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

Some of these are in storage for obvious reasons, but I do visit them and bring them to computer festivals...
1. Apple-1 in Original Byte Shop case with Datanetics Keyboard and original 1976 VM4209 monitor.
2. Apple II rev-0 with ventless injection foam case
3. Sol-20 w/Helios II
4. Scelbi 8H board set with orig docs (boards are installed in my replica chassis with replica ram boards instead of half dead single original ram board)
5. Altair Rev-0 with 8080 (not 8080A) and Cromemco dazzler.
6. (Two) TI Silent 733 ASR with tape drives, I actually have a TI silent fetish and own a lot of different models.
7. HP 35 - Red Dot Calculator (sort of a computer like object), I collect HP calculators but I think this is the rarest one.
8. Mac 128k, ok not that rare these days as they seem to be like tribbles and keep multiplying.
9. Apple Lisa 2/10, would love to find a Lisa-1 but not willing to spend the cost of a new BMW.
10. (Two) Pennywhistle modems

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, I tend not to sell things when I find something rare or really cool...

Cheers,
Corey
 
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Once I finish my basement conversion to a retro computing office / personal museum I am going to buy lots of Philips/Magnavox. Until that time I am space constrained. My office is bad enough as it is and spilling over into the dining room. Not a good place to be in with the Mrs.

I wish my Gateway Pentium III box was as nice as yours! Mine had a hard life and even after a lot of cleaning still doesn't look the greatest.
 
6. (Two) TI Silent 733 ASR with tape drives, I actually have a TI silent fetish and own a lot of different models.

I'm with you on this. They are great little terminals. Have a couple of 703's, 745's and I've just managed to pick up a 707/1200 :)

What's the history behind the Scelbi 8b board set?

Cheers,
Dave
 
What's the history behind the Scelbi 8b board set?

Had to make a slight correct, Scelbi 8H, not B. Had a brain fart.

As to how I found it....
Well someone saw one of my TV appearances and emailed me if I was interested in a Scelbi board set. It wasn't cheap. This was one of the sets that didn't have a backplane, just the boards. So I checked the boards for shorts, and inserted them into my replica chassis. Everything worked after I adjusted the clocks except the included single ram board which has a bunch of ceramic 1101 chips which are bad. Worse they are soldered into the board. I decided until I can find enough ceramic 1101 that match, I'm not going to touch it. Plus it's only 1k, you can't really do much with 1k, my monitor program is 256 bytes so doesn't leave much for programs, plus I have one of my replica ram boards hooked up with a 1702 on a switch makes booting the 8H easy so I don't have to spend 20 minutes toggling to do anything.

Cheers,
Corey
 
1. Modula Research Corp. Lilith
...
6. Apollo DN420
...

I used to be the sysadmin and power user on a small network of DN420s at LSI Logic. The memories! Argh! I'm actually glad I never succumbed to the temptation to bring my work home with me in that case! We had DN420 Serial number 00013. It was a Mentor Graphics Idea Station.
 
Well, I don't have 10 super rare items, but maybe 2 or three notables.

1. IBM 3270 AT/GX - These are rare enough, but it also has a NS32016 Opus card that boots SYSV Unix and runs Valid GED. This may be the last Opus card that still has its CAD software.
2. Ohio Scientific C2-OEM - Just big, dumb and ugly, but a fun experiment. I ported the Basic Adventure game to it (Colossal Cave). I wrote a printer driver in 6502 Assembly code.
3. Signetics Instructor 50 - Yet another SBC touting the capabilities of a CPU that went nowhere fast.
4. SYM-1 6502 SBC - probably not so rare, but it also has the KTM2-80 SBC keyboard/monitor in a homebrew case.
 
Apple Interactive Television Box, but with an actual video card installed in the option slot. Most likely a development system but I could never get a signal out of the card though (but the machine otherwise works).

MacIvory 3, in a IIci.

BeBox/133.

Oddball HP 425t workstation, already an odd duck to begin with, but this one has a PA-RISC upgrade (and doesn't run Domain/OS, though the keyboard port is still there, connected to nothing).

Alpha Micro E450.

Commodore TV Games systems (both the 2000K and 3000H).

Commodore 1551 and 1570 disk drives.

Canon Cat.
 
I've mentioned it before, but the rarest thing I have is the Bank Street Music Writer board, a PC version of the Mockingboard that was only bundled with Bank Street Music Writer.

Do you have pics of it anywhere of the front and back? I'd be interested in seeing them. I have the Apple II Mockingboard that came in the Bank Street Music Writer package but I am guessing that's fairly common.
 
ClassicHasClass;537395 Canon Cat.[/QUOTE said:
I have Canon Cat and one of the original development Cats with wood case and two drives. I have source code for version 2.40 and have modified my Cat to be able to meta compile compile it ( don't have source for the spell checker. That was confidential Canon ).
 
I have Canon Cat and one of the original development Cats with wood case and two drives. I have source code for version 2.40 and have modified my Cat to be able to meta compile compile it ( don't have source for the spell checker. That was confidential Canon ).

I've actually relied on some of your stuff, but I would love to get in there and really start hacking on the thing and/or get some different types of applications running on it. It's just a unique way to do computing.
 
My list of stuff I haven't seen on anyone's list yet.

1. Kim-1 with KIMSI S100 expander
2. CPU Systems CPU-8 (Fairchild F8)
3. IBM 7690 Nursing station (PS/2 based)
4. IMSAI 8048 Control Computer
5. Bill-1 (8008 based)
6. Processor Technology Sol-PC
7. Zeus 80 (Z80 based)
8. Elenco Agvision (Tandy Videotex)
9. Tiger Learning Computer (Apple II based)
10. Viatron System 21
 
Since I collect DEC, most of it's from them and I don't always collect anything with silicon either, I basically collect a company. So in no particular order:

SCSI/FDI Adapter for MicroVAXs/VAXservers/VAXstations (is a bit buggy...)
Several issues of Quorum, which was a VAXcluster Systems periodical.
At least a dozen issues of the Digital Technical Journal.
A few issues of DEC Professional magazine.
A new employee packet from around 96 to 98.
The Digital At Work history book.
Executive Summary for the Aquarius/VAX 9000 line.
Two catalogs for TEMPEST secure systems and options.
 
I no longer have anything rare. I did have a handful of prototype 3dfx cards. I also had alot of industrial system form the mid 90s. But over the last few years I sold most everything off.
Now the rarest thing I own in a first gen 1x DVD ram drive.
 
My list of stuff I haven't seen on anyone's list yet.

1. Kim-1 with KIMSI S100 expander

I've got a KIMSI as well, but I haven't done much with it yet. I need to build it a cage.

Related to that I have an AIM-65 and something that calls itself a SuperKIM. It's a mess of wirewrap and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'll get around to getting it working sooner or later.
 
According to eBay, everything I have is rare - including my Commodore 64 and Vic 20. ;)

I've got plenty of rare computer related cards, accessories, etc., but they're utterly boring. They're rare only because not many were made. There's no point in listing them here. (anybody want a Magni 4010?)

Most of my rare stuff these days is keyboard related such as:

1. 1971 Micro Switch SW keypad (NOS)
2. 1974 TEC terminal keyboard (Clare Pendar)
3. 1974 Micro Switch NW keypad (NOS)
4. 1974 Decision Data 8010 keypunch keyboard (Micro Switch SW)
5. 1980 Teletype Model 40 keyboard
6. 1978 Micro Switch SD teleprinter keyboard (NOS)
6. 1980 IBM 3278 beam spring keyboard (APL)
7. 1981 IBM 3278 beam spring keyboard (white keypad)
8. 1979 Cherry Pro M7 keyboard (NOS)
9. 1980 Cherry M7 ITT/Apple II replacement keyboard (NOS)
10 1979 Data General Dasher D2 keyboard (Key Tronic)

Other rare:
1981 DEC GIGI
1979 DEC VT100 with Datasystem 150 keycaps (VT100 is not rare, but keycaps - and unyellowed condition are)
1979 IBM 3279 terminal
Viper 520 accelerator for Amiga 500 (not so interesting now that Vampire is out)
Memotech MTX500 (or is it common?)

I have many items that are not rare, but their condition is (perfect condition, never used, original box): TI-99/4A, Atari 800XL, TRS-80 Model 100, Tac-2 joystick, and at least 8 different vintage trackballs & mice.
 
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My list of stuff I haven't seen on anyone's list yet.

1. Kim-1 with KIMSI S100 expander
2. CPU Systems CPU-8 (Fairchild F8)
3. IBM 7690 Nursing station (PS/2 based)
4. IMSAI 8048 Control Computer
5. Bill-1 (8008 based)
6. Processor Technology Sol-PC
7. Zeus 80 (Z80 based)
8. Elenco Agvision (Tandy Videotex)
9. Tiger Learning Computer (Apple II based)
10. Viatron System 21

That's quite a list. That IBM 7690 has quite a "late-80's future" look to it. (and I'd rather live in late-80's future than the 90's future :p)

I never even heard of the Elenco Agvision. How strange, that's nearly the same colour I planned on painting my Apple II. (until it got lost in shipping)
 
According to eBay, everything I have is rare

This is a great point! Which means everything we have, even the most basic SCSI cable, is rare! :p

I've got a few molex power cables with a DEC part number tag! It's rare! Hard to find! It's up for a bidding starting at $50 on eBay!
 
Another to add to my list:
MA2800
MA2016 2ea
MA2732
MA2000 ( with battery damage :( )

These are modular, stackable computer parts.
See National 1984 data book, section 12.
The processor was the NSC800 that had the 8085 bus with Z80 instructions. I also have a Forth language module, not listed in the data book. I may try to recover the power pack some day.
Dwight
 
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