No one likes Otronas?

From: Feldman, Robert <Robert_Feldman_at_jdedwards.com>
Date: Mon Feb 11 09:23:29 2002

Now Richard, my experience with Otronas is quite different from yours (or,
more likely, what you heard). I used mine (an 8:16, which I still have) for
5 years in Peru on archaeological projects, without any problems. Other
archaeologists I know at the Oriental Institute here in Chicago used them
for a number of years in fieldwork in the Middle East. They even got John
Walker (of AutoDesk, not of the Taliband) to write an Otrona version of
AutoCAD (Version 1.4, which I also have) for them, which they used quite
successfully for mapping their sites.

In addition to "IRS types," a number of Otronas were used at the Jet
Propulsion Lab, and (at least) one was used in space in Skylab. At the time
Otrona went under, they were starting to produce a Tempest-certified
version.

I will have to admit that the 8:16 was expensive and only partially
IBM-compatable, and the graphics emulation could could be terribly slow. But
all-in-all, I was quite satisfied with my Otrona.

Bob Feldman

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick_at_idcomm.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 2:32 AM
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: No one likes Otronas?


I personally have never seen an item with a reserve that I felt was within
range of what I'd pay.

As for the Otrona ... which is a local product, having been made in Boulder
... these things were trouble from the "git-go" in that several things were
known sources of trouble, including but not limited to the FDC. The only
ones
(in terms of organization users) I've ever seen with Otrona machines have
been
IRS types.

I wouldn't want one, even as a gift. Now, I'm not a collector, i.e. I
wouldn't want a non-functional i8080 chip either, no matter what the color.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne M. Smith" <wmsmith_at_earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2002 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: No one likes Otronas?


> > Just curious if anyone has an opinion on why this didn't move.
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2001112267 While
I
> > don't know what his minimum is, seems like anything in this family
should
be
> > worth about $100 or so, based on what Kaypros and a few others go for.
He
> > had it up once before, and it didn't sell.
> >
> > And I'm not interested in the merits or demerits of eBay, reputations,
yada
> > yada yada. I just want to know what someone thinks why a classic like
this
> > didn't even get bid on, except by one guy (me).
> >
> > --John
> >
> >
>
> I don't normally bid on items with reserves, and I think many others
operate
the same way. People use reserves because they think
> that starting low may generate a bidding frenzy that will drive the price
up. It probably has the opposite effect by attracting
> bottom feeders that will never bid high, and turning off some people who
might actually be interested but don't want the additional
> hassle of having to bid against the seller's reserve.
>
> -W
>
>
Received on Mon Feb 11 2002 - 09:23:29 GMT

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