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want to see if these are worthe anything

jared1977

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
43
My dad runs a parts store and has These Crt's from the early 80's or late 70's used from a part store business. The crt's are monochrome monitors And all of them work. We have the 2 of the original computers for the busness also. But we might not be able to sell them since the company does not want its software released. we are located in Iowa usa. The computer with the crt's from his business are tams computer system. And we threw half of them away allready.


This Data general/tams computer does run on its own operating system

And i guess the first one my dad put in his store was around 1983 maybe a little earlier or later. I don't know a exact date when they started making this computer for his company and later i will find out if he has more then 1 of the crt's.


Another thing is these computers were connected to the part store warehouse since the date they were first made. So it wasn't internet but they did dial up thru the phone line and buy parts from the warehouse without making a phone call.

This computer is a pentium 100 This computer use unix
 

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What kind of crt terminals?

Also what are the original computers? I used to run across parts systems from Triad at auto parts stores.
 
i guess there might only be 1 crt left the others might have went to the junkyard allready. It has a 25 pin terminal that says host under it. Tams is the computer company and its Napa auto parts store systems. These computers were only used by Napa auto parts.
 
We have the 2 of the original computers for the busness also. But we might not be able to sell them since the company does not want its software released. we are located in Iowa usa. The computer with the crt's from his business are tams computer system. And we threw half of them away allready.

It is quite easy to delete software, and then you write zeros to the space so nothing can be recovered. Hopefully you will do that so as not to be wasteful. Of course you could just remove the drive, but the old ones are hard to replace. I'm sure you know how to erase using delete, deltree, or format, but here is the readme for ZERODISK.EXE

The zerodisk command is used to erase those blocks of disk space
which are presently unused, but may still contain information from
removed files. If a device name is given, that device's unused blocks
are zeroed, otherwise the device containing the current directory is
zeroed. Any existing files are left untouched.
Possible reasons for using zerodisk are to protect outdated but
sensitive data, or to make it easier to track down lost disk blocks
if some future need should arise.
Zerodisk should be very safe to use, as it works by simply writing
zeroes to a temporary file until there is no more space left on the
given device, and the operating system is not bypassed.

This is just an example to give you some idea. There are lots of other programs which can be used for this sort of thing. I'll post the above program for you if you ask here.
 
Can you post photos of the computer and the display monitor?

In many cases the name label on the computer is not the manufacturer's name, and photos will make it clearer what type of computer it is and possible who the manufacturer was. If it was truely a a late 70s and early 80s computer, it would be a pre-IBM computer, and would be something that I'd be interested in. The applications software for the auto parts has got to be hopelessly outdated and obsolete. I can't see how the Auto Parts wholesaler could get upset, because nobody could use the program or the catalog, they'd be hpoelessly outdated. Besides, the applications programs and proprietary information can probably be erased without erasing the computer's operating system. And yes, in operable condition the computer would be more valuable.
 
If we deleted the operating system wouldn't that devalue the system?

Installing an OS is usually trivial. All versions of DOS since the beginning are readily available to all of us here and we don't think twice about putting a machine together from scratch. In any case, to my way of thinking it is more a matter of saving some history - though I admit I'm not familiar with the machines in question. Also, these old machines often require a low level format and it is actually just routine maintenance to reinstall the OS.

Edit: If this machine requires a special operating system which cannot be found, then yes, the value added by having it is very high. Otherwise not so.
 
Ok i guess the crt says data general on it. This computer i'm taking a picture of is not the old original computer. But a newer version of the computer. I was told he might have one of the old ones at one of his buildings. The crt is a old original version. adding a photo of the tape drive cause its a really odd one also for this system.
 

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Hi All;
Yes, Software for the Data General, is fairly easy to get.. If You need anything, Just ask and I can most likely get it for you.. Go to Wild Hare Computers on google or your favorite search engine.. Bruce Ray who runs it and I have known each other for years.. I helped Him Transfer many a file from Paper Tape to his Database, many years ago.. And He came by just yesterday..
THANK YOU Marty
 
the dust is free And this system was a newer version with a cd drive i found out he might have destroyed all the ones from 1984 and only kept this one. We found 3 crt's 2 old ones and a new one. Also if you boot it up it says 1984 tams corporation so the computer was really started to be produced in 1984. They all were destroyed from the napa stores. The cd drive was added on to this computer system also that did not originally come with it. I know listing it for 15k and no reserve might be a little to cheap since the system costed over $10,000 new. Any way good luck bidding.
 
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Eh, don't think it's necessarily a real laughing matter. He didn't know what it was and was guesstimating based on original value. So you'll be getting a flood soon about the lack of value. While original cost if always fun information to have system like cars decline in value over time until they hit a certain age or rarity then they can start creeping back up from the value of $trash. I'm not really sure about the main computer but it seem you have a Data General terminal which is one thing, and it connects to some more modernish computer to run the car part software. Best of luck with auctioning it off. I don't foresee it getting to that type of price but perhaps it could end up at a few hundred I would guess. Next time you might just list it low, you can set a reserve if you really want but let the public bid and you'll see what street value it might have to the right people. If you went ahead and scrubbed it down it would likely raise the perceived value as well.
 

It looks like a terminal and a regular old commodity white-box PC. Were the terminals at the sale counter somehow networked to the PC in the back room? I think 15K is probably a bit optimistic for what I'm seeing, not to mention everything is automotive shop filthy. This doesn't look like anything particularly interesting, rare or vintage.

uncommon≠valuable.

The last time I ended up with anything like this, it was an IBM PS/2 model 50 that ran the Hollander interchange software for a junkyard. The PS/2 at least had the virtue of being an interesting piece. IIRC I paid ~$40 on ePay. Meaning no offense to the OP, I probably wouldn't take that greasy whitebox PC if offered free.
 
Yes the picutures we took in the back in of a shop that is dirty. Did you look at the ebay auction? This computer has its own operating system that is unique completly And it was released and built in 1984. The cd drive you see on the picture was added to the computer at a later date. This computer has dos and the tams programing both on it. Its dirty because it has been in the backroom for 12 years+ now. In 1997 these computers became replaced and you could no longer use them. This is not a window's computer it never even had a option for window's


i just found out this computer is a pentium 100
 
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The fact that it's a DOS PC with an automotive shop program loaded on it does not make it worth anything close to $15k, and you could dang well have bothered to clean it before listing it.
 
This computer has dos and the tams programing both on it.

As I mentioned I bought an IBM 50z that had PC-Dos and a Hollander interchange program on it from a junkyard. I paid $40. I never said anything about windows, just that the machine looks like a bog-standard PC.
 
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