Rumor has it that Thomas Dzubin may have mentioned these words: Guilty. Been there, done that, still got the scars. I'm taking a hard look at what I'll actually have time to tinker with within the next 15 years, and if it's something I don't think I'll have time for (and common as dirt), I'm getting rid of it. Only you can answer that for yourself. ;-) I would doubt that, they're so common that I doubt they'll be "rare" anytime soon... Nope - there are NTSC -> VGA upconverters you can get for under $80USD. I'm looking to get one so I can turn my 17" LCD into a NTSC monitor for my computers & S-Video display for satellite/DVD player. It's tough to totally get rid of a standard that's been around since the TV industry was in it's infancy... Heck, I can still hook a 360K floppy drive to my Dual Athlon 2600+ mongobox, and read floppies... Laterz, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger | A new truth in advertising slogan sysadmin, Iceberg Computers | for MicroSoft: "We're not the oxy... zmerch(a)30below.com | ...in oxymoron!"

o Might as well pick what you know. Pick things you've been familliar with. o Why have five of something? A quantity of a thing past three seems excessive: One to use, one for spare, so the third one is the only excess I try to allow. No huge quantities of any one thing, except the very small. When I saw a neat deal on something I had the magic three of already it was praised and left on the table. o Specialize? Yes. I seemed to start specializing early on when things started to get easier to find. Only regret: the $200 flea-market IBM 5100's in the early 80's. Not much of a regret BTW. o Share. If your conscience gets in the way of a throw, go here (classiccmp). If classiccmp rejects it maybe you should throw. o Empty space can be as valuable as filled space. (For those times when you look at a room-full and seem to only just add up the value of the systems in it). About the analog TV... There should be adaptors around for people with Camcorders, at least, for years. Huge market, probably alot like LP record players are today, 23 years after the birth of the CD, you can still buy them new. John A.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Dzubin" <dzubint(a)vcn.bc.ca> To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2004 8:39 AM Subject: Making the decision to specialize on a particular classic comp. arch? Well, they aren't rare now but if everyone throws them out or sells them on Ebay, there won't be all that many in circulation. None of these things may be worth anything now but I'm keeping mine anyway. At some point, maybe when my kids are my age, they will be worth something more. Antique stores are full of stuff that no one else kept and that everyone wants now. I don't collect the big stuff, thank goodness everyone else seems to, so storage is just a pain in the butt ... not an extreme problem. I've considered paying for a storage bin but that would only give me an excuse to collect more. Right now I am being selective about what I get and I'm finding Macs quite interesting and a whole lot easier to store. I can't imagine what you guys who collect the heavy stuff have to go through in terms of storage. But the big pieces also beg the question : In terms of 'value' will they be as attractive as the Commodores since they cost so much to maintain, store and ship. Certainly true collectors will usually want the large ones but weekend collectors will probably want a Commodore or Apple II. There are lots of points about preservation to be made for the large, heavy computers but that's for the people who have them to sort out. Hell, I can't imagine rewiring my basement to get a 220 outlet or two (Canada here) for a collection of large pieces. I've got a dozen or so Commodore 1701 and 1802 monitors, thank goodness. The hard ones are the older Tandy models which only had a 300 ohm out and required a balun or something similar to connect to a TV. That's my few cents worth. My last point, I knew a collector once who kept all of his computers stored beside his bed, stacked to the ceiling in a bachelor flat. Often wondered what effect an earthquake would have on is longevity. Now that's a storage problem. bm __________________ Is your name on this list? It should be. http://www.geocities.com/computercollectors/index.htm