On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
If someone on this list gets a rare machine, then (in
general), he knows
how to look after it. To back up the disks and (if possible) the EPROMS
and PALs. To check things over before powering up for the first time.
But a speculator could find a one-of-a-kind machine, not know what it
really is (other than an investment), and the machine could be lost to
bit-rot. And that bothers me.
I wouldn't worry about this being a problem. The speculators so far have
tended to stick with the popular names (IMSAI, Altair, PET, etc.) They
wouldn't know what to do with something called a PERQ, and probably
wouldn't want to touch a huge Philips P850, confusing it for an electrical
distribution panel or something. Small and liquid is their mainstay,
since that sells the easiest. Of course, some farmers in Montana recently
auctioned a complete dinosaur skeleton to the highest bidder, so its not
like it couldn't happen. But I would tend to think (and would hope) that
an IBM 1401 would be passed up in favor of an Apple Lisa 2 by the unsavvy
speculator should the two ever turn up next to each other at a flea market
or whatnot.
Before I was seriously into old computers, I used to
fiddle about with
valve radios. Most of the fun was getting an old set from a friend who
was clearing out the attic or buying one for a few pence and a jumble
sale, and then fiddling with it, repairing it, and getting it to work
again. I lost interested rather when the prices of these old sets went
through the roof. I still fiddle with them, and I still have my box of
valves and a valve tester, but...
Well, the same is happening with computers. But you can still find the
stuff out there, you just have to ask around and always be looking.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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