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Midwest For Sale working IBM 5100 Basic/APL 64 KB Local Pickup Only Chicago IL

Covers: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio
B

Barn

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2024
Messages
4
Delivery Options
Local Pickup Only
For Sale a working IBM 5100 with Basic and APL 64 Kbytes

Front.JPG Back.JPG Bottom.JPGTag.JPG
Boot APLBoot Basic.JPGRun Basic.JPGDisplay Register.JPG
Boot in APL Boot in Basic Run Basic Program Display Register Switch

Computer weighs around 55 pounds and is bulky would only consider local pickup in Western suburbs of Chicago Illinois.

Asking for $8,000 or best offer.
 
This is a nice-looking 5100. You might also mention that it has the communications option as well. But why have you taped over the serial number?
 
It's gorgeous, but sadly out of my price range. If you have any photos of APL in use, please post them, I am curious what it looks like!
 
I keep saying brand new members should NOT BE ALLOWED to post for sale things. This is a constant problem.
 
I am new here, and I would not feel comfortable trying to sell stuff this soon. Buy, maybe, but not sell. I get why some people do it, but in this day and age of constant scammers, that's just a bad look.
 
OP, we are giving you a hard time here but this is purely because of problems with previous experiences. There's nothing wrong with signing up to a forum to sell a system, however being secretive about smaller details such as the serial number (as far as we know, thiese are pictures from anywhere else online) and asking a fairly high price really scares people away because it looks like a scam.
 
The computer is the real deal. It's been sitting in my mother's crawlspace for 30 years. My brother, who is in the computer industry business acquired it in the early 90s. He lives in another state now. While visiting recently I told him we should sell it before it gets lost or stops working. I told him about the VCF forum and the soon WCF Midwest conference in Schaumburg, IL where we could possibly sell it through. He agreed.

Though I played with computers in the 80s and 90s my career was not in the computer industry. I have really no interest to have discussions on this forum to gain posts. My prior experience selling something person to person was in 1998. My 89 Firebird I sold it through that auto trader paper magazine you would get in gas stations. Prior to taking photos for this post, I did search the internet on including serial numbers. There you can find the pros and cons.

I understand sellers can be scammers but buyers can be scammers also. I'm just trying to be careful myself. I know the computer is rare and the value is what one is willing to pay for it if they really want it. The computer is still for sale. I would be willing to meet at the conference in Schaumburg to those interested in buying it also. I posted here thinking I would get those more interested in the computer then going the eBay route with all those interested in the time traveler association with this computer.
 
I'm glad that the OP responded and answered some questions and provided more information.

I am still in favor of not letting brand new members post For Sale. I can appreciate "I have really no interest to have discussions on this forum to gain posts.", but it occurs to me that had you included the information in your second post, in your first post, it would have looked better. At least that's how I feel.

Barn said:
I did search the internet on including serial numbers. There you can find the pros and cons.
Click to expand...
So, I should just look on the internet? OK, I did, at least for a bit because I could see a big Pro right away (didn't really need to look), but not the Cons. I really did not see a lot of cons applicable to this case.

from here: "If I know the serial number of the guitar you have, I could potentially claim it as stolen from me and the proof is strengthend when I tell investigators that I kept a record of the serial number." That seems far-fetched to me - I just can't imagine the police actively arresting someone on the basis of someone else CLAIMING they kept a record of the serial number (with no further proof). In fact, proving you bought the product with that serial number and registered it with the company might not even be enough to get the police interested in investigating at all. See this more humorous response.

This one from the bay was surprising. It is not at all applicable to the instant case, but it was news to me. A company disabling something because you are not an authorized seller? Really? I learn something every day.

I know I would not buy a car without checking the title VIN and the car VIN. I suppose if it were an expensive vintage car, I might check the engine block or wherever else a VIN is located.

In the collectable authenticated coin market, I would (and have) check the serial number of authentication, because these are known to be counterfeited e.g., here. If someone advertised it with that number covered up, I would not buy it.

In this case, it was an interesting 20 minutes of reading, but I am still of the mind that I don't want to see a serial number covered up because I would worry about it being stolen goods. At the least, I would like to have a good reason that the seller would cover it up.

Truth is, I was not going to buy that computer anyways, but if I am missing some big Cons by showing the serial number, in something similar to this case, I would love to hear them.
 
OP's response is sketchy as fuck and is reminiscent of weird AI. Be careful STILL until OP can provide some sort of absolute assurance this isn't some scam. Even then, only do PayPal Goods & Services on this one.

P.S. In my opinion $8K is about 2X way too expensive for this.

Sellam
 
I dunno, these things seem to be pretty thin on the ground, especially with APL. After currency conversion, shipping, taxes, and facilities for 120VAC 60Hz power here in the UK, I probably paid similar for mine a few years ago. It was a lot of money and well more than I would ordinarily want to spend, but I'll also say that I think I got that much $ of fun and learning out of it (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I might have been about as happy with a 5110 for much less, but someone important to me used a 5100. I could be trying to make myself feel better, but I don't think this price is too farfetched.

If someone trustworthy wanted to sell me a working 5100 with 64k RAM, APL+BASIC, and the comms option for $4000, I'd probably think pretty seriously about buying it, even though I've already got one.

Note: this post is about the price only and not about whether the offer itself is legitimate.

OP: Speaking of tape, I'm guessing you don't know whether the tape drive works? Do you have any tapes that accompany the machine?
 
Not going to judge the offering itself, but man, if you ask $8000, at least provide pictures that have a proof of being from you and made recently. Like placing a piece of paper with your (nick)name and date next to the system.

Of course, if it is for pick-up only, it might not matter. But it would surely make the offering look more serious.
 
It's actually somewhat common for people to cover serial numbers on computer software. Serial numbers were often used to unlock or register software and could be tied to licensing or even support contracts.

Similar can be true of some kinds of hardware, especially stuff that is still under support, although we don't usually think about that much with common personal computers.
 
I do remember a tape being with the computer but I cannot find it so I cannot confirm it still works.

As far as if this computer is real or not. Is there a member here near Downers Grove that would like to meet up at a library or police department to confirm it exists? I do have an Ego power supply inverter that powers the computer up.

I thought the community here would be excited to find a rare vintage working computer that's been hidden for 30 years being brought out and put up for sale.

As far as the price, i did say $8,000 or best offer.
 
I have seen cases with cameras for sale, the the SN is used to claim ownership. It's definitely a lovely thing to look at and type on; I have played with the non-APL version of the 5100; it's a great little box!
 
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