Subject: Collectors worldwide, UNITE!

From: Tore Sinding Bekkedal <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 16:20:01 2003

Over the weekend, a thought has been taking shape inside my head:

What if we made a Grand Unified Union of Computing Collectors? Okay, GUUCC
doesn't pronounce well. "Geeewkhkh". (shudder) How about Collector's
International Association... Erm, nope. ;) International Computer Artifact
Preservation Society! ICAPS sounds good. Or, if you totally disagree with
it all, send a suggestion.

OK, www.ipacs.org. What should it contain?

	-A member's directory with all the computers he/she owns
	-A directory of computers
	-A knowledge base revolving around all of the computers.

For example, a user should be able to:

Search for "6-611"

1 Machine found.

Siemens 6-611 (198?)

1 Owner found.

Tore S Bekkedal

One would then click the entry link, and open up a window with pictures
and specs etc, and there would be interesting links regarding that
machine, downloadable boot images, etc, etc.

If one clicked the owner, one would see other machines in his collection.

There should also be a "Market" where people could exchange spares, and
machines etc.

Also an "Opportunities" "Map" where you could see pickup opportunities?
Companies should be able to "Donate" to the organization whereupon an
entry would appear on the "map".

IPACS would also allow for sharing of storage space, people splitting the
bill for major warehouses?

Any suggestions, alterations, criticism, etc, etc, most welcome!

-Tore

"Why O why must I always write an interesting quote below my name? Can't
I write something about toenails? Or are they interesting as well?"

---

From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Mon Jun 2 16:35:00 2003

> 	-A member's directory with all the computers he/she owns

My first worry about this is that some machines are now quite valuable 
(e.g. on E-bay), and having a public list of owners might attract the 
wrong sort of attention...

There are a few machines that I own that I will not _publically_ admit to 
owning (not even on this list), altough it's sometimes fairly obvious 
that I've at least worked on one. I know of other collectors who feel 
likewise about their rarer artefacts.

> One would then click the entry link, and open up a window with pictures

Thus ruling out all peopls who don't have digital cameras or scanners...

> bill for major warehouses?

Does this need to be formalised in this way. If 2 collectors are going to 
share storage space, I guess they must live pretty close together and 
therefore know each other anyway.

-tony

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From: "Fred N. van Kempen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 16:44:00 2003

> 	-A knowledge base revolving around all of the computers.
Hmm.  This actually does sound good.  It *could* help us prevent
silly things like knowledge from getting lost, in a somewhat more
organized form...

--f

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From: "J.C. Wren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 17:26:01 2003

What kind of machine could one possibly not admit to owning?  That's seems 
pretty wierd.

	--John

On Monday 02 June 2003 17:28 pm, Tony Duell wrote:
> > What if we made a Grand Unified Union of Computing Collectors? Okay,
> > GUUCC doesn't pronounce well. "Geeewkhkh". (shudder) How about
> > Collector's International Association... Erm, nope. ;) International
> > Computer Artifact Preservation Society! ICAPS sounds good. Or, if you
> > totally disagree with it all, send a suggestion.
> >

---

From: "Keys" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 17:35:01 2003

That sounded strange to me also, I would be proud to tell anyone about my
collection.

---

From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Mon Jun 2 17:54:00 2003

> 	What kind of machine could one possibly not admit to owning?  That's seems 

MAchines that are _extremely_ rare spring to mind. Perhaps machines that 
exist as prototypes only, ones that were never officially sold, things 
like that.

How many people would publically claim to own a PERQ 3a, a PERQ T4, an 
HP95C, a DAP, a 370/E (which is not an IBM machine!) or something like that?

-tony

---

From: Mail List <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 18:32:00 2003

> What kind of machine could one possibly not admit to owning?

a PC ?

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From: Tothwolf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jun 2 21:21:00 2003

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003, Tony Duell wrote:

> > What kind of machine could one possibly not admit to owning?  That's
> > seems pretty wierd.
>

Or, something that is *highly* sought after by dealers...

> HP95C, a DAP, a 370/E (which is not an IBM machine!) or something like

Heck, I'm beginning to regret ever mentioning that I'm gathering up JC80
parts (still searching, too...) I've had a number of commercial dealer
type people contact me with the wild idea that I don't want the parts that
I've been gathering up for the last 10 years, and would be happy to just
give them away so they could make a lot of money from them (actually,
there isn't a lot of money to be made from them these days, but try
telling that to some dealers...) Of course, I have no intentions on
getting rid of my JC80 parts (though I might trade some with someone who
has other parts if it would help me complete a system), as those things
are probably more difficult to obtain than an 11/750 or 11/780, and even
harder to make complete. Some of the stories are pretty funny, but I don't
want to post them to the list, as the archives are publicly available ;)

-Toth

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From: Tarsi <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue Jun 3 01:29:00 2003

My friend Jpaul and I have already done something pretty close to this.

www.computershelter.org

It's been received with a less-than-stellar response from the community, 
though.  Seems people just don't have the time and effort to look up all 
their machine info...including myself.

Tarsi

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From: Philip Pemberton <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jun 6 03:48:00 2003

In message <[email-masked]>

> silly things like knowledge from getting lost, in a somewhat more
How about a classiccmp "wiki"?
Basically, one person creates a page containing some info, then others can
add to it, modify it, fix any errors, etc.
Anyone got a bit of spare CGI-enabled webspace?
Alternatively, we could do it over email. For example, send a message with
the text "GET WIKIINDEX" to a certain email address and you get sent a copy
of the Wiki's index. Send the text "SEND /JupiterAce" and you get sent a
copy of the Wiki entry for "JupiterAce". Then there's always Telnet and
SSH...

Later.
-- 
Phil.
[email-masked]
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jun 6 07:42:00 2003

> copy of the Wiki entry for "JupiterAce". Then there's always Telnet and

I think a wiki is a perfect match for this list.  For all the knowledge
that gets posted here, it would be great if we could post it into a wiki,
rather than having to search the archives through Google.

It would also cut down on the need to answer all the newbie questions,
though the redundant replies really don't hurt.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
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International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

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