GPIB cables (was Re: Screwed Again! Property dispo stuff...)

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri Feb 1 09:58:52 2002

--- Netdiablo <root_at_diablonet.net> wrote:
> > * I also picked up an HP-IB looking cable with a Commodore
> > logo on it. If I remember correctly, these were used to connect
> > peripherals to some old Commodore systems

It _is_ an HP-IB cable. The "some old Commodore systems" were called
PETs. The printers and disks, etc., were GPIB devices (General Purpose
Interface Bus - the non-HP name for IEEE-488). I even have an external
serial port from a third-party - there's a UART and some logic inside
to convert back and forth. To me, at least, slowness aside, it's one
of the coolest features of the PET - you can hook up HP plotters
and laboratory equipment, etc. The only problem was back in the day
when PETs roamed the earth, the instruments that also had HP-IB interfaces
cost as much as the PET itself. It was fun to play with the expensive
toys in Physics Lab, though.

> Well, a very kind soul has informed me that this cable is a quasi
> rare item used to connect peripherals to Commodore PET systems, and
> apparently that they are worth a bit of money ($50-80).

I would dispute the quasi-rare label. You can still buy as many as
you want, not from Commodore, but recently manufactured, for, as you
say, the $50 range from catalogs, or, as I do, at hamfests, etc.

> if anyone wants to cover my costs on the cable (I paid $5), that
> would be cool, if not, and you're the only person interested,
> well, I still wouldn't be adverse to just handing the thing
> out.

I'll say this... you did not overpay for it. Personally, my limit
at hamfests is about $15. If I see a $10 cable, I might buy it. If
it's $20, it sits where I found it.

-ethan



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Received on Fri Feb 01 2002 - 09:58:52 GMT

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