Gibsaw wrote:You lucky sod. You'd be one of the few who did. I think it'd be fairly accurate to say that most of us end up having to buy everything again after our original machines suffer their original obsolescence and disposal. I've spent a fortune on Apple II's after giving away my originals to another collector in the late 90's... including quite a lot of software I wrote as a teenager. (Which I would dearly love to get back.)
True, seems to be normal. It's more surprising given that I traded in inexpensive older machines in the late 80s and early 90s. Just buying, repairing and selling to make a bit of pocket money. When I sold one of my own daily-use machines, it was generally for a specific purpose. My original ][+ I sold to trade up to a //e, which I then sold to trade to a Platinum //e (which is the one I still have, boxed and all). The SVI 328 I sold in 1990 before going on an overseas trip, just for funds. I ended up buying another one in the late 90s I think, and ended up with a pile of them in the end. Actually, I probably had about 200 sq m packed with classic computer gear until a few years ago, when I decided to concentrate on the machines that meant something to me personally (ZX81, SVI, Apple 2, and original Mac).
I have my original disks as well, some dating from about 1980. The amazing thing was despite the squashings and bendings they suffered in my schoolbag, they still read OK (not that I read them often at all). In fact, same with my SVI tapes. I didn't expect to be able to read them, but they all worked fine last time I tried. Just good luck I think.
mrad01 wrote:I think I was the only Spectravideo user in the town I was from. We didn't have any arcades, so I spent my time re-writing games I had seen from trips to the city.
Interesting - where were you? I got into SVIs because relatives in Whitianga (Coromandel Peninsula) had one, which they bought from a place called Piaggi Computers in Thames.
mrad01 wrote:Wow, you have apple IIs. Trying to buy one is really really hard! I'm trying every contact I have to see if I can get one. Gibsaw is helping me out currently... I'm keen to build up a collection of well preserved (or restored) machines from the 1977->1990 era - should be fun! Falco, If you ever want to spare one of your Apple IIs - please let me know!
In a way I'd be happy enough to move the things on, but the trouble is that they aren't all that reliable. Fortunately I have lots of //e spares, and ][+ machines are pretty much entirely off-the-shelf parts, but actually doing the repairs can be fairly time-consuming. If I have a big stack of spare machines, I don't worry about that sort of thing so much. Also, I'd really like to set up a small vintage computer lab type thing, with a variety of running machines. I'm sure that'd involve a couple of different configurations of each of my favourites!
One thing that does surprise me is the prices that standard Apple 2 machines are going for these days. I never really expected the things to appreciate in value, but there's a fair bit of money in that pile now.