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How times have changed (PDP-8 prices)

Twylo

Twylo

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
230
Location
Poulsbo, WA
Yowza. A non-working PDP-8/m just sold for $2705 on eBay. I'd been watching this auction closely to get a feel of what the market is like, since I've only recently come back to collecting DEC stuff after an 11 year absence.

Supply and demand is a hell of a thing!

The only PDP-8 I ever owned was a single-rack PDP-8/i system that I rescued from UC Santa Cruz in 1996. Back then all it took was a $25 fee to the Regents of the University of California, and a big truck. But at the time I was in my early 20s and living in a rented house with three other young guys and didn't have room or tools to keep and restore it, so I ended up giving it to another collector who I trusted to take care of it. He still has it, thank goodness, so it's in fine hands. But I still wish I could have been in a position to keep it. It was a similar situation with the PDP-11 equipment I was able to save in college. It was so easy to come by then that I took it for granted! But, in the end, I just didn't have anywhere to keep it all and I moved around too much.

So now that I'm older and graying and have enough time, money, and security to work on these things, I figured I'd start looking around again. But, times sure have changed! :)

Thank goodness for SIMH. And thank goodness I got a Spare Time Gizmos SBC6120/FP6120 when I had the chance! It's the only "PDP-8" I'm likely to own these days!

-Twylo
 
Twylo said:
... I've only recently come back to collecting DEC stuff after an 11 year absence...
Click to expand...

THAT is going to be a he__-of-a culture shock for you!

Prices have completely changed since that world.
 
RSX11M+ said:
THAT is going to be a he__-of-a culture shock for you!
Click to expand...

Oh, believe me, it already has been! The last big PDP rescue I was on was 1998, when I helped a friend get a big five-rack PDP-11/45 system with about 25 RK05 cartridges. Beautiful system, it had the works. It was totally free, just drive up and take it if you can hall it away.

Those days are emphatically over, I think. Not sure how much an 11/45 (minus the extras) would go for now, but I'm sure it'd be close to $1000. Still well below PDP-8 prices, it seems, but maybe heading up?

The thing is, I was never (and still am not!) in this hobby for the money. Quite the contrary, I'd be happy if my stuff had no monetary value at all. I've only ever done it because it's fun and I get to be a grownup playing with toys. I think that's the vast majority of us, actually.

-Twylo
 
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I knew it would sell for a decent amount, but didn't expect $2700. I sold my working pdp-8e with 2 rk05's in a rack two years ago for $2800. I also had
a working pdp-8i that is now in the hands of Paul Allen's Vulcan group. I wish I had been able to convince Penn State to sell their KA-10 to some collector
many years ago. They are (were) so rare. I don't know if any survive, and if there are they are not in the US. I was never in the hobby for $$. I grew up
with these and learned computers on an 8i at the local college while I was still in junior and senior high. Those were the days. The nice smell of teletype
oil and paper tape. :)
 
tradde said:
I wish I had been able to convince Penn State to sell their KA-10 to some collector
many years ago. They are (were) so rare. I don't know if any survive, and if there are they are not in the US.
Click to expand...

What did happen to Penn State's KA-10? (I work there). One of my friends, Rick Hoover, used to work on it.
 
It was scrapped. I used to work as an operator in the EE lab there when I went to school there. It was a great machine, but huge.
I believe it was retired around 1996. It must have cost a small fortune to run and maintain it. But I was sad to hear it got scrapped.
I guess no one at the school cared at that time that it needed to go to a collector or museum.
 
I used to have those two head-less RK05j's about five years ago and even though they fringed on useless I regret giving them away. As said almost anything that is PDP-related these days that still exists has been spoken for. There's no more surprise back alley finds. They are now in the phase where they are old enough to justify as museum pieces and worth big bucks to keep around should the one running the milling machine finally break down again.
It's almost terrifying to think this will eventually come to the PC's as well..
 
I don't think we need to keep one of every model computer around forever, some of those old beasts are just too big to keep around unless some museum realy wants one.

There are tons of people recycling computers and electronics of all types these days for a living (probably even older people who might have worked for DEC and even helped build the machines they are now scrapping for $3/lb).
 
i paid 800$ for 2 rko5's and a pertec in a rack still waiting for it to get shipped sigh

ones a rk05 J if it matters as u mention u used to have one
dec_boards131.jpg


and i got to rescue a 8a last yr for free with documentation software and manuals :) so there is still the odd rescue to be had out there
 
Like I said, you can't find the stuff now unless you fight for it or hold off on buying a new car for another year. I don't believe in luck.
Also as mentioned we can rant ans cry as sought after pieces of computer equipment go through the shredder but they don't really care. Why should they? We're potential customers and we'll pay almost anything to get something. If we don't bite, oh well because they still get a profit from the bits of shredded metal.
 
I too was closely following the PDP-8/m auction, not that I had any interest in bidding, but because I was curious as to what a non-functioning machine with a rusty inside (how does that happen?) would fetch. My first thought was that the seller was pretty aggressive starting at $999 but I figured someone would eventually snap it up. It was a bit shocking to see it go for what it did although I remember being surprised that a non-working 11/45 got almost $700 a short time ago too.

Sure, years back this kind of hardware was available for free or next to nothing, but there were other obstacles to overcome then. Bitsavers and forums such as this didn’t exist and most of those detailed Engineering Drawings that we’ve come to really appreciate were quickly pitched, so even reassembling the hardware, much less troubleshooting it, was undoubtedly a much greater challenge. For the most part, the collector was on his own and I wonder how much “salvaged” equipment ended up getting scrapped anyway in frustration. Now due to the efforts of dedicated enthusiasts and the internet, technical information is readily available but of course the actual hardware has gotten expensive. Obviously each period has its tradeoffs, but if someone had collected lots of stuff when it was free and kept it until the documentation and their knowledge caught up…
 
KM11 said:
Sure, years back this kind of hardware was available for free or next to nothing, but there were other obstacles to overcome then. Bitsavers and forums such as this didn’t exist and most of those detailed Engineering Drawings that we’ve come to really appreciate were quickly pitched, so even reassembling the hardware, much less troubleshooting it, was undoubtedly a much greater challenge. For the most part, the collector was on his own and I wonder how much “salvaged” equipment ended up getting scrapped anyway in frustration. Now due to the efforts of dedicated enthusiasts and the internet, technical information is readily available but of course the actual hardware has gotten expensive. Obviously each period has its tradeoffs, but if someone had collected lots of stuff when it was free and kept it until the documentation and their knowledge caught up…
Click to expand...

Very good point. When I found my first PDP-11, we had absolutely no information about it. I had to rely on asking a lot of very dumb questions on Usenet (and some very kind and patient people who put up with them) just to figure out what exactly it was we had and how to get an ODT console. I don't think the PDP-11 Field Guide even existed yet.

Actually, I'm lucky I even had access to Usenet then. If I hadn't been at a university with access to a Usenet feed I would have been even more lost!
 
Yea, but it will be fun to watch! I’ll say it will go for $1,850.00 don’t know why just think that’s a good number. Occasionally you can find newer style PDP-8 systems over in the CNC machine tool sections that sell for way less.
 
See the stuff I just posted in another thread.
It's a real bargain price, if you are able to pick it all up in Colorado Springs!
Where else will you find an 8E *and* a VT05 ? ;-)

Pete
 
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