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Top 10 Most Collectible Micro Sleepers

billdeg

billdeg

Technician
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,885
Location
Landenberg, PA USA
Late last month there was an article published in PC World titled "The Most Collectible PCs of All Time"
http://www.pcworld.com/a...desktoppcs/article.html

I don't disagree with the list, but yawn...another rehash of the "standard" stuff we have all been hearing about for the past 5 years. It's because of these articles, at least in part, that they're so popular for collectors. A cycle of reinforcement.

Being a kind of anti-establishment fellow, here is my personal Top 10 list of sleepers - classic computers that are less well-known but very rare and collectible. Would I rather have an Apple I or a Kenbak? ..yah, but I'd like some of the below just as much...and they're much cheaper!

[I will trade an original MITS Altair 8800 for items marked with a (*) below]

1. Micro Altair (later called Poly-88 ), by PolyMorphic Systems MITS forced Polymorphic to change the name of their computer to Poly 88 (*)

2. BYT-8 (or -5), by Byte Computer Stores. Rare to find with the BYT label (*)

3. JOLT, by MAI (Microcomputer Associates Inc) the first 6502 SBC (*)

4. Jupiter IIC, by Wave Mate. One of the earliest 6800 processor systems, few exist today. (*)

5. Sys 1, (Sys 2 or Sys 3); by Sphere (*)

6. Vector 1; by Vector Graphic, Inc. (*)

7. 9000S, by IBM. A scientific PC produced with at the same time as the IBM XT with built-in printer. Unique footprint, few exist today.

8. VIM-1, by Synertec (Commodore forced Synertec to rename to SYM-1 because the "VIM" sounded too much like "KIM", the competing Commodore 6502 SBC. Few VIM-1's exist.

9. B500 (N.American), by Commodore Business Machines. Sold in the USA and then renamed B-128 ). Perhaps even rarer is the hi-profile version of the same system, with a built-in monitor orignally called the B700, later renamed CBM 128-80. (not to be confused with the C-128 )

10. Compucolor II - A rare system that is fairly well known but very hard to find in working order. (*)

11. Model 400, by Ohio Scientific.

I will trade an MITS Altair 8800 for items marked with a (*) above
 
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Whaaaaaa, there it is, at NUMBER 6, the vintage computer I gave to a neighbor for free in 84. With a free ADM 3, too. And, 8 inch floppy drive.

Note -- Note -- Note - He got the name correct!

It's Vector Graphic, no S people. Look at the name printed on your friendly 8K static ram card.
 
Is there a difference between B700 and the more common CBM 710/720 systems? Is the 720 what you know as B256 in the USA? I agree that the B500 and even more P500 are scarce. You and me know Commodore had planned high-profile versions with built-in 8088 co-pro, which never seems to have materialized.

Of the other systems in your list, they all are foreign to me. A few weeks ago you mentioned the IBM and we found some references, but prior to that it was one of many unknown computers. A friend of mine recently picked up an Indata DAI, which I don't know how uncommon or valuable it is.
 
Commodore B's: US vs. European names

Commodore B's: US vs. European names

I did not want to list "impossible to get" prototypes in my list.

The American B700 (a prototype) is the name of the CBM B Serires hi-profile counterpart to the American low-profile B500. The B700 became the CBM 128-80 when it went into production. Although no B700's were sold (that I know of) a very few B500 units were sold before the system was renamed the B128-80. That's what makes the American B500 rare.

There are two known-to-exist American B520's (prototypes), that would have been called the B256 low profile ("B256-80" ) if moved into production.

The European 710/720 is the production model equivalent to the "CBM 128-80" and "CBM 256-80" high profile systems sold in the US.

I believe some BX hi-profile models (with the 8088 co-processors) were sold in Europe, but none were sold in the USA.
 
Thanks for clearing that up. Actually, I have recently seen a bunch of Datatronic (i.e. Swedish) CBM-II software/firmware labeled as for the B700 or BX700. So it seems the name lived on for a while even if the actual computers were not named as such. On the front, they say CBM (or PET) 700 anyway, only the back plate indicates the true model number.

A bit striving from the topic, but the past weekend there was an odd low-profile machine (B128 to you, CBM 610 to me) on German eBay. According to the seller, it had once been modified with some NTSC colour graphics, and technically was something inbetween a 610 and a P500, but neither really. It ended on 74 Euro, and came with a collection of random X86 chips the seller previously had collected. Perhaps it was a bargain, even if it was a 3rd party modified computer and not in its original condition.
 
There was a 1MB RAM after market board, and a bunch of other add on cards manufactured for these machines, some sold as late as 1993. There was a "fastbus" cartridge kit that allowed a B to connect to a C-128 and/or a PC. There's more, but I forget the details off-hand. If you're interested in some of that stuff, let me know because I have some spare items to trade.
Bill
 
I picked up a POLY 88 recently for nothing. However, I can't find what it's worth ANYWHERE. Could you be so kind as to provide me an estimate?
 
I'm not sure on value but if you wanted to theorize that Bill would trade you an Altair 8800A which a working one typically sells for mid $2000s lately that would be an estimate. Though it could also be more if he's overly willing to trade heh. It's hard to say though, all sales depend on economy, market, buyers, buyer awareness, etc. If you posted it on ebay or our market place and folks weren't aware of it you'd get less than ideal price probably.

Good find though, have you played with it any?
 
that's pretty much what I told him privately already. His is missing some things as he described it and it's not known to work so I made an offer based on that. I would trade an Altair for a Micro Altair, the Poly 88 came later, but the condition and function would have to match, otherwise forget it, not a fair trade!
 
I wrote some games for the Compucolor II when I was a teenager. It was one of my first money paying jobs. They were clones of some simple games of the time, like shooting the paratroopers and such.

A few years ago, I actually met an actual Compucolor II owner for the first time. He'd probably played at least one of my games. Neither on of us could be sure. But he was the first person I'd met who might have seen my first paid programming work. ;)

I wasn't credited on the games, and I have no idea what name and brand they were sold under (the guy I did them for made up names on the spot as "divisions" of his actual company name.) I wrote them on yellow pads and programmed them on a computer in the guy's garage over summer. He paid me when I finished each game and sold them through computer shops on the west coast where he drove up and down the coast every few weeks selling stuff directly to the shop owners. I rode along with him once, and was amazed at how many little mom and pop shops there were out there. He didn't start selling the stuff I wrote until after school had started and I pretty well lost contact with him (he was getting labels and bag tops printed when summer ended.)

I often wonder if he ever earned back even as much as he paid me for the games.

I liked it OK, but at the time my dream systems were the Sol 20 and the Poly 88. All I actually owned aside from my homebrews was an Elf II.
 
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