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Press Request from my inbox

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Erik

Site Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
3,588
Location
San Jose, CA
Hi,

I'm a writer from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel working on a story about people who collect vintage computers. I'm looking to interview people from the South Florida area (Broward County especially, which includes Fort Lauderdale) and was wondering if you had any such people are your members and if you could ask them to contact me ASAP. I saw one post from someone whose screen name was Sharkonwheels who sounded like he might fit, and I'm sure you know more.

Thanks,

Jamie Malernee
Staff Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
954-356-4849
Click to expand...

Jamie is looking specifically for collectors in the South Florida area to "localize" the story. Others have already been interviewed.

Please give a call if you're interested!
 
Article is tentatively scheduled to run this Sunday, in the local section of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (www.sun-sentinel.com).

The photog came by and grabbed pics - you guys might find humorous the pics he took! Forgot to get the Heath H8 and PX-8 in the pic, but got a Tandy 1000SX, Osborne-1, tandy Model 100, NEC 8201a, couple of SGI's, some pocket computers, CoCo2, 3 IBM 5150's, Mac Plus, etc...

I'll post a definitive link when I find it.

Tony
 
im in Seminole County, probably too far away, and my competing paper is Orlando Sentinel..

EDIT: Oh wait, too late anyway.. Darn! oh well
 
Yeah - you noticed that? Man... And I'm nowhere NEAR as hardcore as the other guys in the article. I'm MUCH more selective of what I keep, being mainly CP/M and portable/pocket computers.

Tony
 
I think people write things like MORON out of pure boredom or jealousy. Not jealous of your collection, but that you have some interest at all to maintain. The article was a good read though, and ultimately it is the only thing that matters.

Still, I wonder if every article like this will lead to more people clean out their garage in hunt for that old computer gear which now is worth $$$. It is hard to tell for what reason people sell their stuff e.g. on eBay. Except for it occupies quite a bit of space, it shouldn't be more odd to collect vintage computers than those collecting TupperWare(tm) containers, old telephones and so on.
 
im disgusted by those peoples responses to the article..

they are probably on the poor side of florida.. or worse, they are hypocrites, because aren't they geeks too, i mean, they learned how to use the modem? ;)
 
I agree. The article was fine but the comments people posted in response are disgusting. Those are the sorts of nasty churlish responses that are all to common on internet forums. Some websites like digg.com have become absolutely painful to read because of the small percentage of loud jerks who come to dominate the arena.

Fortunately, at least vintage-computer.com and some other forums are at least civil. I thank everyone, the mods, and especially Erik for that.

Thanks for contributing to the article. Maybe someone will stop to think about donating their old computer equipment to someone who appreciates it rather than just tossing it into another overfilled and polluting landfill. It pains me to think how many wonderful pieces are now lost because they were just in the way.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch
 
I thought the article was awesome! My dad liked it too, and thought it was cool that a collector made it into the papers. My ex-step mom was asking me who, and why, (people) collect vintage computers. She thought the only reason she could see is people saying, "this is my first computer" and leaving it there. Now I can prove that other people besides me work hard to obtain, refurbish, and ultimatley keep/use vintage computers.
again, kudos on the paper!

--Ryan
 
It was fun - I am still receiving phone calls and emails, because that photo of me with the cables around my neck, was on the FRONT page of the whole paper, ABOVE the fold!

Unreal - I need to take a pic and attach it here so you guys can see it!

Tony
 
Yes it is unreal...or where you talking about the game? That games is SO MUCH FUN. I can't stop playing it. Ok, enough of the OT moment. That is so cool you scored front page. Hey, If you have an extra paper of that day, I would be glad to pay shipping. PM me if you would be interested in doing so.

--Ryan
 
The morbid part of me imagines twisting cables into a snare and then putting it around your neck; strangled by a VGA cable. Maybe that picture is saved for later, for the article "The end of vintage computer collecting".
 
Sharkonwheels said:
It was fun - I am still receiving phone calls and emails, because that photo of me with the cables around my neck, was on the FRONT page of the whole paper, ABOVE the fold!

Unreal - I need to take a pic and attach it here so you guys can see it!

Tony
Click to expand...

Tony,
That is awesome. I liked the article. Overall, they did a pretty good job and I thought the whole vintage computer hobbyist angle was cool.

It is good to see some good press out there and you should be proud to get the facts straight in a press article. It takes some real work to get it right!

Congratulations!

Andrew Lynch
 
Yup - I had to tell her some stories, like the Gary Kildall one.
I also had to give her some machine names, which she looked up.

I gotta take a scan/pic of the article, as it has more info, and more pics.


Tony
 
Great article, (too bad for the stupid comments from some people). My wife thinks I'm nuts (and so do most of my friends and family) for collecting these vintage machines, after showing her the article... well, she probably still thinks I'm nuts. In any case I enjoy collecting and 'trying' to restore these computers. I have a lot to learn and appreciate the help that this site (and a few others like it) offer.
 
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