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What is this? Post Photos of Mystery Items Here (vintage computers only)

Huh, weird, the description for the supposed 8008 board is almost identical. Surely they couldn't all be from the same system?
 
Wow....the bidding for that...8008 thing?...has gotten, um, kind of insane! I am a HUGE fan of homebrew stuff and am lucky enough to have a couple examples in my collection, but I guess I'm missing someone with this piece. What exactly are people thinking this thing actually is?
 
They aren't after the device. That's disposable to them.
It's chip collectors. They want just the 8008. I've seen people buy calculators and other devices just to pull the CPU and discard the rest.
 
Well, that's what I thought when the bidding was around $200 but the only valueable ic visible in the photos is the 8008 which I know can go for a couple hundred but this is something else. Maybe it's a super early 8008? Whatever, got to chase after your dreams 💫
 
From http://www.cpu-zone.com/8008.htm
The G8008 was sold to Godbout Electronics in Oakland for use and sale in the hobby market

https://www.cpushack.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VintageIntelMicrochipsRev4.pdf

The “Godbout” G8008
I requested information on the G8008 from the Intel Museum and the Museum referred me to Hal Feeney.
Feeney led the design team that built the Intel 8008.
Hal Feeney responded by email “The package you are referring to is an Intel 8008 in the grey (almostlack) ceramic cavity package. The package bears no Intel logo identification nor any date code because these devices were special reclaimed “functional only” (with no voltage or temperature margins and no guarantee) units. These devices were sold to Godbout Electronics in Oakland for use and sale in the hobby market. We selected the special marking so that none of the devices would ever find their way into the normal Intel distribution channel. You are correct; the devices were picked up at the front door (or either Santa Clara I or Santa Clara II on Bowers Avenue) with payment by check or, perhaps, cash. The devices were selected from functional devices that failed margin testing and were marked “G8008”. In fact, the package in the photo may even have been a cosmetic reject because of the large chip out of the area near the index mark.” (Hal Feeney, email dated 06/24/2002)
In reference to the rarity of the G8008, Hal Feeney answers “there were very few devices marked and sold to this [hobby] market, perhaps a few hundred to a thousand. Again, these were not early production devices. The timing of the sales could easily be late ’73 or early ’74. Godbout dealt in scrap materials from the semiconductor industry. In one of the scrap shipments, he found unmarked devices, opened them to determine what was inside, and then tested some and found that they were functional. One of the devices he found was the 8008. He contacted Intel and we were willing to sell him some specially marked “functional only” devices because his markets did not compete with any of the traditional Intel sales
channels.
 
Last edited:
Qbertnix said:
From http://www.cpu-zone.com/8008.htm
The G8008 was sold to Godbout Electronics in Oakland for use and sale in the hobby market

https://www.cpushack.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VintageIntelMicrochipsRev4.pdf

The “Godbout” G8008
I requested information on the G8008 from the Intel Museum and the Museum referred me to Hal Feeney.
Feeney led the design team that built the Intel 8008.
Hal Feeney responded by email “The package you are referring to is an Intel 8008 in the grey (almostlack) ceramic cavity package. The package bears no Intel logo identification nor any date code because
these devices were special reclaimed “functional only” (with no voltage or temperature margins and no guarantee) units. These devices were sold to Godbout Electronics in Oakland for use and sale in the hobby
market. We selected the special marking so that none of the devices would ever find their way into the normal Intel distribution channel. You are correct; the devices were picked up at the front door (or either
Santa Clara I or Santa Clara II on Bowers Avenue) with payment by check or, perhaps, cash. The devices were selected from functional devices that failed margin testing and were marked “G8008”. In fact, the package in the photo may even have been a cosmetic reject because of the large chip out of the area near the index mark.” (Hal Feeney, email dated 06/24/2002)
In reference to the rarity of the G8008, Hal Feeney answers “there were very few devices marked and sold to this [hobby] market, perhaps a few hundred to a thousand. Again, these were not early production devices. The timing of the sales could easily be late ’73 or early ’74. Godbout dealt in scrap materials from the semiconductor industry. In one of the scrap shipments, he found unmarked devices, opened them to determine what was inside, and then tested some and found that they were functional. One of the devices he
found was the 8008. He contacted Intel and we were willing to sell him some specially marked “functional only” devices because his markets did not compete with any of the traditional Intel sales
channels.
Click to expand...
Holy... I have a G8008. I didn't pay anywhere near that much for it. Had no idea it was a collectible beyond what 8008s normally go for, which is usually $100-200.
 

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falter said:
$1100! Wow that went way beyond what I thought would happen. I expected a couple hundred or so with the 8008 but not that much. Can't even really tell what it is!
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That's exactly what I said. Crazy that someone would pay that much for an ic just because of why it was manufactured, I mean I get and appreciate it's historical significance but that's a lot for an ic that is functionally no different than countless others that you can get for a 10th of it's price. Kind of frightens me as a collector, it's already hard enough for me to find pieces that I can afford on my budget. Not too mention things like this just make things worse by making other sellers think what they have is worth even more than they already think it is. When will the madness end!?!? 🤣
 
mountainking said:
That's exactly what I said. Crazy that someone would pay that much for an ic just because of why it was manufactured, I mean I get and appreciate it's historical significance but that's a lot for an ic that is functionally no different than countless others that you can get for a 10th of it's price. Kind of frightens me as a collector, it's already hard enough for me to find pieces that I can afford on my budget. Not too mention things like this just make things worse by making other sellers think what they have is worth even more than they already think it is. When will the madness end!?!? 🤣
Click to expand...
Probably not until a whole generation or two shuffle off the earth. I figure these things aren't really numerous, so even a small group of well off collectors can support prices indefinitely, especially if they're disciplined in their collecting and are only spending that $1000 for a cpu once in a while.
 
falter said:
Probably not until a whole generation or two shuffle off the earth. I figure these things aren't really numerous, so even a small group of well off collectors can support prices indefinitely, especially if they're disciplined in their collecting and are only spending that $1000 for a cpu once in a while.
Click to expand...
And really, who are we to talk, I'm sure the average person thinks spending even $100 on a computer that was considered obsolete before they were even born to be pure madness, or a waste of money at the very least. It's all relative. I collect a wide variety of things and I do it for two for two reason, nostalgia and being a part historical preservation, neither of which really have anything to do with a pieces current value as a functional product, though I do, whenever possible and "practical", try to use the pieces in my collections for their original intended purpose.
 
mountainking said:
And really, who are we to talk, I'm sure the average person thinks spending even $100 on a computer that was considered obsolete before they were even born to be pure madness, or a waste of money at the very least. It's all relative. I collect a wide variety of things and I do it for two for two reason, nostalgia and being a part historical preservation, neither of which really have anything to do with a pieces current value as a functional product, though I do, whenever possible and "practical", try to use the pieces in my collections for their original intended purpose.
Click to expand...
I'm not even sure for me it would qualify as nostalgia. Most of the machines I play with, I was too young to actually use or not even alive yet. It's more like visiting a museum.

As for this 8008 contraption.. would sure love to know what it did, if it was in fact some kind of computer or part of one.
 
falter said:
I'm not even sure for me it would qualify as nostalgia. Most of the machines I play with, I was too young to actually use or not even alive yet. It's more like visiting a museum.

As for this 8008 contraption.. would sure love to know what it did, if it was in fact some kind of computer or part of one.
Click to expand...
Nostalgia is probably the wrong word, I just mean that the stuff I collect reminds me of my childhood (I was born in the early-mid 70s), there were no computers even in my house til I was an adult (we did have an Atari 2600).

Yeah, I'm worried that the person who won that auction is going to pull that 8008 and trash the rest 😬.
 
mountainking said:
Anyone know this board or what company put it out? Date codes are mostly 1980. I really want to know what the ic with the "8085" sticker on it is but I don't want to remove the sticker (I prefer to leave the pieces in my collection in the same condition as when I found them) just seems odd that it has that sticker on it, right?
Click to expand...
[BUMP] No guesses as to who made this SBC? I had figured with all of the markings on the substrate that someone would recognize something.

I tend to look for the more obscure pieces, rare but not highly sought after, I can get turned off to pieces that everyone seems to want and those pieces are usually beyond my budget anyway so it works out, but maybe I'm going too far with the obscurity thing because I have quite a few pieces that I haven't been able to find any info whatsoever about which can make it hard or impossible to figure how to use something. I really need to get a new laptop so I can start dumping all of these eprom from these unknown pieces, I have both a vintage and a modern universal eprom programmer but my crappy Lenovo chromebook doesn't want to play with either of them...*sigh*
 
mountainking said:
[BUMP] No guesses as to who made this SBC? I had figured with all of the markings on the substrate that someone would recognize something.

I tend to look for the more obscure pieces, rare but not highly sought after, I can get turned off to pieces that everyone seems to want and those pieces are usually beyond my budget anyway so it works out, but maybe I'm going too far with the obscurity thing because I have quite a few pieces that I haven't been able to find any info whatsoever about which can make it hard or impossible to figure how to use something. I really need to get a new laptop so I can start dumping all of these eprom from these unknown pieces, I have both a vintage and a modern universal eprom programmer but my crappy Lenovo chromebook doesn't want to play with either of them...*sigh*
Click to expand...
Could be anyone's really. There were a million 8085 sbcs out there, and a million companies making them. Kind of interesting that the edge connectors look like they basically are just big grounds? That chip really got around. This board does kinda have a look to it though. Not homebrew but prototypical or low quantity.
 
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