Altair - A different perspective

From: James L. Rice <jrice_at_texoma.net>
Date: Sun Aug 16 21:17:34 1998

I just bought one for $100.00. Turbo color slab, 16mb, 400mb, abd
keyboard, 17" Trinitron, NeXt laser printer, adb sound box and all
cables. The mouse was missing, the root password was lost and the feed
roller ne3ed replacing on the printer. I got around the password,
replaces the mouse and feed roller and I have $150.00 in my NeXt. If i
could only find a NeXT dimension cube for the same price.

James

Dellett, Anthony wrote:
>
> If I remember right, NeXT computers are not that expensive. I think mine
> was $450 including computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and sound box
> (NeXT Station Color Turbo W/400MB hd and 8mb of RAM)
>
> Tony
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Adam Jenkins [mailto:adam_at_merlin.net.au]
> > Sent: Friday, August 14, 1998 2:31 PM
> > To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> > Subject: Re: Altair - A different perspective
> >
> >
> >
> > >Exactly, the Altair helped kick-off the hobbiest movement by
> > being cheap.
> > >The Mark-8 did this earlier, but it was so slow and buggy that it was
> > >pretty much a non-starter. The Altair was an improvement,
> > but it was also
> > >pretty much a non-starter that fizzled after about 10,000 units. The
> > >Altair was the grandfather of the S-100 bus and CP/M, both of which
> > >fizzled and left only a minor mark on MS-DOS, which didn't fizzle.
> >
> > I think that to say that the S-100 Bus and CP/M "fizzled" is
> > to seriously
> > understate the value of both. :) I'm sure you don't mean to
> > suggest that
> > they were without value, but keep in mind that 6 years of
> > dominance (which
> > is probably the minimum that one would give to CP/M and the
> > S100) is an
> > incredibly long time in the fledging personal computer
> > field. True, it
> > doesn't stand up that well to 15+ years of Microsoft, but it was the
> > dominate architecture on teh market.
> >
> > >Low prices, enabled by the microprocessor, is one of the
> > elements that got
> > >us to where we are today. A high-degree of interactivity is another.
> > >Computer graphics is another. The desktop form-factor is
> > also a strong
> > >survivor. So, if somebody were really looking at collecting
> > Altairs as the
> > >machine that "started it all", I think they have been misled
> > and would be
> > >better off collecting the IBM PC, early Apples, early HP
> > desktops, the
> > >PDP-8, and all of the PDP-1's they can find :-)
> >
> > I don't support these high prices, and I'm another of the
> > collectors who
> > wants to save and use, rather than simply buy and store their
> > systems. I
> > don't have, nor do I particularly desire, an Altair (but I do
> > really want a
> > NeXTCube), but the significance of the Altair and the
> > hobbiest movement
> > should not be measured in terms of computers sold. :) My view
> > is that the
> > Altair made it clear to hobiests that they could own a
> > computer, and so
> > even if they didn't buy one it started them dreaming about
> > one. (And yes,
> > I know it was not the first). This is much the same as with
> > the Lisa -
> > people didn't necessarily buy them, and indeed they ignored
> > them in great
> > numbers - but without the Lisa then I doubt the Macintosh
> > would have been
> > as successful. First you have the great implementation of a
> > grand concept
> > that you can never own, and then you follow it with an
> > affordable version.
> > Anyway, the point is that the Altair led to the hobbists, while the
> > hobbists pushed the tech both in hardware and software, creating the
> > potential for personal computers to move into new markets.
> > True, this was
> > a marketing dream of many of the computer companies before
> > the Altair, but
> > the Altair is definitly one of the most important systems. That's my
> > opinion, anyway.
> >
> > As to prices, well I come form a number of collecting backgrounds, and
> > prices are never increased so much by rarity or actual value, but by
> > perceived value. When people started thinking Teddy Bears were worth
> > money, the prices lept ahead - but only in the brands which
> > the collectors
> > recognised. The Altair is recognised as significant, is relativly
> > uncommon, and every article on computer history sings it's
> > praises. You
> > could almost guarentee that the prices would go up.
> >
> > If only Apple IIc's were worth a fortune - then I could
> > finally get my NeXT. :)
> >
> > Adam.
> >
> >
Received on Sun Aug 16 1998 - 21:17:34 BST

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