djkrex
Experienced Member
I just found this place recently. Now that I've seen what's going on here, I'll have to get my rear in gear and contribute.
I bought my first vintage computer back in the early 60's although I didn't know that the Altiar 8800 would ever be collectible. Back then all this hard to find stuff was easy to come by. I should of stocked up.
I got my first taste of computers in the Army. When I got out, I wanted to build a computer in the worst way. My first shot at it was ordering the plans for the TV Typewriter I from Radio Electronics. It seemed like a lot of work for what it did. Hardly enough to get me to put down that beer bottle and get to work. Later, I ordered the plans for the Mark-8. I almost got started on that one. I called Intel about the 8008 chip. It was $125.00. I declined, but accepted the free 8008 ref. manual. Sold that on Ebay 2 years ago for $70 bucks. (ironic?)
When the Altair showed up, I snapped one up. It was kinda cute, but
what a slug. 256 bytes of mem and no I/O. Everything had to be fat fingered in through the front panel switches. I broke down and bought a TVT II kit just to get this thing to do something. Now the money was flowing out like water.
2- 4K static memory cards $200.
1- serial I/O card $150.
TV Typewriter II with optional power supp and parallel board $240
junk composite monitor with flaky power supp. $10.00
Scelbi's 8080 4K basic book $ I forgot. ( hard copy only, fat fingered it all in.)
I was kinda nuts (almost as nuts as paying over 2,000. for a IBM PC1)
which I did later. I needed something that would do something!!
Anyway I still have most of this stuff. I tossed the RE magazines in the 80's.
Cried about it a couple years ago. (The Altair issue > $100.)
I signed up for a BYTE subscription before the first issue hit the stands.
( I was a Charter Subscriber) Quit buying them in the early 80's.
They got to big to handle.
I still have a good collection of stuff although, I threw away or thumbed my nose at few things that I wish a hadn't. I might talk about that later when I can control my emoticons. (I start typing in upper case!)
I would like to post my collection later on. I need to drag all this stuff out and write down what it is. My memory about this stuff is getting fuzzy.
I'm now starting a new policy. If I cant display this stuff somewhere, it's
going to Ebay. As to where I've been getting most of my stuff?
The Salvation Army has been very very good to me.
I bought my first vintage computer back in the early 60's although I didn't know that the Altiar 8800 would ever be collectible. Back then all this hard to find stuff was easy to come by. I should of stocked up.
I got my first taste of computers in the Army. When I got out, I wanted to build a computer in the worst way. My first shot at it was ordering the plans for the TV Typewriter I from Radio Electronics. It seemed like a lot of work for what it did. Hardly enough to get me to put down that beer bottle and get to work. Later, I ordered the plans for the Mark-8. I almost got started on that one. I called Intel about the 8008 chip. It was $125.00. I declined, but accepted the free 8008 ref. manual. Sold that on Ebay 2 years ago for $70 bucks. (ironic?)
When the Altair showed up, I snapped one up. It was kinda cute, but
what a slug. 256 bytes of mem and no I/O. Everything had to be fat fingered in through the front panel switches. I broke down and bought a TVT II kit just to get this thing to do something. Now the money was flowing out like water.
2- 4K static memory cards $200.
1- serial I/O card $150.
TV Typewriter II with optional power supp and parallel board $240
junk composite monitor with flaky power supp. $10.00
Scelbi's 8080 4K basic book $ I forgot. ( hard copy only, fat fingered it all in.)
I was kinda nuts (almost as nuts as paying over 2,000. for a IBM PC1)
which I did later. I needed something that would do something!!
Anyway I still have most of this stuff. I tossed the RE magazines in the 80's.
Cried about it a couple years ago. (The Altair issue > $100.)
I signed up for a BYTE subscription before the first issue hit the stands.
( I was a Charter Subscriber) Quit buying them in the early 80's.
They got to big to handle.
I still have a good collection of stuff although, I threw away or thumbed my nose at few things that I wish a hadn't. I might talk about that later when I can control my emoticons. (I start typing in upper case!)
I would like to post my collection later on. I need to drag all this stuff out and write down what it is. My memory about this stuff is getting fuzzy.
I'm now starting a new policy. If I cant display this stuff somewhere, it's
going to Ebay. As to where I've been getting most of my stuff?
The Salvation Army has been very very good to me.