Doug Yowza wrote: Tahnks for open posting this Doug, there's info on my 1750 and 1755 that I needed there that the others didn't have. Appreciate it.

On 8 Nov 1998, Eric Smith wrote: I don't think so. I think I know exactly where mine is, plus the docs, so I can go check for sure. I've got plenty, and always pick up whatever ones I find. In fact I just picked another one up a couple weekends ago. Woah, really? Those were the days. I remember walking into WS in around 1993 and asking if they had any Lisas. The guy said they had three and would sell the good ones at $50 each. I wasn't interested as I was only looking for a drive for mine at the time. Those were the days! Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 11/02/98]

On 8 Nov 1998, Eric Smith wrote: Manufactured now? It's not like each year produces collectibles, but here are some current and recent collectibles that you'll wish you had bought: 1) iMac 2) eMate 3) clear newton 4) clear pilot 5) Timex Data-Link watch 6) MindStorm robot kit 7) NeXT cube When desktops disappear, and only notebooks survive, then the first laptops will be very collectible. If pen-based computing continues to gain ground, then the first pen-based machines will be nice to have. If wireless communications becomes commonplace.... If voice recognition replaces the keyboard.... There are lots of future collectibles out there. -- Doug

Eric Smith wrote: That is a great question for all of us to keep in mind! Probably anything manufactured by HP will be collectable, as will be the first of almost all the widely used peripherals; CD-R, voice recognition peripherals, devices as they develop to help blind and other handicapped people. Something else would be manufacturers advertising materials. I don't have a good feel for software, but perhaps the first software distributed on a new media. For example, early CD-ROMs might be collectable at some point.

It looks like a bunch of Altairs are coming on the market to feed the recent speculator frenzy. A couple of New Mexicans are dumping their Altairs. It looks like one was a Pertec employee, and the other is a surplus dealer who bought out a bunch of Altair stuff in 1984. The latest victim paid $4060 for a mere "turnkey" (no blinkenlights): http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=39333791 -- Doug

Doug Yowza wrote: If you take a look at the bidding, you will see only four people bid on it, with two of them having zero feedback ratings. Sounds like the best advertising strategy for ebay is to simply say something is *very* rare.

Oh my. This is the best marketing job I've seen yet. Somebody (a Microsoft employee, thank dog) paid $541 for a few Popular Electronics magazines, and they didn't even get *the* Altair issue! http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=39459401 There ought to be a law (or at least a good book). -- Doug

Doug Yowza wrote: We are not talking about our particular biases right now, but rather how things will be perceived in the future. I don't recall anyone thinking that the IBM stuff would be collectable in the early 80's either. Perceptions change :).

On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Tony Duell wrote: That's not true! Well, at least its not true with the guys over here that descended on an ex-Xerox employee's house a couple weeks ago to take the two 8010's and eight 6085's (in various states from complete to shell) off his hands. The 5 or so people who showed up definitely consider the Stars highly collectable. I think we have a better appreciation for them after having seen a demo that some of the members of the Star team did at Xerox PARC earlier this year. Last year I'd passed up a 6085 at a local ham fest because I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. After seeing the demo, and how amazing the Star was, I was kicking myself for not getting it. Now I have several. Grab the D-machine, its much more interesting anyway. Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always being hassled by the man. Coming in 1999: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0 See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 11/02/98]