Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Collecting Classic Computers

Posted by timothy on from the don't-do-it-for-the-babes dept.

chriton writes "There's an interesting article at Reuters about collecting classic computers. There's mention in the story of an even more interesting website www.classiccmp.org Unfortunately, most of the website is still under construction. The mailing list has been around since Jan 1997, and they clearly have plans for more accessible resources, but that just hasn't happened yet. If you are like me and have a an old Osbourne 1 in the closet and Commodore 128D stored at your mother's house she's telling you to take home lest she chuck it, you might find the list archives none the less."

22 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Not what was intended by DasBub · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess my bedroom full of 486 cases and broken monitors isn't what they had in mind...

    1. Re:Not what was intended by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess that my old Pong and Atari 2600 consoles don't count either eh?

      I just threw away my 486 about 2 months ago... I guess that wouldn't have counted either.

      Oh well.

      Hey, is anyone selling an old IBM 370? My wife would love that in the basement. "But honey, it's a collectors item. Really."

      --
      Huh?
  2. Extremely classic computers by handy_vandal · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like to collect Stonehenge, but where would I keep it?

    --
    -kgj
  3. Uhm by Tuffnut · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's mention in the story of an even more interesting website www.classiccmp.org Unfortunately, most of the website is still under construction.

    So...tell me again...why is this site even more interesting?

    1. Re:Uhm by GreenHell · · Score: 2, Funny

      So...tell me again...why is this site even more interesting?

      Because it's still up roughly 10 mintues after a link to it on Slashdot?

      --
      "I won't mod you down - I feel the need to call you a twit explicitly, rather than by implication."
  4. Scrap heap somewhere by moankey · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a original IBM XT, Commodore 64, Mac Plus, and other peripherals that went with those machines, keyboards, mice, joysticks, modems, etc...
    Figured one day I was going to make a lobby museum or something in my office building while on my road to global domination.

    But sadly last month I found out my mom said that it had been sitting in her garage for the last 10 years so she figured it was safe to toss and she did so to make room for her Xmas decoration boxes which consist of Jingle Bell Rock dancing Santa, Fish on the wall with SAnta hat, X-Mas decorations, outside lights, and other festive crap...

  5. More useful things to do than collecting by sys$manager · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps you could use those old computers for something more useful than just collecting them.

  6. Some I wish I kept by TheRealFixer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sold my Amiga 500 with monitor for a song a few years back. It was fun to play around with, kind of wish I still had it.

    Also used to have a Commodore PET with a CBM 4040 years ago. But I got it from someone who stored it in a basement, and it smelled like mouse poop, which my family didn't appreciate.

    On a side note, found this gem when searching eBay for "Amiga 500":

    Commodore AMIGA 500 computer system in original box with Keyboard, Power Adapter, Video Cable, and Mouse. Very clean and box in great shape with some wear but has all inserts and packing material. Untested due to unfamiliarity, could not find ON button.

  7. Don't waste your money by X-BOX+LIVE+DEV+TEAM · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would rather invest in actual investments if I plan on collecting and making money off of intelligent purchases!

    The value of something is only related to supply and demand. More supply causes less demand often times since the item is easier to get. More demand means less supply and in turn yields a higher price per item.

    So, try collecting classic automobiles, baseball cards, or even Garbage Pail cards, but don't waste your time and energy on stockpiles of old Commodore 64s.

  8. Re:Hmm... by spacefrog · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've got a nicely decked out A3000 system... Four gig baracuda, 24mb ram, 040, picasso video card...

    Although I would need something more valuable than your mother for it. Do you have any sisters?

  9. My 23 year old Atari, still going strong! by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok, so it's not that flexible, and the non-volatile storage can only manage to keep 3 high-scores, but my Centipede arcade machine is still working with the original boards and monitor! Well, I have recapped it and replaced some of the 2116 4bit RAM, but still - not bad for a machine that was running over 12 hours a day for 13 years without a crash, before I bought it...

    --
    Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
  10. BeBox by Adnans · · Score: 4, Funny

    I decided to mothball my BeBox until it's worth at least as much as what I paid for it originally, taking into account inflation, etc.. :)

    -adnans

    --
    "In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
  11. Re:Hmm... by bsharitt · · Score: 3, Funny

    Although I would need something more valuable than your mother for it. Do you have any sisters?

    Yes, but you'll have to pay the shipping, and I cover shiping for the A3000.

  12. In the old days by Teckla · · Score: 2, Funny



    In the old days, we had three 8 bit registers, and we felt lucky to have them!

    -Teckla

  13. Classic computer? by Anand_S · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was going to throw out my old microwave oven, but after reading this, I think I'll keep it. It has an Intel 80186 controller. Maybe when the X-Box guys are done, they could put Linux on my microwave?

  14. Re:Use an Emulator Instead by nutznboltz · · Score: 3, Funny
    Plus:
    • You can run computers that were far to large for one person to own or that require vast amounts of 3-phase electricity. California makes it hard to operate a DEC PDP-10 KL10 DECsystem 1090 due to the price of electricity.
    • You can stick an emulator in a funny or surprizing location and wait for someone to run across it. (Why is this system running VMS???)
    • You can repopulate the inside of an old case (lets say that you got an old case with no computer in it from some salvage shop) with a Pee Cee mobo and then run an emulator on it to pretend it's the real deal.
    • The "box-inside-a-box" aspect itself is facinating. Seeing an OS boot on something that is just software too makes you wonder about the nature of reality.
  15. Commodore PET 8096 For Sale by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey, anyone want a Commodore PET 8096?

    The cabinet is in excellent condition, even the PET label just under the monitor. Haven't fired it up to see if it works, but there's an aftermarket accelerator/RAM expansion board resting on top of the motherboard right now - it looks complete but the expansion board is just *resting* on the motherboard, like someone tried to fix or upgrade it once. I have a suspicion that the machine is fine but the attempt was along the lines of "what do you mean I can't put a PCI video card into that?". FOB Ottawa, Canada.

    Schematics would be cool so that I can sell it (or give it away if there are no good offers) as a working unit.

    My own collection of old TI-99/4A, Amiga 1000, Vectrex and Coleco Telstar Alpha machines already occupies quite enough room, thank you very much. And I must confess that I haven't fired up even one of my prized TI-99/4A machines in over a decade.

    --
    Fire and Meat. Yummy.
  16. I just threw away my first computer... by trentfoley · · Score: 4, Funny
    Last month I finally pitched my HP86A computer with green-screen and all. It got me through high school and college. It was my first CP/M machine. It was my first computer with UPPER and lower case. It was my first computer with graphics. It was my first computer! And, it had a floppy instead of cassettte. It was even my first cool hack, defeating the two character passwords on the file system.

    As a bachelor, I kept it as it served as a really cool analog display alarm-clock. I had the voice synth module and programmed it to say "You should wake up now, Trent" for the first alarm, and then for each time I hit snooze (anykey) it would say ruder things. It also served as a dart score keeping gadget.

    But alas, after 11 years of marriage, my wife got fed up and asked me to clear out its space so she coule use it for her computer. So I set about saying goodbye. I got really high first so that when my wife asked if I was crying, I could say, "Don't be silly -- I'm just really high". It was a sad moment. I will miss the green glow and the absolute silence of my old HP86A.

  17. Re:Why is old hardware a mans thing? by silne · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have no problem with old computer stuff. I guess my fiance is a lucky guy ;-) In fact, he keeps trying to stop ME from collecting old stuff, but then spends all his spare time playing with it. Go figure.

  18. Re:Hmm... by yomegaman · · Score: 2, Funny

    So that's what happened to it! Man, you set something down for a second to go back into the house for your sunglasses and look what happens...

    --
    ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
  19. under construction by goonies · · Score: 2, Funny

    I really wanted to tell you about my ol' amigas and that laser2000 i still have in my closet, but this post is still under construction

    --
    .sigh
  20. Funk music by yerricde · · Score: 2, Funny

    So what's Commodore, anyway? What do they make?

    The Commodores were a funk band.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?