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What are the top 10 rarest vintage computer bits you own?

This will probably sound pretty modest compared to many of you, but here's m
- Spea HiLite 1024 (Texas Instruments TMS34020 video card)
- A TVM MD-11A monitor (maybe not that rare but I can't find any informations about it on the web except some I uploaded myself)
- Nvidia NV1
- A compaq 5"1/4 floppy drive that can properly write to 1.2MB AND 360KB disks
- Gravis Ultrasound MAX
- Compaq Deskpro 590XL
- Windows 98FE upgrade edition on floppy disks in french
- 8" floppy disks from the late 70's and 80's
- New old stock MO disks
- A dual head S3 video card
 
A few favorites of mine from my collection:

Applied Engineering Phasor Card for Apple II
CMS SCSI card with internal 40MB SCSI drive for Apple II (uses a quantum laptop drive from early mac laptops)
Transwarp card for Apple II
A trio (2 working) of SCSI Emulator SE SNES Development Units - an NEC V20 based In Circuit Emulator for the Super Nintendo
Compaq Portable II (needs recapping) and a Portable 3 upgraded to 386 (still have the 286 board set)
An IBM 5150 with 5151 and a 5170 with 5154.
A TRS-80 Model 3
Commodore 128 with a 1084D1
 
I can also add these to my list:
- A MOS TIM-1 from 1975.
- Atari Night Driver PCB from 1977 (unfortunately broken and not working at the moment).
- Newton Apple 1 NTI with original components. The board is not rare, but the components are (and >95% are date correct). Contains a white "spider-legs" 6502 from 1976.
 
I dont collect much "variety" of older computers but;

TRS-80 Model I
TRS-80 Model III
TRS-80 Model 4

many under various state of repair and restorations depending if one is for a commission or not.
 
My Random stuff

My Random stuff

  • Data General Nova (1) (Pre-production Prototype one of the first #20)
  • MicroBee's .. quite a few
  • Atari Falcon030
  • Amiga3000UX
  • MITS Altair 8800, MITS Altair 8800 clone.
  • VAXStation 4000/m96
  • Amiga's ..there's a lot
  • SGI Octane2 (Octane 1's, O2's, Indy's ..fleas on a dog)
  • IBM RS/6000 MCA gear
  • HP9000/G40 (!)

Quite a bit more, but that's my Top10.

"..the hoarding gene is strong with this one."
 
White Ceramic Intel 4004
2x White Ceramic MOS 6502 with RoR bug
White Ceramic Intel 4040
2x Purple Ceramic Intel 8008
White Ceramic Z80
White Ceramic Intel 8080 (non a/b version)
Signed by Woz Apple 1 (replica)
2x MITS Altair 8800 Rev 0 and Rev 1
Sol 20
3x Popular Electronics January 1975 issue
Altair Basic 1.0 on paper tape (copy)
Altair Basic 3.2 on paper tape (original)
Altair Basic 4.0 on paper tape (original)
Various MITS Altair programs on paper tape (original)
All MITS Computer Notes Issues
Various Autographs (Gates, Shockley, Woz, others)

All in custom made shadow boxes and never intend to sell.
 
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White Ceramic Intel 4004
2x White Ceramic MOS 6502 with RoR bug
White Ceramic Intel 4040
2x Purple Ceramic Intel 8008
White Ceramic Z80
White Ceramic Intel 8080 (non a/b version)
...
All in custom made shadow boxes and never intend to sell.

That is an interesting/desirable chip collection. I've got a good number of 4004/8008/8080's, but the only sort of rare ones that I have are a MIL 8008 in purple ceramic/gold that works, and a VEB U808 in plastic that might not (to be fair, my 8008's are run with a slightly out of Intel spec two phase clock in my designs and it may not have liked it).
 
That is an interesting/desirable chip collection. I've got a good number of 4004/8008/8080's, but the only sort of rare ones that I have are a MIL 8008 in purple ceramic/gold that works, and a VEB U808 in plastic that might not (to be fair, my 8008's are run with a slightly out of Intel spec two phase clock in my designs and it may not have liked it).

Both of my 4004s are black dot grey trace. Both have very early date code ( I'm told ).
Dwight
 
As far as rarity goes. I had an original complete in bag copy of Ultima from 1981 published by California Pacific Computer that I just sold last September. That was probably the rarest Item I owned...
Wish I had the chance to get Richard Garriott to sign it.

Second to that would be my 1970 Wang 700 Electronic Calculator.
 
You have one of those!? I’m jealous! I have wanted one of those beasts forever. The tape drive and dual-line Nixie display are just too cool!

It was given to me from the owner (3rd generation) of an architechtural firm who started working on it in 73 when he got out of college. He gsve me some documentation and binders of programs on cassettes. Did you know it uses core memory? Only thing i own thst has any. Ill evetuslly do a complete restore on it. Funny thing was i was there to pickup an MAI Basic 4 computer and while i was there he asked if i wanted that too. I wss far more excited about the wang. This one also came with a wang badged ibm typewriter for printing. Guess i will have to figure out how to restore that too.
 
As far as rarity goes. I had an original complete in bag copy of Ultima from 1981 published by California Pacific Computer that I just sold last September. That was probably the rarest Item I owned...
Wish I had the chance to get Richard Garriott to sign it.

Second to that would be my 1970 Wang 700 Electronic Calculator.

Oh, didn't know you relisted that ultima? I remember you had a problem with bidders and thought you just put it on the backburner. Or did you sell it privately?
 
Oh, didn't know you relisted that ultima? I remember you had a problem with bidders and thought you just put it on the backburner. Or did you sell it privately?

Yeah i ended up relisting it. Only got $1800.00 So wasnt too thrilled on final price considering it was a complete set. I really should have just sat on it.
 
Here is a curiosity I have. It's an S-100 SC/MP CPU board, a prototype I believe. It was made by Applied Technology (who later went on to make the Microbee) in Sydney, Oz, circa 1980-81. It was thrown out as it was a failed etching. Some tracks are pretty much gone.
Applied_Technology_S100_SCMP CPU_board_front.jpg Applied_Technology_S100_SCMP CPU_board_rear.jpg
 
Probably not the rarest or most desirable stuff around, but still not stuff I see a whole lot.

10.) XT-IDE 1.0 - I don't know if anyone's still using these anymore. I bought mine sometime around 2010 and it lived in the case my 486 is now as an IBM Industrial PC in clone clothes at that time. Now it runs in my Tandy 1000 with a 3GB Seagate from a NEC Ready 9522 Tower. I'm still running with the firmware I put on it way back when and as of late seeing frequent use with as much as I'm BBSing with my Tandy 1000 these days. It seems most people are using Lo-Tech and newer variants aimed at CF cards. I'm still running nothing but oldschool PATA and occasional adapter'd SATA in my oldschool boxes these days. This was the one the forms sold back when we were called just "Vintage Computer Forums"

9.) A Mac SE FDHD with a still working original 20MB HDD, manuals, 2 original Mac SE mice, and even a Trackball whose brand escapes me at the moment that has a passthrough for the keyboard or to run it inline with a regular Mac mouse (which is what I usually do). I hardly play with this setup though because I want to find a NIC for it but those seem to be worth the Ark of the Covenant on e-bay so I never even bother to offer for them.

8.) A boxed copy of Las Vegas Super Casino for Windows 3.1x on CD-ROM and 3.5. My friend who restores thinkpads gave me this a few years ago. Kind of neato to see this kind of budget software in it's original packaging with original documents all these years later. Actually, probably the more interesting stuff I have that's not common is working boxed software.

7.) A huge lot of Sierra Adventure games in the original boxes I bought for a buck each back in the 2000's. Seems like someone around South Everett dumped off their Tandy 1000 and associated equipment around that time. Within that period, I found Emporers BeQuest, Triple Pack, Kings Quest III and IV in individual boxes, The Black Cauldron, Space Quest I & II in their respective boxes with stuff, and Police Quest I (I have II on the triple pack with Hoyle Card Games and Manhunter II), and a original copy of Manhunter.

6.) A sealed Linksys Ether16 LAN card from the 1990's, ISA. I found 3 of these at the south Everett Goodwill in the late 2000's, I've used 2 (in my 286 and 486 currently). But I kept one in the shrinkwrap. I don't think you'll find ISA cards shrinkwrapped in the original box that much anymore. But hey, I could be wrong. The shrinkwrapped is the "open in case of emergency" one.

5.) I have a boxed copy of OS/2 2.1 with Win OS/2 and Multimedia Extensions that came with 5.25, 3.5, and CD-ROM editions. I still install it periodically but I' have never really fully explored it. I picked it up waaaaaay back in the early days of Creeping Net circa 2001-2002ish. Most of the time I tend to isntall it on VMs on my Linux box to play around every once in awhile. Still has all the manuals as well, though missing the 3.5" install media.

4.) NEC Multisync II JC-1402HWA 14" CRT - I've been blessed by having TWO NEC Multisync 9-pin monitors in my time, but this one is my favorite. I saved it from a pitiful fate in a scrap pile at Computer Surplus in Redmond in 2017 and all I had to do was bodge-wire the input board back together and it's been a real workhorse on my vintage PC's ever since. It's the first monitor I ever actually tore down and fixed, and it's been rock solid. What's really cool is it works with my VGA systems, as well as the CGA Tandy 1000, and EGA systems I might run across if I'm lucky (kind of wish I had my Deskpro 386 again).

3.) The XT Case on my 486. I bought it from bjsurplus in 2004 on e-bay, and that's the only place I've ever seen one other than davejustdave's youtube channel - which I suppose he bought the same case from the same place I did as it seems they had that thing on E-bay for almost a decade at least. It's kind of an odd design that is made to be able to offer 4x half height or 2x full height slots like an XT, or the covers can mimic a "Mini-AT" look by leaving the middle two external drive bay covers in place for a hard drive(s). Of course, I use all four since I soup the heck out of my systems.

2.) The AT Case on my GEM 286, which I believe is Songcheer brand like my XT, but more deluxe. It has an odd chocolate milk-ish hue rather than beige. I've not seen another one like it until E-bay this year, which is about 15 years since I bought the 286 in 2005. It also interestingly is powder coated on the inside the same color and texture as the back cover, and the front plastic is molded in white but painted gray from the factory. Bland subject, yeah, but most AT clone cases I've found are either trying to copy IBM by being black in back or having a plastic bezel in really rare cases like the AT originally had, while most are plain bare steel. GEM Always had weird cases on their stuff, my favorite is still the full AT clone of a Compaq Deskpro 8086 case my GEM 386 had years ago.

1.) Tandy Deluxe Mouse - I have this on my Tandy 1000A, I just got it, and I've been looking for it for a little over 10 years so far off/on. I was admittedly a little scared off from it by the TV Dog Tandy 1000 FAQ due to it's limited movement but I actually find it to be quite a nice and useful addition, though it does indeed handle differently than a regular mouse. Hoyale Card Games for DOS has gone from being a "Why the heck do I have this" game to one of my favorite DOS card game collections, esp with the proper Tandy 1000 sound.

Whats funny is the most valueable stuff to me are my ratty or well used stuff like my frankenstein 486 XT box with Case in #3, the NEC, and my original VGA release of Monkey Island in beat to hell box with a bolted-together Dial-A-Pirate wheel that is STILL - after 30 years - a staple on EVERY Creeping Network PC I deploy on my home LAN.
 
I don't think I have 10 ultra rare ones, but here's my short list:

Enterprise 128. It's a Z80-based machine built to compete with the ZX Spectrum in the UK. There's no particular manufacturer, all that's known is a group of Hong Kong businessmen were behind it. It came out in 1983 which was a bit too late so it was a market failure. Leftover stocks were purchased by the Hungarian government to be distributed as school computers - but that never happened, they were sold in retail instead. Many Hungarian kids grew up on the Enterprise, and it's indeed very nice little machine of remarkable qualities.

Videoton TV Computer. A Hungarian built clone of the Enterprise from 1986. I'm fairly sure I own the only working specimen in North America. It's a perfect representation of the Eastern Bloc: a well designed, but poorly built computer based on the East German clone of the Z80, way behind contemporary Western models (the Amiga 1000 and the Atari ST were already out by this time!) but it survived solely due to the weird state of the market of the 1980's. Hungarians were not allowed to possess Western currency or import Western computer technology. Although these restrictions were largely disregarded both in East and West and Hungarians flocked to Austria to bring home all kind of consumer goods, it was still not that easy to get your hands on a good computer like a Commodore 64 or enough Austrian schillings to buy one. The Videoton TVC was sold for Hungarian currency, in Hungarian stores, and for about half the price. Software support was mostly crap, but there was a dedicated user community porting ZX Spectrum games to it. It's still fairly popular even today, although few working examples survived mainly die to poor workmanship.

An ORIC Atmos. Alas it's only the machine, I have no PSU or anything else.

Acorn Archimedes. The obscure 16 bit competitor to the Amiga and the Atari ST.

Hmm, I think that's all... The rest I have aren't that mindbogglingly rare, though some aren't the most common either. Unfortunately I still have most of them packed away in Budapest, waiting to be shipped over to Montreal someday. I could open a museum when they arrive.
 
1) Apple II Rev-0 with toggle power-supply

You're the only other person I've come across who owns one of those. I have Serial #1195. It was given to me gratis, along with the red and blue books. All my rare systems were freebies - never quite understood that tendency.

Others:
  • KIM-1 in anodized industrial case
  • Apple Lisa 2/5
  • Apple ///+
  • Commodore SuperPET
  • Dimension 68000
  • Corvus Concept
  • Commodore SX-64
  • Ohio Scientific Challenger 1P
 
I have an exidy sorcerer which I found in the dirt at a waste dump in amazing condition considering where it was.
Came with the S-100 expansion bus and ome disk drives.

Might be restoring it future.
But have to focus on the 5160 project for now.

Good to be here.
 
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