Post by thread:[TECH]:: Classic computing

THE most interesting and varied collection of "classic* computing equipment" I have encountered - especially in NZ. (* Almost not an oxymoron here). Even the uninitiated may almost marvel at this. Valves from Colossus ... . !!! (Related to 'Grass of Parnassus'?) Osborne One (just like mine but his still goes) http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=225886719 And MUCH more. Here http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=146982 Who is he? What's the book? Where can I SEE this stuff? MOTAT? (Museum of Transport & Technology) Message exchange below. And list of equipment that he is selling. ____________________________ *I SAID:* Alas only an interested onlooker - but impressed with the equipment you are selling. Is this a private museum collection or ??? Are you retaining more than what we see here (hopefully so :-) ). I have an Osborne 1 (dead but I'm sure it will live again), original IBM PC + printer, IBM laptop, ZX81 (+ZX80 too?), Core memory calculator, wire memory, various core memories, Hazeltine 1500, Rotary exchange bits (nothing complete), ... . But nothing to match your collection!!! *HE REPLIED * I actually acquired the collection to illustrate a book, and then it was a museum exhibition for a year, and the whole time I had been hoping to place the collection somewhere where it could be displayed ... but nothing emerged, it's eating it's value in storage costs, and I'm resigned to dispersing of it. I have more than one of most stuff, so the listings here don't really make much of a dent in the collection, but how many NeXT machines can I use? I have valves from Colossus, core memory etc DEC, NEXT, VAX, Atari, Lambda (?!), ... Sorted by name and then by start price. No "utter bargains". Some marvellous stuff for anyone who cared. "Osborne One" portable would be top for me, and I have one :-). $50 Acorn Electron $500 Apple G4 Cube Mint & Boxed $50 Atari 1040 ST $100 Commodore 64 $200 Compaq Portable I $200 Compaq Portable III $200 DEC MicroVax/200 Workstation $250 DEC PDP 11/04 $100 DEC Rainbow $100 IBM 5140 Convertible PC $100 IBM 5170 PC/AT $250 IBM PC Jr $200 IBM System/36 $75 Intel MCS85 Kit $50 Lambda $100 Motorola 6808 Development Kit $200 NEC 8001B $1,000 NeXT Cube $500 NeXT Slab $200 Osborne Portable $100 Radius VideoVision $50 Science Fair Project $200 Sun Sparc Classic collect the set! $250 SUN SparcServer 630MP $50 Acorn Electron $50 Atari 1040 ST $50 Lambda $50 Science Fair Project $75 Intel MCS85 Kit $100 Commodore 64 $100 DEC Rainbow $100 IBM 5140 Convertible PC $100 IBM 5170 PC/AT $100 Motorola 6808 Development Kit $100 Radius VideoVision $200 Compaq Portable I $200 Compaq Portable III $200 DEC MicroVax/200 Workstation $200 IBM System/36 $200 NEC 8001B $200 Osborne Portable $200 Sun Sparc Classic collect the set! $250 DEC PDP 11/04 $250 IBM PC Jr $250 SUN SparcServer 630MP $500 Apple G4 Cube Mint & Boxed $500 NeXT Slab $1,000 NeXT Cube

On Jun 26, 2009, at 3:46 PM, Russell McMahon wrote: > I actually acquired the collection to illustrate a book, and then it > was > a museum exhibition for a year, and the whole time I had been hoping > to > place the collection somewhere where it could be displayed ... but > nothing > emerged, it's eating it's value in storage costs, and I'm resigned to > dispersing of it. This sort of thing is awfully common, and is a major reason why I'm not inclined any more to donate "collectors items" to people looking to do a particular (probably one-time) show of old equipment. Rumor has it that a large portion of stuff collected for one "cisco history" display ended up being thrown away, and that a WORKING PDP6 mainframe donated to the Computer History Museum (in the heart of silicon valley, more or less) ended up being cut up into pieces of circuit board that were sold off in the gift shop. Sigh. On the flip side, it looks like I might be collecting some nice framed cisco history relevant to my own career as they clean it out of the warehouse ("Does anybody want this? Otherwise we're throwing it away!") BillW

Russell McMahon wrote: > THE most interesting and varied collection of "classic* computing equipment" > I have encountered - especially in NZ. Hmm, at least I can compete. :-) I have half of these in my office! In my AT&T Labs office: Rockwell AIM 65 Z80 Starter Kit Z80 Hardware emulator MC68000 STK <- Could use this for a MAC (it has 4K of RAM) MC6800 Dev kit MC6809 Dev kit HP41 A few boards I developed ZX81 an unopened/unassembled TS1000 and an un opened I just got the "Motorola 6808 Development Kit", it's a Heath Kit 6808 Dev kit -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry .....ncherryKILLspam@spam@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

> had the flexible membrane of its keyboard decompose to the point where it fell apart when flexed :-( Uh oh - Better dig mine out & see if its pau... Built a SWTP 6800 system in '76, got transferred to Hawaii; never saw it again. Best Back-In-The-Day memory though is going to work with my Dad late 50s-early 60s at the Bureau of Standards - They had a modular vacuum tube computer - One building was the power supply & HVAC, the other was the CPU & memory. Or so memory claims. They were building a solid-state replacement for it as well; One floor of one of the buildings, a triumph of miniaturization. Big Iron. Charles Babbage would've been stoked. Jack On 6/26/09, William "Chops" Westfield <westfwKILLspammac.com> wrote: {Quote hidden}> > On Jun 26, 2009, at 5:52 PM, Neil Cherry wrote: > >> ZX81 > > My ZX81 (actually, one I gave to my mother) had the flexible membrane > of its keyboard decompose to the point where it fell apart when > flexed :-( > > BillW > > -

It would be interesting (if not actually useful [tm] ) to make a list of all the old stuff like this that people on list had. To my prior list add 2? x Z88. And more yet to be recalled. Russell 2009/6/27 Chris Gavin-Egan <.....chrisKILLspam.....gavin-egan.com> > I have an Osborne like the one in the auction - i've had quite a few of > those machines and all of the sinclair stuff including, zx80, 81,spectrum, > QL, Z88 and a sinclair c5 (well 15 of those) oh and i still have 3 Z88's > which are still quite remarkable in many ways. > > But the Osborne stays in the loft but still boots up ok!!! > > Wish i had the money to bid on some of those bits and bobs >

Hey thats 5 z88's in about 2km ! LOL ----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell McMahon" <EraseMEapptechnzspam_OUTTakeThisOuTgmail.com> To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclistspam_OUTmit.edu> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 4:36 PM Subject: Re: [TECH]:: Classic computing {Quote hidden}> It would be interesting (if not actually useful [tm] ) to make a list of > all > the old stuff like this that people on list had. > > To my prior list add 2? x Z88. And more yet to be recalled. > > > Russell > > > > 2009/6/27 Chris Gavin-Egan <@spam@chrisKILLspamgavin-egan.com> > >> I have an Osborne like the one in the auction - i've had quite a few of >> those machines and all of the sinclair stuff including, zx80, >> 81,spectrum, >> QL, Z88 and a sinclair c5 (well 15 of those) oh and i still have 3 Z88's >> which are still quite remarkable in many ways. >> >> But the Osborne stays in the loft but still boots up ok!!! >> >> Wish i had the money to bid on some of those bits and bobs >> > --

I've got an original Jupiter ACE (FORTH), about four more built on PCBs that were sold off when Jupiter Cantab stopped trading, four or five Nascom 1s and a Nascom 2, a Nascom 1 copy built into a card frame in a case with a small green monitor, a Motorola MEK6800D2 development kit and an unbuilt Elektor SC/MP experimenter's board (LEDs/switches). Two or three Camputers Lynxes (96k and 128k) and three ZX81s. Never owned a ZX80 though. John --- On Sat, 27/6/09, Russell McMahon <KILLspamapptechnzKILLspamgmail.com> wrote: From: Russell McMahon <RemoveMEapptechnzTakeThisOuTgmail.com> Subject: Re: [TECH]:: Classic computing To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <spamBeGonepiclistspamBeGonemit.edu> Date: Saturday, 27 June, 2009, 5:36 AM It would be interesting (if not actually useful [tm] ) to make a list of all the old stuff like this that people on list had. To my prior list add 2? x Z88. And more yet to be recalled. Russell 2009/6/27 Chris Gavin-Egan <TakeThisOuTchrisEraseMEspam_OUTgavin-egan.com> > I have an Osborne like the one in the auction - i've had quite a few of > those machines and all of the sinclair stuff including, zx80, 81,spectrum, > QL, Z88 and a sinclair c5 (well 15 of those) oh and i still have 3 Z88's > which are still quite remarkable in many ways. > > But the Osborne stays in the loft but still boots up ok!!! > > Wish i had the money to bid on some of those bits and bobs >

The oldest gizmo I have now is a TI-59, new in '77. Works, last time I looked - A couple of shoeboxes of mag pgm cards, somewhere. Sinclair Z80, provenance unknown - Fished it out of a dumpster about ten years ago. Also works. Texas Instruments CC40, 1983. Several TI-74s (1986) - Used daily for general med logging & calculation. Have used them to control & log data from assorted machine platforms, notably a cam profiling machine (Mitutoyo SPC outputs, stepper control inputs). NEC 8201a (1985) - Kyocera clone. Still useful - Lots of ports, memory, good docs, an assembler in ROM - There's even a Small-C compiler for it. Other pre-'90 artifacts - My Dad's HP-15C, & a Datel 386, dual 150 Mb HDs with a beautiful IBM 12" color monitor, the sole surviving piece of a PS2... And their general predecessor - Versalog (1964). I've almost worn off the "POST" logo on the bottom of the cursor, I see. Other than that, looks & works like new. Good fun. Jack