue. I was, in part, arguing that the
premium for having it "already found" should be part of our view of
"market
price". (Same as we do for "already working".)
Sure, and you can add the cost of shipping to the purchase price to come
up with the total cost since the shipping price is the trade-off for the
searching. Depending on how you value your time, the shipping costs will
usually be cheaper, but as I've always said, the journey is the reward.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
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