-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, August 19, 1999 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: imsal 2
<snip>
>> to claim you have an ALTAIR computer running in your basement then what's
>> down there had best be ALTAIR stuff, not just an ALTAIR CPU in a Morrow
box
>> with a CCS FDC and a COMPUPRO serial board.
>
>Of course in the 'real world' it was very common to find a mix of boards
>in a particular box.
>
>>
>> If you have an Integrand box, I guess you can call your computer an
>> Integrand no matter what's in it, since they only made the boxes, right?
>>
>> I think that's the mentality that drives the eBay prices up. If you have
a
>> VERY pretty Daimler Benz hood ornament, with Chevrolet wheels, a Ford
>> engine, a BMW emblem on the rear bonnet of a Corvair, with a Corvette
>> steering wheel, what do you call your car (not that those parts would
play
>> together) ? For the collector, it's VERY important that all the parts
fit,
>> not just essentially, but exactly. That means that if IMSAI made one
>> (whatever that might be), your system isn't complete without it.
>
>But most collectors only seem to care about the name on the front...
>
>Suppose you had an Altair with Altair CPU, RAM, PROM, serial I/O, disks,
>etc. And a no-name S100 box with Compupro CPU, Vector Graphic memory,
>Micromation disk, Tarbell tape, CASU serial, etc.
>
>Now put all the Altair cards into the no-name box. And the other cards in
>the Altair box.
>
>Which do you think would fetch the higher price on E-bay?
>
I would be surprised if the higher bid didn't go for the Imsai box, rather
than the original card set, but, if your card set happened to be spotted by
a "collector" he'd undoubtedly bid however much it took to get the boards he
was lacking, even if he had to buy your whole set. If that was $10k more
than the box, well, it depends on things other than your preference and
mine.
>
>> If you restore your '57 Chevy with parts carefully sought out at the
>> junkyards within a 1000 mile radius of your home, and with "real" parts
and
>> real lead in the body work, and original upholstery, etc, it's not the
same
>> as the one built from whatever after-market parts you could find. It may
>> look good, but it isn't "real" is it?
>
>One point here, though, is that users (who were most often hackers at
>that time) did use other cards when the machine was 'new'. It's not like
>taking said car and putting (somehow) a modern Ford engine in it. It's like
>taking the car and fitting a standard (for the time) tune-up kit -
>something that plenty of owners (presumably) did.
>
>I feel there is a place in a collection for both 'as the manufacturer
>intended' and 'as the users generally used' machines. A lot of museums
>ignore the latter category, though, which could lead to a mistaken
>impression as to what really went on.
>
You're right about that, Tony, but it's a good idea to keep in mind, at
least when dealing with Altair and IMSAI, that the Altair stuff is, for the
most part, the worst kind of junk, always was and always will be, yet it was
good enough to function, sorta, and only after you fixed it, and, being
first to do that, it is the "original" while IMSAI stuff which was, from
what I've seen, about as good as any you could get, though the style was
definitely "early TTL" style, with one-shots, and enough rough edges,
design-wise, to raise your eyebrows from time to time. The difference is
easily summed up in that the IMSAI was designed by someone who know how to
make a circuit that worked while the guys who designed the MITS stuff only
knew how to make a circuit.
>
Dick
>
Received on Thu Aug 19 1999 - 21:39:00 BST