On Sunday 18 April 2004 20:12, R. D. Davis wrote:
> Quothe Patrick Finnegan, from writings of Sun, Apr 18, 2004 at
>
> 07:37:02PM -0500:
> > Has anyone worked on, or thought about working on, a "price guide"
> > specifically for PDP-11 (or PDP-8, or VAX) hardware? I know of
> > Michael
>
> What for? As we all know, they're typically worth the price of what
> it costs to get to them, transport them home and repair them, unless
> one gets suckered into paying a higher price. The last thing that we
> need is a document supporting the grossly inflated prices that some
> people are willing to pay for such systems.
Because there are some people willing to pay money for machines. Nearly
every machine I'd stick the "really cool" label on, I paid for. Some
things are hard to find, and even harder to get anyone to give up.
UNIBUS '11s are a good example.
And, I'd disagree that these things don't have any value. The have
value, if not for any better reason than for insurance purposes. Also,
saying they aren't worth any more than it costs to transport them hurts
in the long run. There's people that send this stuff to scrappers
because they think it's worthless. If I can keep one more functional
machine out of the hands of a scrapper, it's a worthwile thing I've
done. As well, in the long run, if more machines are kept in
circulation, they'll end up being "worth less" (not worthless), and
it'll be easier for people that have some interest to acquire one to
play around with.
I still haven't ever seen an 11/70 in the flesh and blood. I never saw
an 11/780 until my freshman year here when Purdue was trashing one. If
I'd have known then what I know now about where things go, I'd have
saved that one. I don't care that I don't have it as much as *no one*
has it. I'd rather see this stuff get preserved than get far enough
down the train to end up in a dumpster or in a scrap yard. Sure, it
might be a little more expensive, but it seems worth it to me.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCS --- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
Received on Sun Apr 18 2004 - 20:27:35 BST