Quothe Ben Franchuk, from writings of Mon, May 20, 2002 at 02:44:45PM -0600:
> Is the classic computer sources finally drying up to become E-bay
> collector items only so most people can't see a real machine anymore?
It seems that way. I remember a time when one could find a wide
variety of classic computers advertised on Usenet newsgroups, for sale
to the first person to make a reasonable, or not so reasonable, offer
or pay the advertised price. Some of it was free plus shipping. I've
bought much equipment that way, with very few problems. Alas those
days appear to be over, and, now, it appears that many people would
rather try to conduct their own private auctions or else they post ads
mentioning that they're selling the equipment on e-bay; we see this
happening on classiccmp as well.
One would think that, like the PDP-11s etc. were several years ago,
the AS/400, Aviion, VAX 4000 and Alpha systems, etc. would now be
available as surplus from businesses and universities, as in "It's
free (or some very low price) if you'll take it away for us!," or "You
actually want that? Sure, take it away. Thanks for taking it off our
hands!" Something has definitely gone wrong, as this isn't the case.
Perhaps a number of things: the emphasis on recycling, too many
collectors seeking collectors' items as opposed to hackish toys, sales
of scrap to china, etc.
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd_at_rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
Received on Mon May 20 2002 - 20:06:18 BST