Promoting Classic Computers [was Re: Chip with holes in it]

From: Jim Kearney <jim_at_jkearney.com>
Date: Sat Nov 16 11:43:01 2002

>From: "Sellam Ismail" <foo_at_siconic.com>
> loose chips in a tin can. We're talking about pillaging working boards
> for chips. If you're going to respond to a thread, at least respond

Sellam, I don't really think this happens very frequently. I watch the chip
auctions on eBay closely because I sell some there occasionally (gasp!), and
the majority of ICs there are rescued from some drawer or old inventory.
The fact is that working equipment is usually more valuable than the chip
alone, except in rare cases like that C8080. And a lot of equipment that
contained these chips is either already broken up or of little historical
value. Personally, I've never sold a "pull" from a working (or interesting)
board. They've all been from trashed industrial controllers or the like.

What's more, a lot of dealers are essentially aggregating buys from the NOS
stock dealers, who basically hold old chips for ransom, so those chips are
then available for vintage hobbyist use. You probably didn't see it on
eBay, but I recently designed a new 8008-based SBC. I sold a bunch of kits
without the CPU, many to those same collectors you think aren't interested
in using their silicon.

I suppose that any chip being sold helps build a market, but that's not
going to go away because of disapproval here. Better to try and channel the
interest in the chips and their history past the "sitting in a box" stage, I
think, which was one of my motivations for the 8008 project.
Received on Sat Nov 16 2002 - 11:43:01 GMT