Something tells me this guy (http://cgi.ebay.com/AST-Premium-Exec-386SX-20-Laptop-Computer_W0QQitemZ230033145790QQihZ013QQcategoryZ60271QQcmdZViewItem) is going to be disappointed.

The nylon case AND manual may intice a bidding war!

Yes. I thought the description was helpful. It has a nice case and manuals, but apparently no RAM, hard drive or operating system.

According to this article (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1154/is_n9_v79/ai_11205314) from 1991, the AST laptop in question came with 2Mb of RAM (with maximum of 8), a choice of 20, 40 or 60 Mb hard drive, MS-DOS 5.0, a VGA grayscale screen and 2400 baud modem. List price: $2995 :mg:

Perhaps the seller is hoping the smithsonian will buy it for the evolution of technology exhibit. It could be the missing link.

I'm saving my ebay allowance for this (http://cgi.ebay.com/BOEING-737-CUSTOM-27-PASS-EXECUTIVE-CONVERSION_W0QQitemZ300030604181QQihZ020QQcategoryZ63678QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem):

Is that even a collector's item?

I claim not to understand the problem.
Milton Keynes is the home to Bletchley Park, the home of the world's first proper computer (Colossus, the beast used to crack the German Enigma codes in World War 2).
Bletchley Park now contains a museum of cryptology and computing containing equipment I remember as cutting edge, Sinclair Spectrums and the like.
Do you know how exciting/depressing it is to hear your grandchildren expressing horror that their grandfather was an adult before he even saw a pocket calculator?

I have harbored a desire to obtain a Commodore 64 in near mint condition.

I suspect that at some time this and others like it will become collectors items, and to have one in working order would be phenomenal.

I've looked at some on the auctions, but haven't taken the plunge.

James

The items that are most likely to be valuable in the future are those which are in shortest supply, and are good early examples of what later became widespread in use. One example that comes to mind is early examples of portable computers, such as the Osborne (http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html) and early Compaq portables.

Do you know how exciting/depressing it is to hear your grandchildren expressing horror that their grandfather was an adult before he even saw a pocket calculator?Back in 1970, I got my first portable electronic calculator. It cost $300.00 and blew up on the second day when I walked across the carpet and zapped it with a jolt of static electricity. The retailer replaced it twice more in the first month before cutting me off and giving my money back! It was about the size and weight of a house brick and only had four functions - add, subtract, multiply, divide.

Last week I bought a calculator the size of a double thick credit card. It had 5 functions (square root added to previous four), solar battery, and cost $1.00, including sales tax!

I'm saving my ebay allowance for this (http://cgi.ebay.com/BOEING-737-CUSTOM-27-PASS-EXECUTIVE-CONVERSION_W0QQitemZ300030604181QQihZ020QQcategoryZ63678QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem):What will I do with my airline miles if I buy it with my credit card?:notme:

What will I do with my airline miles if I buy it with my credit card?:notme:

Upgrade your flights: http://europetravelnews.com/2006_09/1196_virgin-atlantic-worlds-first-frequent-flyer-astronaut/

I have harbored a desire to obtain a Commodore 64 in near mint condition.

I suspect that at some time this and others like it will become collectors items, and to have one in working order would be phenomenal.

I've looked at some on the auctions, but haven't taken the plunge.

James

If you do, let me know. I may still have a few disks laying around....
Jerry
(Sold a few Amiga disks on eBay, my old copy of Workbench 1.2 made someone really happy)

If you do, let me know. I may still have a few disks laying around....
Jerry
(Sold a few Amiga disks on eBay, my old copy of Workbench 1.2 made someone really happy)


I have a TRS 80 Radio Shack computer stored away.

I personnally know of a possible sale for the laptop.

In 1999 I was assigned to review the potential Year 2000 problems in our manufacturing plants. Up until that time Information Technology was only looking at the coding in their programs and had not thought about computers that ran operations. When I audited the R&D department I found out they were using similar computers to store critical database information. There was state of the art software technology that was better but would require an upgrade to new, more powerful hardware. R&D was too cheap and did not want to spend the time it would take to switch to the new software. There solution was to stock up on the old computers and as one died replace it with another.

Since I was going to lose my job after the project was over, I just warned them of the risks, documented their solution and moved on to the next audit. I have always wondered if they actually carried through with their "solution".

Bill Pflanz

I personnally know of a possible sale for the laptop.

{snip}

Bill Pflanz

A friend of mine manages a restaurant and they had been using an ancient point of sale system, circa 1992. It ran DOS 3.3 on an IBM AT. I supported it in exchange for food/drink. I cleaned out my closets of dot matrix printers, serial port cards and other relics I've collected over the years to keep it going. It was not even Y2K compliant, so they had to set the date back in the 1990s to keep the day of the week right. Customers often complained that they could not expense things as their receipts showed 1997. They finally replaced it about six months ago.

Well look at the price of a USB floppy $50-$100. Internal floppies are about $14. I feel it was a conspiracy on the part of the CD/DVD guys to convince us that we needed them to get by. My new laptop didn't even have aspace for one so I was forced to by the USB just to transfer info from my old PC. It was before jump drives. Couldn't live without that little gem.

Good luck finding that. Although my old Nintendo still works. And don't forget the Kaypro X.

Bill, I can sympathize - as part of prep for Y2K, I was able to justify upgrading the computers controlling our tensile testing equipment. When I got to the comany in 1995 they were using IBM 286 computers with 5 & 1/4 floppies as the only disk & they operated in a dusty mill environment - by 1999 we were having trouble with batteries - couldn't find replacements for worn out ones, newer computers 486 & up were not compatible with the version of the testing program we were using, etc., etc.

Luckily, Y2K was the final straw and to ensure capability to continue to test product we upgraded the base control packages and interfaces, as well as the testing program and the controlling computers - Total package was about $300k. The updated programs enabled a lot better tracking and analysis of resulte :)

I personnally know of a possible sale for the laptop.

In 1999 I was assigned to review the potential Year 2000 problems in our manufacturing plants. Up until that time Information Technology was only looking at the coding in their programs and had not thought about computers that ran operations. When I audited the R&D department I found out they were using similar computers to store critical database information. There was state of the art software technology that was better but would require an upgrade to new, more powerful hardware. R&D was too cheap and did not want to spend the time it would take to switch to the new software. There solution was to stock up on the old computers and as one died replace it with another.

Since I was going to lose my job after the project was over, I just warned them of the risks, documented their solution and moved on to the next audit. I have always wondered if they actually carried through with their "solution".

Bill Pflanz


It seems a little strange for the R&D department had that vision. To them maybe research and development only applied to the things products/services an organization is making/providing rather than the tools used to make those products/services.
:confused: :confused:

It seems a little strange for the R&D department had that vision. To them maybe research and development only applied to the things products/services an organization is making/providing rather than the tools used to make those products/services.
:confused: :confused:

I never said they were a world class R&D. The part you missed was that they were considered an expense not an asset.

Actually the better story I like to tell is about using computers in the refinery. The operators can't smoke so they chew tobacco. They have to spit the juice somewhere so they used styrofoam cups. One day I went to use the computer and noticed this brown stuff all over the keyboard. Yes, you guessed right. Someone had knocked their cup of tobacco juice on the keyboard. It still worked but I let the operator type the data in for me. :drool:

Those were the good old days.

Bill Pflanz