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Digital Research CP/M-86 on eBay

Jimmy

Jimmy

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
594
Location
Fort Walton Beach, Fl
I am not sure what makes this software so special. It is labeled version 1.0 but it clearly is not. The assign manual in the front of the box is version 1.0, but the OS is version 1.1. I have version 1.0 both manuals and disks, and 2 versions of 1.1 manuals and disks, both with earlier serial numbers, so I am assuming an early date. I figured there were worth maybe $15.00 a pop, what am I missing here?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CP-M-86-Ope...T6g83Zyc6YXxmd7cKlJcA%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
 
Think I have a copy of that in the shrinkwrap. How often does it come up for sale? I noticed even the somewhat common software doesn't come up for sale much anymore (Desqview, Xtree, Norton Desktop, QEMM, etc). Stuff used to be cheap and common but not anymore.
 
I have seen at least 3 copies for the IBM PC/XT in the last 6 months, and at least 3 copies for a Digital RainBow in the same time frame.
 
I have originals for much rarer DRI stuff, such as Display Manager, Programmer's Toolikit, PL/I, DRI Assembler, Concurrent CP/M-86...

I'd be lucky to get $10 on any of them. On eBay, rare does not mean valuable.
 
People expect other people to supply bootleg copies of DRI programs for free. This limited the market/street price of full legal copies.

Personally, I own full legal copies of most of DRI's products. I find it much easier to work the programs when I have the documentation to explains how the features work.

When trying to reconfigure and reasemble DRI operating systems, the Programmer's Toolkit, the DRI Assembler are invaluable. Concurrent CPM and Concurrent DOS are pretty much worthless, if you don't have the manual, and don;t know how they work.
 
Most collectors never take the shrinkwrap off the box anyway. I don't think warez (which is available for most stuff as well as PDF files of some manuals) keeps collector/users from getting legit apps.

I find quite a few people who pay lots of cash for hardware don't spend anything for software.
 
Chuck(G) said:
...so that would make official registered disks for utilities such as PKZIP and LIST ueber-rare?
Click to expand...

I would think plenty of people and companies registered PKZIP back then, it was cheap and everybody used it. It would be nice having a real legit disk, I registered Serv-U FTP program before it went big time commercial and all I got was a serial (and free upgrades for life for the enterprise version).
 
I'll bet that most people used the unregistered PKZIP, but for the companies that needed the AV marker. LIST got you a floppy and upgrade rights (as long as Vern was alive, that is). I have lots of registered BBS software as well. Probably a lot rarer that CP/M-86, but rare doesn't make valuable.
 
The set in that ebay listing looked remarkably like what I once had for CP/M Plus. I made copies of most of the docu as backup, but somehow the actual manuals and floppies disappeared along the way. I kept the set in my office long after I had stopped working with CP/M (and before I came back to it, a couple of decades or more later..), so after moving around from office to office the CP/M originals disappeared.

-Tor
 
Some of it is getting hard to find. I still have my original 8 inch CP/M disks for my Z-80 but somewhere along the line my 5 1/4 CP/M disks for my Kaypro II got misplaced. I haven't found a set for the II (SS-DD 195K) and I've been looking for a couple of months. I've even considered buying another Kaypro II with an original set of disks but most I've seen don't have them.
 
Jimmy said:
I thought Novell released DR's CP/M and other software in to the public domain.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's true, but you don't understand this vintage stuff--the actual "software" doesn't matter. It's those pretty boxes and binders that determine the value, it seems. Unopened is better, even if the box was packed with a dead mackerel inside--nobody will ever open it.
 
The unopened boxes just make sure all the docs are there (for me anyway), as long as it is complete I am happy. Sometimes I even buy the box and manuals with no media because I have the media or it is east to find.
 
So, I guess I growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, made me too pratical. I admit, I enjoy some of the vintage stuff, because at some time it meant something in my life. I used it at work, had fun playing a game on it with my kids or something. Chuch so I guess you are right, I never will understand true collecting. I am fooling with a TRS-80 model 1, never owned one, but one of my friends, who has gone on now had one. Kind of nice working on it and remembering him.
 
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