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Zorba

Erik

Site Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
3,588
Location
San Jose, CA
I finally received. the Zorba I bought off of eBay. I haven't really played with it yet, but I did do a cursory check and the machine is in exceptional condition.

The case clips to hold the keyboard on aren't quite right, but otherwise I couldn't find a flaw.

The manuals for the machine and the software are in great shape and the "learning" cassette tapes were included as well as a carrying case.

The only thing the seller forgot was to include the disks! He's mailing those separately so I should have them next week in order to actually run the machine.

The machine came in its original box with original packaging and the protective cards still in the disk drives - almost as if it were new and never used.

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance, both here and on my site.

Erik
 
Erik,
Glad you finally got it. Even better that you are completely satisfied. I kinda think you paid too much, but then, I am a cheapskate myself. I would still love to have a Zorba, especiallyn one that was as like new as yours. OTOH, mebbe $200.00 was not too much to pay for a new machine...

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote in message:

> Glad you finally got it. Even better that you are
> completely satisfied. I kinda think you paid too
> much, but then, I am a cheapskate myself. I
> would still love to have a Zorba, especiallyn one
> that was as like new as yours. OTOH, mebbe
> $200.00 was not too much to pay for a new
> machine...

I guess that's the thing with eBay. Maybe the
original asking price was $50, but others love to
jack up the price so that when you come along
you're paying that kind of money. But for what you
get, I guess that's not too bad.

As a matter of curiousity Erik, how often would you
check eBay for machines?

Cheers.
 
The 200.20 I paid for the machine was exactly my maximum bid. The guy who bid it up to that level had submitted exactly $200. $201 and he'd have won.

I usually don't bid that aggressively for machines but I really like pristine examples of what I own so this one was particularly attractive to me. I was hoping to get it nearer $100, but oh, well.

I do check eBay almost daily in the categories that interest me. I track some machines (mostly Altairs and Imsais but some other S-100 stuff too) in a spreadsheet to get a running feel for going prices.

Erik
 
"Erik" wrote in message:

> The 200.20 I paid for the machine was
> exactly my maximum bid. The guy
> who bid it up to that level had submitted
> exactly $200. $201 and he'd have won.

> I usually don't bid that aggressively for
> machines but I really like pristine
> examples of what I own so this one was
> particularly attractive to me. I was
> hoping to get it nearer $100, but oh, well.

Yes well unfortunately that's the sad thing
about eBay. But for the seller, it's an
attractive way of getting more for your
machine. If I went down to the local pawn
shop with my Amstrad, they would offer
me $5 bucks for it, however if I went to
eBay with it, it's guaranteed to fetch maybe
$100 aussie dollars maybe more. Normally
you'd post a link to the Amstrad newsgroups
which may help increase the price, since
it's been taken to the approate groups.

My talks about the Jupiter Ace has also
probably even increased the price of the
machine if someone went to eBay with
one because I've slightly increased the
demand of it! :-(

> I do check eBay almost daily in the
> categories that interest me. I track
> some machines (mostly Altairs and
> Imsais but some other S-100 stuff too)
> in a spreadsheet to get a running feel for
> going prices.

Sadily I read newsgroups &
messageboards too much. As I said,
occasionally you'd get an eBay link to
an Amstrad being sold in
comp.sys.amstrad.8bit, but since the
machine I'm really after doesn't have
anything like that it makes it difficult
to find a newsgroup offerning the sale
of one! :-(

P.S. Erik, I'll just add that I've just
visited a couple of eBay sites the
UK one (www.eBay.co.uk) & the
Australian one (www.eBay.com.au).

I was just wonderning if you know
much about buying computers from
overseas ones? Or if there are
European ones in English? As I
mentioned above I'd love to find
something as rare as the Jupiter
Ace in the Australian one, but they
would be more likely to show up in
the UK & Europe. I've noticed that
the eBay in the UK doesn't seem to
have a Vintage Computer Section
either, so looking in a section called
other seems to have an odd vintage
system with a lot of newer
computers! :-( Anyway, I've
book marked those sections in case
anything interesting comes up! :)

Cheers.
 
CP/M User said:
P.S. Erik, I'll just add that I've just
visited a couple of eBay sites the
UK one (www.eBay.co.uk) & the
Australian one (www.eBay.com.au).

I was just wonderning if you know
much about buying computers from
overseas ones? Or if there are
European ones in English?

The only European eBay in English is the one for the UK as far as I know. You can usually make out what's going on in the other languages and even resort to using the web based translators if you need to.

I usually try to avoid overseas purchases because shipping is very expensive and very very slow.

Erik
 
"Erik" wrote in message:

>> P.S. Erik, I'll just add that I've just
>> visited a couple of eBay sites the
>> UK one (www.eBay.co.uk) & the
>> Australian one (www.eBay.com.au).

>> I was just wonderning if you know
>> much about buying computers from
>> overseas ones? Or if there are
>> European ones in English?

> The only European eBay in English is the
> one for the UK as far as I know. You can
> usually make out what's going on in the
> other languages and even resort to using
> the web based translators if you need to.

Oh okay, so generally they aren't like a
site which provides for multiple languages.

One of my favourite CP/M sites is like this,
where the lady (Gaby) is German, but has
provided something for us English people
(which is nice of her).

> I usually try to avoid overseas purchases
> because shipping is very expensive and
> very very slow.

Unforuntely, I've only dealt with overseas
purchases through shops which sell
overseas! :-( There was just one instance
where I had to pay quite a bit for postage
& handling as well as sending a money
order. Because there is a few ways of
obtaining the goods, I'm a bit lost when
it comes to these other ways.

Cheers.
 
European purchases (eBay and otherwise)

European purchases (eBay and otherwise)

I've bought and sold a lot on eBay, and had generally positive experiences. I always check the sellers ratings, and if they are new (less than 10-20 feedback) or have quite a few negative feedback, I avoid them. Most eBayers would do well to sell several small items and get their ratings up before selling anything major... so they can get a decent price.

I've bought numerous items from overseas sellers (and have sold there as well). The most expensive shipping is from the UK. Brazil seems very cheap, and Australia is fairly decent. Other European countries aren't too bad.

===================================================================
Ed Kearn
1631 SW MacVicar
Topeka, KS 66604 (785) 232-3331

http://www.gateman.com/
http://www.gateman.com/friends/ The Topeka Friendship Network
http://www.gateman.com/grabbag.html (free stuff)
http://www.gateman.com/museum/ The Topeka Computing Museum
===================================================================
 
Ahh yes... original topic was Zorba!!

Ahh yes... original topic was Zorba!!

And yes, I've got 2 of them--and very proud of it!!! They are terrific machines--and hard to come by. The amazing thing is their ability to read various versions (I believe 7) of different CP/M disks... like Kaypro, etc.

===================================================================
Ed Kearn
1631 SW MacVicar
Topeka, KS 66604 (785) 232-3331

http://www.gateman.com/
http://www.gateman.com/friends/ The Topeka Friendship Network
http://www.gateman.com/grabbag.html (free stuff)
http://www.gateman.com/museum/ The Topeka Computing Museum
===================================================================
 
The hardest part about getting this machine is that I haven't had a moment to play with it yet! Preparing to move and moving is an amazingly time consuming process. I've literally got a 2 page honey-do list for just this weekend alone!

Everything with the Zorba is in new or near-new condition, though, so I expect it to work when I first turn it on. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed, anyway)

Erik
 
Re: European purchases (eBay and otherwise)

Re: European purchases (eBay and otherwise)

"gateman" wrote in message:

> I've bought and sold a lot on eBay, and
> had generally positive experiences. I
> always check the sellers ratings, and if
> they are new (less than 10-20
> feedback) or have quite a few negative
> feedback, I avoid them. Most eBayers
> would do well to sell several small
> items and get their ratings up "before"
> selling anything major... so they can get a
> decent price.

That sounds great. Well for the seller! :)

But it's good you can see what the seller is
like I guess.

Unfortunately, I've had a bad experience
with a seller who had a good record. So as
you can see, it can happen. At least with
eBay the seller knows that he actually has
the product. If he doesn't, then he's
cheating you.

> I've bought numerous items from
> overseas sellers (and have sold there as
> well). The most expensive shipping is
> from the UK. Brazil seems very cheap,
> and Australia is fairly decent. Other
> European countries aren't too bad.

Okay, so I was just wonderning how much
different this was from say buying
something from a company like Amazon
or an online bookstore & is it a simple
case of paying the postage & handling
for some overseas goods & it being done
or must the correct postage & handling
be selected. I just seem to think that
with an online company that it has less
complications when it comes to that to
say & small business or individual.

Glad to hear Australia's on your list, it
helps our currency! (-; But the main
thing is that you're getting your stuff.

when you say you've been selling to
other countries, is this while you're
overseas?

Sorry if I sound silly.

Cheers.
 
Re: Ahh yes... original topic was Zorba!!

Re: Ahh yes... original topic was Zorba!!

"gateman" wrote in message:

> And yes, I've got 2 of them--and very
> proud of it!!! They are terrific
> machines--and hard to come by. The
> amazing thing is their ability to read
> various versions (I believe 7) of
> different CP/M disks... like Kaypro, etc.

Heh! That's great. Two Jupiter Aces would
have made your day (these are extremely
rare!) ;-)

Cheers.
 
Zorba Web site

Zorba Web site

Hi all,
I have created a Zorba Web site for all that's left of the Zorba.

Does anyone have any software/documentation they might want to contribute?

www33.brinkster.com/zorbacomputer
 
newtonian said:
What's a fair price to pay for a Zorba?

That depends a lot on condition and completeness.

A like new in-box Zorba with original manuals, software, etc would probably run at least $200 and likely more than twice that depending on the buyer.

A busted up, non-working Zorba with nothing else might fetch $20 or so.

That probably doesn't help a lot, but it's the best I can do without additional information.
 
Plus, there are several models, with different drive configurations, including 96-tpi, and a model with hard drive. There's also at least one model with MSDOS compatibility, although, I'm under the impression that the 8088 board is just an SWP add-in.

--T
 
My Zorba powers up, but the screen is pretty much dead, as I recall. Am I missing something very obvious here? Physically, it's in decent shape otherwise.
 
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