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Kenbak-1 on ebay

The one with that model number sold at auction for $36,000 in New York. Now, it is being sold by an Italian Ebay seller with it shipping from California? Seems odd but stranger things have happened.

For that type of money, don't fool with pictures. Send an expert to examine it in person. Accurately determining that most of the parts are 40 years old but some are recent replacements (as indicated by the unit's history) can't be done from a few images.
 
Well I have inspected the one that sold in New York in person. It was a unique unit in that it a pre-production unit so some things are different than other Kenbak. The eBay sale is suspicious, but I did hear that the buyer did want to flip it.
 
Corey986 said:
Well I have inspected the one that sold in New York in person. It was a unique unit in that it a pre-production unit so some things are different than other Kenbak. The eBay sale is suspicious, but I did hear that the buyer did want to flip it.
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What the hell kind of logic is there in flipping for LESS than you paid for it?? ?_?
 
There has been talk before of people "flipping" things on eBay, and it is somewhat understandable. Often one may want to obtain something to explore and experience it. And when you are done you move on to something else and don't always have the space or money to keep the item around.

Now, I think it is a bit rude to buy something at a good price and immediately flip it on eBay for much more. Or otherwise immediately sell it off. You either insult the original seller or your own purchasing sense. But it may happen for all kinds of reasons.

Although in this case, if real, they are selling it for less. I guess somebody will find out as there is already one bidder.

....but those eBay fees :bigeyes:
 
Wow, for 35,000 Dollar someone was REALLY desperate to get a nice decoration item... I guess only apple-1 makes people more crazy...
 
kyodai said:
Wow, for 35,000 Dollar someone was REALLY desperate to get a nice decoration item... I guess only apple-1 makes people more crazy...
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No there are a few other machines that get up there. Next time you see a PDP straight 8 show up in decent condition you will see a lot more action. That's just one example. Heck a ventless Apple II has sold for $25k before. Not many of them around.
 
Well at least for the PDP that'll mark the owner as being desperate, rich AND having loads of space... XD

Didn't even know there was a ventless Apple II. 25K is however ridiculous. Makes me seriously thinking how hard it would be to fill the venting holes with putty and give it a new paint job... Oh well at least you can play some games on the Apple-II while on the Kenbak you are limited to watch flashing lights...
 
You should be able to a variant of Nim in that space. The Nimrod of 1951 built specifically to play the game had 350 valves in use which I think would translate to less than 256 bytes.
 
There are several games that can be programmed in less than the 128 bytes of the Science Fair Microcomputer Trainer. Perhaps I need to make some YouTube videos.
 
The real problem with games on the Kenbak is that as far as I can tell the only I/O is the front panel switches and lights - rather limiting.
 
kyodai said:
Well at least for the PDP that'll mark the owner as being desperate, rich AND having loads of space... XD

Didn't even know there was a ventless Apple II. 25K is however ridiculous. Makes me seriously thinking how hard it would be to fill the venting holes with putty and give it a new paint job... Oh well at least you can play some games on the Apple-II while on the Kenbak you are limited to watch flashing lights...
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Filling in the holes won't help. The first apple cases were made of an expanding foam. They deformed from heat and Apple replaced them with plastic cases very early on. If you had a ventless unit, it's one of the first and was't updated by apple. So very rare. More rare than a Kenbak or Apple-1.

Cheers,
Corey
 
commodorejohn said:
The real problem with games on the Kenbak is that as far as I can tell the only I/O is the front panel switches and lights - rather limiting.
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Not really. Remember the early handheld electronic games? A few switches and lights.

We are all spoilt since DooM.
 
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