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PC jr's

B

Big Blues

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
73
Well, the deed is done. I'm now the very happy owner of a couple PC jr's and other misc hardware/software. I met Gary (aka Despair) down at the Michigan/Ontario border today. Unfortunately he got caught up in Canadian customs for a couple hours while they tried to figure out what a PC jr is worth. I just waited wandering around Sarnia ON. Lots of fun for both of us!

Anyways, we eventually hooked up and Gary gave me the whole lot. He wouldn't take anything for the equipment, or gas - very friendly guy!

I might need to bug someone with Quad Jr experience (I'm looking your way Mike) to try getting the Quadram guy going. It's disconnected, and while it has the installation manual, there's a slight problem. They want a power cable connected to the sidecar, only there's more pins on the female connector than the male. The female has all wires present and soldered to the board (and both outside edges are labeled, one 12v one 5v).

Joel
 
Ok, after looking at the Quadram again (on a full stomach this time), I could see that two wires almost went back to the board but not quite. So it was obvious how to connect the connector.

So now I have an almost-working Quadjr. The second floppy works like a charm, and the other devices appear to work. However, it still only posts 128KB of RAM. The memory expansion board is installed in the Quadjr, and the connection looks good to the sidecar. All socketed chips are sitting nicely.

I tried the Tecmar Jr Captain on the other Jr and it still posted 128 KB too.
Argh!

The old family Jr. has 640 KB (via single modified IBM sidecar). Speaking of family, tomorrow we're planning on going to visit the family, so I'll probably grab some more software.

Joel
 
Good deal on the rescue. So, what do the customs people think that a PCjr is worth? ;-0

The Quadram is identical to the Racore/Rapport units of the time. Failure on the memory daughtcards is fairly common. (I'm not going to be near my machines for two weeks so I am of limited help if you try to trace wires or anything.)
 
I have to laugh at the idea of some customs agents scratching their heads for two hours deciding what a PC Jr. is worth!
 
The final verdict was $150 for 2 x PCjr's, various sidecars, software, 2 monitors, and keyboards. It wasn't "this is what we determined", but rather "How does $150 sound?" They had no clue :).
 
Ouch.

If you didn't pay anything for them, they should have been declared a gift and the duty would have been $0.

Oh well, they should go through 150 bucks in about .0075 seconds.
 
They didn't buy the whole gift thing (even though it's essentially what it was). Besides, gifts are < $60 so I guess they were out to prove that it was worth more than $60.

According to a coworker, it was taking people 5 - 6 hours to get through customs at Niagara Falls that weekend. He saved 1.5 hours by going through the duty-free shop. He said they were pulling aside every 4th car or so.
 
What, by guessing?

I can show them proof that a working IBM PC jr with infrared keyboard is worth 7.16US, the accompamying working monitor is worth .99US, because that's what the ones I auctioned went for.

If they wanted 150 bucks for duty for the lot (and i don't know if or what you actually paid for the items themselves, not delivery, etc.) I would have told them, fine, buy them then. What a racket. Picking numbers out of the air for stuff that they probably didn't have the slightest clue about.

Did they even bother to ask either you or Despair, both of whom would have a better idea as to the value of the items, what they were worth?

Hell, they could have got on e-bay and looked at completed auctions to get a fairer idea of the average going price.
 
Well, the duty on the $150 was $8 or thereabouts. Gary (Despair) insisted on picking up the tab. He wouldn't take any gas money either. Nice guy indeed!

So the total cost was gas for me, gas + $8 for Despair. I'm guessing that my 1.8L engine may have consumed less gas than his 5.7L Hemi.


Druid6900 said:
What, by guessing?

I can show them proof that a working IBM PC jr with infrared keyboard is worth 7.16US, the accompamying working monitor is worth .99US, because that's what the ones I auctioned went for.

If they wanted 150 bucks for duty for the lot (and i don't know if or what you actually paid for the items themselves, not delivery, etc.) I would have told them, fine, buy them then. What a racket. Picking numbers out of the air for stuff that they probably didn't have the slightest clue about.

Did they even bother to ask either you or Despair, both of whom would have a better idea as to the value of the items, what they were worth?

Hell, they could have got on e-bay and looked at completed auctions to get a fairer idea of the average going price.
Click to expand...
 
Joel,

Every owner needs the bumper sticker!

PCjr_bumper_sticker_thumbnail.jpg



Go here for the bigger version:

http://www.brutman.com/PCjr/images/PCjr_bumper_sticker.jpg
 
Mike, how about printing a sticker for your work PC: "My other computer is a PCjr"? Thinking about it, a whole series of such stickers could be mass-produced. Maybe "My other computer is a Cray" sounds more impressive.
 
The bumper sticker that I have is real - 20 years ago from Computer Reset, which is still in business. (I have their permission to post it.)

I don't think I'd make up a new bumper sticker like that and put it on my car. Classic computers are not exactly mainsteam yet, and I don't want to be a target. ;-)
 
If you had $1,000, you could buy a fully new and complete PCjr with all the required hardware accessories from them today. If only the PCjr was able to be perfected compatibility-wise, that would be worth it.
 
mbbrutman said:
Joel,

Every owner needs the bumper sticker!

PCjr_bumper_sticker_thumbnail.jpg



Go here for the bigger version:

http://www.brutman.com/PCjr/images/PCjr_bumper_sticker.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the wife would think ;).

Say, I meant to tell you. My wife was nice enough to bring a beer down to me in the basement a few days ago. The only problem is that she forgot these bottles need an opener (no twist-off). I was about to go back to the kitchen to open it when I spotted my trusty PC jr bottle opener on the table. Useful and collectable!
 
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