Ebay horror ...

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Wed Jun 13 14:21:28 2001

If you're suggesting that every board I acquire should be left intact, then
you're also saying that I should leave it at the junkyard, since most of them
are of no value to me if I don't own the system into which they might fit. I
frequently grab boards just because I know I'll eventually need a part "just
like that one" and that's why the board ends up in my possession instead of in
the shredder.

I don't buy stuff unless I see a use for it, and that's why I've left lots of
DEC, HP, SUN, and other boards and systems right where I found them. I've also
left boards from systems I reecognized, like Apple, and lots of PC/ISA boards.

I'd buy an Enigma for a few bucks, because I could get more for it, on eBay,
say, than it cost me, or, maybe, because the rotary switches might be of
interest at some later date. I don't use simple rotary switches much, though.
I've had four of them in my stock for over 25 years and have never once been
moved to use them, though I've used encoded thumbwheel switches quite
frequently.

My outlook is clearly different than Tony's, first of all since I really don't
enjoy fixing broken stuff, though I'd rather fix something I need that's broken
than buy a new one, so long as it doesn't cost more to fix it than to replace
it.

The more I have to fiddle with the old stuff to get it to work, the more likely
it is that it will be stripped of potentially useable parts and the remainder
discarded. I'm really tired of stuff breaking all the time. I still have my
very first PC, and it still works perfectly, AFAIK. I would that my more modern
computers were so trouble-free. A few days ago I tossed out all the old Pentium
motherboards that I had in a corner in the basement. The oldest of them was
from 1993 and, frankly, there were more of them than all the other, '386 and
earlier, PC mothers that I've had. I took half a dozen socketed GAL's off them,
desoldered the easily accessible crystals and other potentially reusable
components, and chucked 'em in the trash. At least the older boards have
sockets and stuff you can reuse.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: Ebay horror ...


> > You're right of course, about the PCB's that are of interest to you, but
what
> > about the ones that aren't? I've often snagged boards, not because I knew
and
> > wanted what they do, but because I knew and wanted what the IC's on the
board
> > could do and I wanted that in my inventory. I once built up a
very-wide-word
>
> 'ya mean like those really neat rotary switches that we got by scrapping
> that German machine - think it was called something like "enigma" ...
>
>
Received on Wed Jun 13 2001 - 14:21:28 BST