I did it. I have really gone and done it.
Barry Watzman
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110421935385
Tom Lake
"Barry Watzman" <Watzma...@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:h5g5e2$86r$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> This will be interesting to watch.
No it won't.
Tom Lake
commodorejohn
> This will be interesting to watch.
this. What does the seller think this is, Jesus's toenails?
Barry Watzman
I want.
Secondly, I don't know what it's worth. I could make the argument that,
if it sells, I priced it too low. I have every RIGHT ... in fact, I
have a DUTY (to myself ... which is perfectly valid) to get as much for
it as I possibly can.
Thirdly, have you ever seen an IMSAI system go on E-Bay for $2,500? I
have. For $4,500? I have (although I think that's absurd, it has
happened).
How many of those systems are there in the world? There have been 3
IMSAIs on E-Bay IN THE PAST 30 DAYS. There have been HUNDREDS (perhaps
thousands) of IMSAIs on E-Bay in the past 10 years.
Value is a function of rarity. How many 86-DOS packages of ***ANY***
completeness have there been on E-Bay in the past DECADE? I HAVE NOT
SEEN ***ONE***. EVER.
Frankly, I think you are just jealous.
I may have this item priced high, but I'd rather start high and come
down (or not sell it at all) than sell it "cheap".
And if you don't like it .... I won't hold a gun to your head or force
you, in any other way, to buy it.
BTW, I would pay more for this than for Jesus's toenails. Even if they
were genuine.
Barry Watzman
interesting it already has gotten.
Tarkin
> See, I told you it would get interesting. Two hours and look how
> interesting it already has gotten.
Please tell me you imaged this, and have the image
stored somewhere safe. That is truly a historical item,
and really ought to be preserved in a museum.
As for the pricing, hey - it's a free market!
(I now longer kid myself about a free country).
TTFN,
Tarkin
commodorejohn
> Please tell me you imaged this, and have the image
> stored somewhere safe. That is truly a historical item,
> and really ought to be preserved in a museum.
www.schorn.ch/cpm/intro.php) has an image for SIMH, and Dave's Old
Computers (http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm) has an
IMD-format image.
Barry Watzman
I'm not going to tell you that I imaged it.
The auction has 67 views in 12 hours (which 12 hours occurred
overnight). :-)
But no bids :-(
Yet.
I honestly have no idea what this is worth. Maybe it should have been a
"Sothebys" item that might have sold for many tens of thousands of
dollars; maybe no one will pay more than a couple hundred (in which case
it is not going to sell; this goes for multiple thousands or it doesn't
go at all). I had to drive a line in the sand somewhere.
[For anyone who doesn't know, Southebys is a high-end auction house that
auctions rare art, coins and one-of-a-kind items that are worth in many
cases tens of millions of dollars. Think Picasso, DaVinci or Michael
Jackson's stage outfits.]
I doubt if most will appreciate the subtlety of what I have done in
terms of the auction format; it's not obvious how much thought went into
the format or what I did and why, but there is much more to what I did
than meets the eye of the casual observer. I may discuss that in more
detail "later" (after the auction ends).
Still, I suspect that even if it doesn't sell, I have added some
information to the knowledge base on 86-DOS simply by offering this item
with the photos. Auction format not withstanding, I put a lot of effort
into the presentation, as I promised (several weeks ago) that I would.
Barry Watzman
My auction includes five different versions.
Jim Higgins
<Watzma...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>First of all, it's my item. I am perfectly entitled to charge
>whatever I want.
True.
>Value is a function of rarity.
Not so. It's a function of supply and demand. No demand and the
rarest of items is valueless.
>BTW, I would pay more for this than for Jesus's toenails. Even if they
>were genuine.
Well... at least it seems to have a bit more utility than Jesus's
toenails.
dott.Piergiorgio
> To both sell it and keep a copy would be a copyright violation. So no,
> I'm not going to tell you that I imaged it.
>
> The auction has 67 views in 12 hours (which 12 hours occurred
> overnight). :-)
>
> But no bids :-(
re. also your 16.30 post, I guess that you somewhat have deserved this...
boasting "w0w R@re" and hiding behind nonsensical copyright laws for
justifying what at the eyes of the fellows of this NG is an exploiting,
is at least a crude form of trolling,
But, reading you write below, I suspect you have simply done some form
of naivety... I hope that you don't end conned or swindled in your
selling, sincerely.
Good luck from Italy,
Dott. Piergiorgio.
MdntTrain
> "I did it. I have really gone and done it."
Please have more descriptive subject lines so people who don't want
their time wasted won't be lured in by a teaser title.
Anyhoo, now that I have been lured in, my feedback:
>I am perfectly entitled to charge whatever I want.
Yes, you are.
>I have a DUTY ... to get as much for it as I possibly can.
You, you do.
>Thirdly, have you ever seen an IMSAI system go on E-Bay for $2,500?
No, I myself haven't.
>How many of those systems are there in the world?
Probably thousands.
>Value is a function of rarity.
Rarity AND demand.
>I'd rather start high and come down ...
Logical.
>BTW, I would pay more for this than for Jesus's toenails.
I'd pay more for a Jesus' toenail, just because I know I could resell
it for millions.
jS
Barry Watzman
Barry Watzman
Howard Harte
Hello Barry,
nice auction, I hope it sells. For what it's worth, the disks can be
imaged using even a modern PC given the right motherboard, a special
cable, and suitable 8" floppy drive. This is how I imaged 86-DOS
1.0. Once the image is made, it is trivial to extract the files using
SIMH. Once the files are extracted, it is easy to re-assemble the
monitor and I/O portion of 86-DOS for any of the disk controllers
supported by SCP. The SCP assembler will even run under Windows XP,
if run from the root directory, as early DOS did not support
directories. How's that for backward compatibility.
The disks can also be easily imaged using a CompuPro system with a
DISK1A controller, using a small program I wrote that dumps the
sectors out in ASCII Hex format over a serial line. I also have a
program to convert that output do a disk image. If anyone wants that
program, let me know.
So in fact, you don't need any real hardware to run these OS.
Here is an open offer to whomever wins this auction: I will be happy
to help image these disks for backup purposes, and make them run in
simulation.
-Howard
Tom Lake
> it for millions.
I'd bid on them if they had an image of a grilled cheese sandwich on them!
Tom Lake
Herbert Johnson
> nice auction, I hope it sells. For what it's worth, the disks can be
> imaged using even a modern PC given the right motherboard, a special
> cable, and suitable 8" floppy drive. ...
>
> The disks can also be easily imaged using a CompuPro system with a
> DISK1A controller, using a small program I wrote that dumps the
> sectors out in ASCII Hex format over a serial line. I also have a
> program to convert that output do a disk image. If anyone wants that
> program, let me know.
http://www.retrotechnology.com/dri/howto_cpm.html#dunfield
My "how-to CP/M" Web page, points to Dave Dunfield's "imagedisk"
software tools page. His page has instructions for connecting 8-inch
drives to some PC's, tools to test those PC's, and more. The
"imagedisk" program reads diskettes to create image files, which are
usable by many emulators, or which can regenerate the disk on someone
else's PC with similar drives. Less well-known, are Dave's tools to
deal with older systems which have drives or controllers beyond simple
PC-compatible use. THese tools run "native" on such systems, and
upload or download information on a serial line to a PC which creates
or reads the disk image in that fashion. Such tools are unique per
system, but all sources are available to adapt them to yet other
systems.
Dave's imagedisk is a widely-used tool in the CP/M community and its
use, and tools associated with it, should be encouraged. Dave has
accumulated many system "boot disks" thanks to these tools, which
support the restoration of original hardware, or the operation in
emulation of original software. Two good reasons to mention Dave
Dunfield's work, when relevant. I do it via my Web page, which also
has information about how to bring up CP/M - relevant enough here, for
anyone who wanted to bring up the 86-DOS on the disks in discussion.
Herb Johnson
retrotechnology.com
Curtis McCain
> See, I told you it would get interesting. Two hours and look how
> interesting it already has gotten.
>
This may be the most action comp.os.cpm has seen in quite a while!
Bill Buckels
I am.
>BTW, I would pay more for this than for Jesus's toenails.
Understood. But Jesus's toenails would probably sell for more.
Barry Watzman
1,000 this evening (it's over 900 now) .... a huge number in terms of
E-Bay auctions (it's only half over and usually the number increases at
an increasing rate).
Of more significance, the number of people who are actively "watching"
the auction is just shy of 3 dozen. The rule of thumb on E-Bay is that
if an item has 20 watchers, it will sell. Not sure that applies in this
case, however.
What will really get interesting, if it doesn't sell first, will be what
happens on Friday evening (48 hours before the auction ends) when I add
an "or best offer" feature to the auction. Offers are valid for 48
hours, and I won't add it until 48 hours before the auction ends. No
offer will be accepted until within the last 1 minute of the auction,
although I will reject offers which have already been exceeded by
another offer immediately. Actually, I'm kind of close to a decision
not to sell the item [at all] for much less than the asking price
($7,500). But that's when I will really find out what it's worth
(excluding the possibility that I under valued it and that, had I set
the price higher it would ultimately have gone for even more).
Dave Griffith
> This will be interesting to watch.
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110421935385
If it doesn't sell, would you consider donating it to the Computer
History Museum? I sent some pre-Microsoft Altair BASIC paper tapes
there a couple weeks ago.
--
David Griffith
dgr...@cs.csbuak.edu <-- Switch the 'b' and 'u'
Barry Watzman
Barry Watzman
glen herrmannsfeldt
< No, sorry. I am not in a position to make a 4-figure "donation".
Well, we don't know yet that they are that valuable, but
then we also don't know that they aren't.
Personally, I think it is a little high, but maybe not
a lot too high.
-- glen
Barry Watzman
There is ZERO doubt in my mind about that point. The item IS that valuable.
[note: "4-figure donation" .... = $1,000.00 or more. Not necessarily
$7,500.]