Well ... some things really are not more expensive... the money is just worth less back when I used to buy pdp-8 computers for 100-200 dollars ... like 24+ years ago cars were a bunch cheaper too by far.... There are some things that went crazy like the Apple I but there is still a lot of interesting things around especially if you are willing to go out to sales and scrap yards etc. Then remember there is the 'art' of anticipating what will be considered a classic or totally cool and grab some on the time line point of near obsolescence and when others finally figure out it is cool... Two computers come to mind on that for us was Cobalt cube ( got a cobalt rack unit to keep it company too) and a Next cube system Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org) In a message dated 6/13/2015 12:24:00 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, sca...@umich.edu writes:
It's too bad that I catch myself thinking this so frequently these days, but "thank goodness I got mine" ... before the scene blew up... I guess the good times of just pulling carloads of cool stuff out of the dumpster for nothing couldn't go on forever... I do tend to agree; at least it's getting preserved; but it's a shame if the financial barrier to entry to the hobby is keeping potentially interested & enthusiastic people away... Like you, I'd rather see someone playing with the machine; taking it apart; fooling around; not having it just sit there in a glass case or being just another addition to some guy's hoard who just has to have it all... Best, Sean On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 2:48 AM, Ian S. King <isk...@uw.edu> wrote: > The down side is that some historically significant artifacts will be > purchased by rich twits who will stick them in a closet or a display case. > The up side is that those same artifacts didn't go to the skip, as they did > all too often, all too recently. And history demonstrates that they will > come back out of those closets (or garages, in the case of vintage > automobiles and motorcycles) and end up in the hands of preservationists. > > We're seeing a tipping point where at least some people are beginning to > see the urgency of preserving our digital *hardware* legacy, even if profit > is the driver. As I said, it's not going into a dumpster.... -- Ian > > On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 3:24 AM, Kevin Parker <tras...@internode.on.net> > wrote: > > > May be of interest to some list members - appeared in the Sydney Morning > > Herald Digital Life section yesterday. > > > > > > > > Unfortunately I'm not one of the big spenders. > > > > > > > > I know the story about the $200,000 Apple has got a fair airing but some > of > > the other numbers being quoted here frighten me. > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/discarded-apple-i-worth > > -us200000-collectors-pay-big-money-for-old-tech-20150610-ghfmlu.html > > > > > > > > > > > > ++++++++++ > > > > Kevin Parker > > > > > > > > ++++++++++ > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate > The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> > > Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> > Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> > > University of Washington > > There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China." >
