I rarely look at auctions.yahoo.com for vintage computers because the
selection is poor, the categories are filled with spam auctions, items are
poorly described and typically have no photo, and the asking price is
too high.
Well, on a whim, I checked it out recently, and there was an Exidy
Sorcerer for auction. The Sorcerer is near the top of my lust list.
So, I watched patiently for 8 days while the auction crept up the list.
On the final day, it went from its $50 asking price to $205. I won
the bid. It was, by far, the most expensive thing I've bought on auction
(my normal limit is $30).
Still, I was happy with the situation as very few show up on ebay.
The seller was about 90 minutes away, and I proposed that I pick up
the item and I could give him payment in person. He convinced me
that it really wasn't necessary, he'd pack it well, etc. Then he said,
"do you know much about this computer? it seems a little odd. I
don't see where the power goes. Maybe it is a prototype or something."
It sounded a little fishy to me, but the seller really didn't seem to know
much about computers. So I sent my $217 (bid plus shipping), and
about a week later, the box showed up.
I opened up the box, and there was the Sorcerer. Cosmetically it appeared
to be in good shape. It had nice heft. But the alarm bells started going
off. Not only was there no power, there were NO CONNECTORS of
any kind. All the holes were covered (from the inside) with black
cardboard. The case had some "bonus" venting holes with black screen
mesh, which didn't allow any airflow, and appeared to be there only
for effect.
With a sinking stomach, I unscrewed the case to find inside...
a sheet of 1/2" plywood screwed to the bottom, with no main board.
I'm guessing somebody "tricked out" the case and was using it
simply as a keyboard to some other project they had.
I emailed back to the seller, and his position was more or less that
he had told me about the lack of connectors (the power, at least).
So, in an attempt to make a bit of lemonade from my lemon, does
anybody have a Sorcerer with a broken keyboard that could use
a replacement?
Does anybody have a working Sorcerer that they'd be willing to trade
for a working Sol AND a working OSI C1P (w/docs)? or any of the
other machines located here:
http://www.thebattles.net/jimsmachines.html
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Jim Battle == frustum_at_pacbell.net
Received on Mon Aug 14 2000 - 23:51:44 BST