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DEC units on ebay

No way they get that price. But they can dream that there is that one person out there that has very deep pockets and feels they need this.
 
Roland Huisman said:
Well... there is one cool thing about that 8/L, and that is because it is a desktop version... It looks like is is in a worse condition to say the least...

I restored my 8/L in 2019, it had also a lot damage because of moisture. But after replacing about 750+ (that much? yes!) diodes, 25+ IC's and some transistors it still works fine... :biggrin:

Regards, Roland
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Wow! That's a LOT of diodes to replace! How many are in the machine in total?

-Chris
 
I saw that too and laughed, that price is certainly optimistic! Apropos, what do folks here think would be a fair price for a specimen in that condition? There's so much rust, and it looks so damaged, I can't personally imagine paying more than a few hundred dollars for it, but maybe I'm way off base on the value, especially if it's particularly rare?
 
BDecker said:
I saw that too and laughed, that price is certainly optimistic! Apropos, what do folks here think would be a fair price for a specimen in that condition? There's so much rust, and it looks so damaged, I can't personally imagine paying more than a few hundred dollars for it, but maybe I'm way off base on the value, especially if it's particularly rare?
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Considering what people are paying for DEC PDP switch panels alone (to hopefully fix-up a machine with missing toggles, although more likely to sit on a shelf for display).... it's hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it fetch some money based on the attraction of the front panel (even with the two missing toggles). I'm sure there's lots of other usable parts there too. At the end of the day, it's not impossible to restore something in this condition, just depends on how much time, effort, and money someone wants to put into it. Time will tell, I guess.

Here's an example of a PDP-11/40 front panel that went for $1142 with 25 bids:
www.ebay.com

Digital Equipment Corporation DEC PDP 11/40 console switch | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Digital Equipment Corporation DEC PDP 11/40 console switch at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

-Chris
 
tradde said:
My guess would be in the $500 to $1000. I'd give him $250 myself and no more for its condition.
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I tried a $500usd offer because the answer was obvious and it was auto-declined.

Seriously, everyone just plug him with lame offers and see who gets the "Offer sent" notification. They'll probably still reject it but who says we can't have fun harassing losers? :D
 
SO $501 bid?

Seriously, I repaired two 8/L's in a similar state. It's just a lot of replacing flip flops and the 4 to 8 input NAND gates. Fortunately my memory diodes were fine, that sounds like not fun.
 
The point is he's being deceitful and abusing how ebay's offer system is to find a price he wants. You can make an offer, but I bet under $2000 it will not even let you send something he can consider.

Also, $501 was not accepted either.
 
Well crud, I guess I have to top you with $502. This will be like the Price is Right....

More seriously, people can do whatever they want on Ebay, have fun with it. My thought is it's worth 3k in non running condition. Fixed and running 6k. But if you really really want one, 15k.

Disclaimer: I got my two for 5k about 10 years ago. They were in similar shape, needed love, caring, and a few PETG printed switches. Both now work fine and I use them to cross-check each other.
 
The fans? Oh they're 60's pot metal, they tend to oxidize with any moisture. The screws on the backplane look good, and more interestingly the bottom frame doesn't look too bad, I'd expect that brass finish to be more trashed if it really say in a puddle or something.

Honest thought: Someone please buy one of my working 8/L's for 6k, I'll buy this for 3k, then do another thread on fixing the thing. It would give me something else to do, I can cross-check against my other working system, and the extra 3k can be used for booze to drown out the memories of the mouse ghosts.

Edit: Here is my thread on the 8/L's. I did this in 2021, I think I bought them in 2016 or so....

:)
 
While I would take an 8L, I still prefer the 8i myself. At least the 8i accepts 8k of core without needing expansion. The 8L is limited to 4k without expansion. And good luck finding the BM08-L (?). Not sure if that is the correct expansion part. They are quite rare. I am not into repairing an 8L in this condition.

One question: How do you know the offer is auto-declined? Not that I plan on putting in an offer.
 
You press submit and it instantly comes back saying your offer was not accepted.
Seriously, try it. Put in $400. We already know that's below the known threshold so it won't be accepted.
 
tradde said:
While I would take an 8L, I still prefer the 8i myself. At least the 8i accepts 8k of core without needing expansion. The 8L is limited to 4k without expansion. And good luck finding the BM08-L (?). Not sure if that is the correct expansion part. They are quite rare. I am not into repairing an 8L in this condition.

One question: How do you know the offer is auto-declined? Not that I plan on putting in an offer.
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Yeah but the 8/I is just so darn big.

I've been poking around with the idea of hooking the 8/L to the omnibus backplane in the 8/E and turning it into my own BM12CZ system. The tricky part was recreating the BM08's extended address and data field instructions, however I see that the 8/E has a specific board for this. Hm. Maybe it could be as easy as chucking the 8/E CPU and building jumpers to connect the 8/L's expansion bus into the Omnibus, then using the memory extender and the 32kw mos memory card....
 
I agree it is big. But so much easier to get to the backplane and flip-chips. And many more lights and switches. And it was the first computer I ever used.
 
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