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Value of CBM machines?

N

nrg13

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Jan 19, 2010
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A friend of mine has a number of CBM/CBM compatable computers that he would like to sell. Can anyone have a guess at the value? I've scoured eBay etc for previously sold items but they seem so rare it's diffcult to estimate...

The first is a CBM 8096SK:
CBM8096-SK-1.png


There is an 8050 twin disk drive with it:
Commodore-CBM8050.jpg


Both units are in working, mint condition.

The second is a little different - a Victor Technologies Sirius:
sirius_victor-s1_1.jpg


Not quite a commodore, but designed by Chuck Peddle from what I can gleam.

Any ideas?
 
I've seen the 8096 go for as much as $500. But that's depending on how well it works, how clean it is, that sort of thing. I wouldn't have any use for it personally, but the one on eBay I saw once, went upwards of $700. From what I can see though, the B128 would be worth about the same. Pity, I used to have one of those. TIP: The disk drives would fetch more, no doubt, providing they work.

Don't know anything about that other one.
 
In my opinion, the CBM/PET computer is worth more than the drive is. For honesty, I'd like to give you lowest possible estimates and everything on top of that would be a bonus. In my world, a 8096-SK probably goes around $200, the 8050 drive around $50 and the Victor 9000 .. uh, I never sold one, just donated two so let's say $75 for that one. As Bill points out, it is important to demonstrate functionality and in the case of the Victor, avoid using stock photos and take a picture of the actual unit.

Based on the 8096-SK keyboard layout, I would say you and your friend are located in Germany or thereabouts? It seems the vast majority of CBM SK machines are within Germany and neighbour countries, which affects your selling price a bit. Not to mention these are heavy items, easily 15-20 kg which are a bit difficult to pack and ship far. Any overseas buyer would also need to convert the power supplies to 117V power.
 
All,

These machines are in the UK - the pictures above aren't of the units themselves - I will have these in short order, along with videos of the systems working.

Thanks for all your help! I'll post back here when they are ready for sale :)

PS - the units have been dry stored with the 8050 drives shipping card installed.

nrg
 
When you're setting up the sale, please consider if a courier pick-up service like those Parcel2Go promote is a feasible option for you. I know it is much less practical to sit and wait for someone to come and pick up your packages than hand them in at the post office, but the difference in shipping costs seems to be around £60 for a such large item as the PET or Victor.. money which may be used to raise someone's bid instead.
 
nrg13 said:
All,

These machines are in the UK - the pictures above aren't of the units themselves - I will have these in short order, along with videos of the systems working.

Thanks for all your help! I'll post back here when they are ready for sale :)

PS - the units have been dry stored with the 8050 drives shipping card installed.

nrg
Click to expand...

If you're interested in posting these for sale on the Vintage Computer and Gaming Marketplace be aware that you can upload video files as well as stills to advertise them. :)
 
I might be interested in that Victor, but I want to know more about it first. From what I gather it's an x86 machine that can run MS-DOS and CPM86, but it's.. not PC compatible? If not, then I fear that shipping to USA would kill the idea, as a non-IBM compat and non-CBM compat PC would be a novelty in my collection that wouldn't see much use.
 
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The Victor 9000 is also known as Sirius 1. They exist in the USA too, so you may be able to find one "locally" which has the added bonus of running at the correct voltage. These computers became popular in Europe because they were available about a year before the IBM PC was launched over here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Systems_Technology
http://oldcomputers.net/victor9000.html

I would link to Old-Computers.com too if it wasn't for the fact they seem to have implemented a MSIE blocker.

I believe the difference between a MS-DOS computer and an IBM PC compatible/clone comes to running programs specially written for the PC, i.e. if it makes ROM/BIOS calls or direct hardware addressing. Programs that don't make such assumptions should run anyway?
 
The Victor 9000 runs MS-DOS and CP/M-86, it's from before it was clear how compatible with the IBM things would need to be for the market, like the HP-150 and Corona. It was a great machine for its time. It precedes the Compaq, so it's one of those machines from when they were touted as "60% compatible" or some such, whatever that was supposed to mean.

They were pretty common in the US, it shouldn't be too hard to find one locally.
 
OK - I looked the machines over last night in preperation for sale. Sadly the magic smoke escaped from the Sirius - so that is unlikely to be sold.

The PET also seems to be suffering from some display corruption - chars appear elsewhere on the screen when you type? Very odd. There is a huge bonus which I was not expecting - along with a datasette and disk drive as mentioned previously there is a 6MB Corvus Hard Drive along with the unit.

Any ideas on how to remedy the screen corruption? The machine is barely usable and I'd like to test the peripherals before sale.
 
You could be in for a rather lengthy session of troubleshooting. Is the startup text correct? My first thought would be something bad with the editor ROM but probably the PET would crash instead of acting funny. Bad RAM is often a problem, and in previous threads a number of people on this forum have diagnosed and replaced bad chips as found.

Does your Corvus come with a Hardbox interface? I have the complete setup and might have an extra Hardbox in case you don't have one and the buyer needs it. However I think I'm short on cabling, but the cable between those two is a straight IDC 34-pin or so. The Hardbox takes a PET-IEEE cable but reverse which means one either needs a cable with two edge connectors or daisy chain two cables at the IEEE-488 end.

Too bad about the Sirius, I had magic smoke come out of mine too. Yet at least one probably still was operative afterwards so with a bit of luck the smoke came from line filter caps, meaning it would still work but be more sensitive to fluctuating input voltage. A handy person probably can and usually should replace those after many years of use or storage.
 
Hard to know with the PET but the video RAM might be a suspect.

I've had three of my computers release the magic smoke. In all cases it's been the line filters. Easily identified and replaced but even if you can't replace them, the machine will probably work just fine after the smoke clears.

Tez
 
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