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value of an IBM PC + Expansion unit, no monitors

tipc

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Jan 16, 2005
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Principality of Xeon W-2140B the Great State of Ce
I'll be selling this stuff soon.

Unfortunately the units aren't in the best of shape. I had them stored in a damp area of the house, and there is some light rust, even to the point of bleeding through the paint (at least I think it's rust). And one of the aftermarket Toshiba half height floppy drives are missing, for the life of me can't figure out what I did with it (or why I pulled it out). Both units have hard drives, but at the least they'll need reformatting.

I'll be posting pictures soon. As soon as my body stops aching. I'll also be selling a bunch of compilers and whatnot. Other computers. Hot diggity.
 
please update your profile so we know where you live to know if it's even worth pursuing for us. I would only ever consider getting one if it was local.
 
Oh, and don't forget to tell us wher you are so we don't have to waste time checking out heavy stuff that's halfway around the world. :) You know there's a spot in your profile for just that purpose.
 
Im interested in the expansion unit depending where you live and condition. Please update your location in your profile or tell us where you are, and pictures plz! :D

Doh thx! musta posted at the same time. Can you take any pictures, even crappy phone ones help. :D I have a couple friends in jersey...wonder if I can get one of em to pick this up for me.
 
Is there an echo in here?

There was a thread a few days ago where someone wanted an expansion unit. I believe it was SteveMarg that was looking.
 
Ya seen expansion unit and IBM PC for sale... Def grabbed my attention! ROFL. Prob 10 of us that want that expansion easily! >.< I've even considered using my extra 5162 chassis to make my own.

Is it me or alot more stuff popping up outta nowhere past few months?
 
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I posted the message in this forum because I want a handle on what it might be worth. There's no need for all the other banter. When I'm ready to sell I'll post in the appropriate forum.

I'll take pictures...as soon as my body stops aching. I'm not supposed to be doing much, and have been severely overdoing it lately. I'm tired and in pain. The units are in good shape except for the rust, as I presume that's what it is. These units are decked out, loads of stuff internally, Orchid 286, large auxiliary (external) fan, other cards. CGA/MGA.
 
He's right outside of Asbury Park... I'll stop over and visit wid da' Boss while I'm there. Sounds like a fun-filled, productive weekend.
 
Just in case, I have an extra receiver. When I got my expansion unit, I used a set of transmitter and receiver cards I got from a member in the forums. (I'm not providing his name out of courtesy and provacy concerns. I'll leave that up to him if he wants the attention) So when my expansion unit arrived, it came with a duplicate to the receiver card.

Sorry, I don't have an matching transmitter. Those seem to be almost impossible to find. I only have the original receiver. PM me if interested.
 
We're still waiting for the pics he promised to post. And, he hasn't actually offered it for sale, yet, either. So far it's still... vaporware. :)
 
it aint' vaporware Stone. This stuff is going fo' sho'. I'm likely relocating across country, and the contents of 2 storage units are being dispensed with.

But I have this little imp of a hernia. The easiest to take care of, via surgery, but the most dangerous, in terms of "letting it go". But I'm past the 6 month mark (?) whatever that means, so I guess I don't have to worry too much about it strangulating. No pain generally, just limits me. I'm pushing it by lifting 30 lbs. And I've been doing loads of lifting over the past 2 weeks, plus working on the car. On my back, swinging a sledge. Etc.

This weekend is probably a bit too soon. Don't know for sure. If you want to pm your phone number, or call 8047327608 (swap first 2 groups of 3s. If you're from NJ, you'll immediately see it). No voice mail, but caller id. But wait until as late in the evening as you can. Phone is off, charger fell in cat pee LOL, and I've had it off for a couple of days. Not sure if it registers caller id when off (stupid phone, in an era of smart phones).

Incidentally you didn't make an offer...I'm not ridiculous I don't think. But some stuff I just refuse to give away. Was way too hard acquiring some of my gear. Pics will be a few days yet. Not pushing myself too hard. I'm already feeling the toll of the past 2 weeks. Not looking for sympathy and sorry if I grossed anyone out.
 
Hey, I've never had a hernia but I surely don't envy you.

Those 2 storage units aren't computer stuff, are they? 'Cause if they are I'd be willing to come by and help with the unloading, sorting and whatever it takes to get them to market. If not, I'll wait to see the pics and then see what can be worked out. You can always SKYPE me.
 
I started a thread in VCF Auctions regarding this IBM 5161 expansion unit with 2 Seagate drives yesterday, but I guess nobody saw it. At least noone commented on it, but the seller has a pretty nice complete expansion unit up for sale on e_Bay. Starting bid seems high to me at $500.00. But again, I'm not sure what the value of one of these really is. The only reason I'm duplicating it here is because tere seems to be enough interest. If I've posted incorrectly, sorry.

At this time there is just over three hours remaining on the auction.

Hope this helps someone here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5161IBM-XT-...843?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25708839d3
 
Yep, I saw it. Wayyy out of my price range!

I know what you mean. Most of us here aren't rich. Still I'm watching to see if it sells on the first run.

I also told my best friend about it, but he can't afford it either. Expansion units were quite expensive back in the day, but just how much one with matching 10 to 30 Meg drives would have sold for, is a question for the blue book, if there is one. I do know it was typically much cheaper to buy an IBM 5160 XT than to upgrade a 5150 by adding an expansion unit.

Which still begs the question... Just how rare are these things. And, roughly how much would a completed IBM 5150 PC, plus 5161 expansion unit in excellent condition expect to sell for today? (Assuming a "basic" installation including 640 K RAM, dual 360Kb floppy drives, parallel and serial ports, and in the expansion unit about 40 Megs of hard drive space on either one or two hard disk drives and couple of basic expansin cards)

I'm sure $500.00 really isn't out of line.

Update: It look as though the auction was pulled before it closed. Which is funny because there isn't eny recoord of it ever being listed on E-Bay any more. Oh well.
 
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I'll put my hand up and say I bought one of the two this seller had up for auction. I grabbed mine a few weeks ago and it was a similar config, though mine also included the connecting cable too.

I justified the price given how hard it is to find a complete set of Extender + Receiver + Cable, and also the cost of 2x ST-412's... I'd actually planned on purchasing a working ST-412 as the one in my XT had recently died, but those were going for anything from US$150-500 depending on the seller. This extender came with two drives in unknown condition, so I took a gamble. The seller was really helpful with shipping (I'm in Sydney Australia) and it arrived in one piece.

To my surprise, once I completely disassembled the thing and removed the inch-thick layer of brown smelly dust off everything, it worked perfectly when put back together. Both ST-412's were flawless too (not even a hint of dry bearings). When plugged into my XT booted to a DOS prompt off one of the drives. The seller told me this had been sitting idle in the back of his repair shop for around 20 years, so it is impressive the HDD platters kept their data for that long. The top cover was pretty scratched and marked, but that's to be expected for an item this age. I was also surprised at the length of the connecting cable... I've read elsewhere they're usually short only allowing the extender to stack on top; the IBM-branded cable this came with allowed the units to sit side-by-side with ample length to spare.

I'm very happy with the extender; I hope another member of these forums managed to grab the other extender he had up for auction, and had similar success. As everyone mentioned it was a pretty steep price, but I've been wanting one of these for over a decade, and the price was off-set when you factor in the cost of two working ST-412's.

Now all I need to find is a working 130w 240v power supply for this thing (currently it's plugged into a 110v step down transformer, but it works).
 
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