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An Apple 1 motherboard, a 79-year-old TV and the only surviving processor of the last supercomputer designed by Seymour Cray are being auctioned in New York.
The 1936 Baird television set may not work and delivers a huge electrical charge of 5000 volts.
But it could still fetch between $20,000 (£13,000) and $30,000, according to auctioneer Bonhams.
The Apple 1 has a starting price of $300,000.
Do you have any vintage pieces you'd like to sell in the auction? Are there any items you'd like to add to your collection?
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Vintage Tech Goes Under the Hammer
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a policeman's tie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @08:44AM
Other people tend to steal stuff and smash it with hammers. The lesson is not to have stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @09:15AM
Electric charge is measured in Coulombs. /pedantic
A cathode ray tube typically requires 1kV per diagonal screen inch.
A 5000V acceleration potential can be found in a TV with a 5-inch CRT, so "huge" is relative.
Now, a set with 27-inch tube would be something that definitely demands respect.
...and a CRT makes a nice capacitor that can hold a charge for several hours if there is nothing to bleed that off.
...then there are the sets where the high voltage regulator isn't working properly and a bit more of the raw high voltage gets out to the more-accessible bits.
(Always keep 1 hand in your pocket when working with HV.)
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday September 22 2015, @09:23AM
I once had the misfortune to touch a 27kV feed from a TV line transformer. It won. I found myself on the other side of the room with a nice burn mark on my forearm.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:32PM
We need a +1 Ouch! moderation.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 22 2015, @09:45AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @12:43PM
I was working (actually I was screwing around) on a battery powered flash for a camera, didn't think something powered by 2 AA batteries could hurt me. I touched the wrong lead and woke up 20 minutes later 6 feet away from where I was.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @04:59PM
*unscrewing around
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @04:10PM
The capacitance of CRTs is intentional. The graphite coating (aquadag [wikipedia.org]) on the sides forms one of the electrodes, and the anode is connected to the other electrode, on the inside of the tube. I once got a shock from a CRT that had been disconnected for weeks.
(Score: 2) by nukkel on Tuesday September 22 2015, @07:41PM
Ah, childhood memories.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @11:33AM
I had a collection of miscellaneous computers from the 80ies and 90ies (no, not simple junk), which I almost all donated to a local computer museum. I'd rather hope this can help teach kids about computing rather than me making a small buck out of them.
The hardware went from an Atari 2600 via Dragon 32 and Atari ST, Commodore Amiga to some Suns, DEC Alpha, SGI, NeXT hardware. I did keep most of the x86 stuff and a Sun Ultra 10.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @08:12PM
You have made me think of another recent news item.
The JKL Museum of Telephony [google.com] in Mountain Ranch, California near the town of San Andreas was destroyed on September 10, 2015 by a big-ass wildfire [wikipedia.org] that has been burning since 2015/09/09 and has consumed tens of thousands of acres.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Tuesday September 22 2015, @12:39PM
Two weeks ago, I found a full set (7) of 3.5-inch Windows 3.1 installation disks. As I do have access to a licensed .iso through the company I work for, I have no need for them. Anyone interested?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @12:46PM
I have those, and some of the "Big Blue" disks, remember those? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Blue_Disk [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:30PM
I don't know about those, but on this side of the pond (W-Germany) we had something similar for the C64: Magic Disk and Game On [magicdisk64.de]. Holy mackarel[1], I just found out that they even offer downloads (e.g. http://www.magicdisk64.de/magicdisk90.htm). [magicdisk64.de] That's where I got all my games and utilities from.
[1] "Holy mackarel" sounds a bit off to my ears. I chose it instead of "holy stratosphere" (Robin)
(Score: 1) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 22 2015, @01:19PM
Windows 3.1 is very common, but thanks for keeping an eye out for old software. There are many thousands upon thousands of software titles, often produced in small numbers, that are rotting away on 5.25", 3.5", or 8" disks, or even tape media. Often they have boring titles involving accounting, databases, or word processing, but they are still worth preserving. And there ARE people who want them.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @01:54PM
There is a project (I can't remember the name) on the web that collects old floppies and backs them up for historical safekeeping, not the internet archives or way back machine.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:26PM
There are actually several, but with different focuses:
* Software Preservation Society - the group that produce the Kryoflux, mainly focuses on games.
* Bitsavers - Mainly focuses on pre-PC workstations and "big iron".
* WinWorldPC - A growing collection of vintage microcomputer OSes and productivity applications.
* BetaArchive - A private collection of mostly Microsoft and Beta software.
* Vetusware - A random un-curated collection of user-submitted software.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Jiro on Tuesday September 22 2015, @03:58PM
There's Total DOS Collection, which tries to collect images of all the DOS-based games. It covers games only, of course, but I'd expect that it would include the majority of floppy disk based games. An up to date torrent exists but is fantastically difficult to find.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 22 2015, @04:50PM
Right, and now that I think of it, there are a few others worth mentioning:
* Macintoshgarden - focuses on early Mac Software
* Asimov archives - focuses on everything for the Apple II.
* HP Computer Museum - As the name implies, focuses on early HP machines, with software and manuals for machines like the HP150.
And there are many other smaller sites that focus on specific systems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @07:00PM
If I could only find the full version of LHX Attack Chopper! There was a hack to get the full version out of the demo, but I forgot how long ago.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:36PM
I found my 4 cdrom set of Slackware 96 from Walnut Creek. I wonder if that would be a collectors' item.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 22 2015, @04:48PM
However, it doesn't beat what's on my 8" floppies - don't make me get out my 8" floppies and find the CP/M boot disks...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Tuesday September 22 2015, @04:44PM
I think I have boxes of OS/2 Warp; 30 floppy disks. I think they were given to me as blanks... I have boxes of them somewhere. every now and then one shows up in an unexpected place.
If no one wants your windows 3.1, then make sure they don't get 3.11 or OS/2 Warp For Windows will break! (my disks are the straight OS, though...)
(Score: 1) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 22 2015, @01:43PM
There are lots of different people with different interests. And there are lots of rare and underrated machines out there.
There is a lot of general interest out there in any pre-IBM PC system. Altair, PET, Apple II, C64, TRS-80, etc. Quite a bit of interest currently in genuine IBM PC 5150, XT 5160, AT 5170s, and for reasons I can't quite fathom :) even IBM PS/2s.
Personally I'm on the lookout for an Eagle PC-1 - The second IBM PC compatible clone after the Columbia Data Products 1600. Eventually I might also look at getting an original Compaq Portable (the third, and more successful IBM PC clone). Don't have piles of money to spend on them though.
There was an Altos 8600, a large multi-user Xenix system, on eBay recently. If they had brought the price down some more I might have considered grabbing that. It didn't seem to sell and they have not re-listed it. I hope it didn't wind up in the scrap pile. :(
I know of someone over at the vintage computing forum who is looking for a Durango Poppy PC. Similar to the Altos, it was meant as what we would these days call an office server, and produced only in small amounts. Keep in mind just because it won't boot an MS-DOS disk doesn't mean it wont work! machines like this are not meant to be IBM PC hardware compatible!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @08:26PM
That was back in the day when "clone" makers were scared that Big Blue would sue them into oblivion for being too similar, so they would make their boxes ~99.9 percent IBM-compatible.
There's an even more memorable element to that company's history:
The Dangers of Success
The day scheduled for the IPO, the company's president wrecked his new sports car and killed himself. [wikipedia.org]
-- gewg_
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @02:23PM
Definitely panicked for a second, thinking that these things were going to be smashed by a literal hammer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @11:49PM
Me too, except maybe not literally smashed with a hammer, but trashed.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Tuesday September 22 2015, @03:36PM
I first learnt to program on one of these, then moved on up to a Commodore plus/4. Ah those were the days.
If I had the room and the money, I would have a look at buying them to play with.