Subject: RE: Mark-8 Minicomputer Kit on E-bay

From: "Mike" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Mar 12 11:13:21 2003

This is all spin-mystering.  A Rembrandt painting is technically no better
than a modern copy, by a technically competent artist.  But it is the age
of the original creation, the materials of the day, and the fact that it
was created "then", rather than "now", that is relevant.

A Mark-8 that was built from materials and techniques of the age is more
valuable that one that someone send out now for manufacture, in my
opinion.  Processes, materials and workmanship of today is different than
in past.

That is the very essence of the difference between vintage and current
design.

Do you think an Altair that is remanufactured using todays processes
(which by the way, is completely possible) is more or less valuable than
one that was created in 1976?

> I was under the impression (based on previous classiccmp discussions)
> that the only way to get the bare boards was to use the plans supplied
> in <whichever magazine it was> to etch your own.  So how would you
> define original?  Etched from the plans or etched from the plans within
> some short period of time from the publication date?  Or maybe etched
> from the plans using materials produced at the time of publication?  I
> have a couple of really old Radio Shack board etching kits around
> somewhere.  I'm sure that I bought them before 1980.  Could I turn them
> into gold by using them to etch a couple of Mark-8 boards? ;-) (smiley
> for the humor impared)
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [email-masked]
>> [mailto:[email-masked]]On Behalf Of Erik S. Klein
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:26 AM
>> To: [email-masked]
>> Subject: RE: Mark-8 Minicomputer Kit on E-bay
>>
>>
>> >It took a while for some guys on comp.os.cpm to catch on.
>> >I lurk there now and then.  I was not sure whether they
>> >were trolling or truly unaware that there were no original
>> >kits, but then someone else clued them in.
>>
>> Yeah, I guess the only thing that could be original would be the bare
>> boards.  Everything else would just have to be contemporary materials,
>> at best.
>>
>> I'm still guessing that the buyer expected to be purchasing an
>> antique, not a recent creation.
>>
>> Erik S. Klein
>> www.vintage-computer.com

---

From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed Mar 12 13:17:00 2003

>From: "Robert Borsuk" <[email-masked]>
>
>I think I understand the point but I also respect your views. I can't 
>reply to this without being flamed some more. SO to gracefully switch 
>the topic.  I have a PRO-LOG  PM9052 board on my desk that I'm getting 
>ready to take the 1702's out of. Anyone know about this board. it has 
>PM9052 on it.  It looks like some kind of board for buring eproms.
>
>Rob Borsuk
>[email-masked]
>

Hi
 This is most likely not a burn-in board, it is a memory
board to be used with a larger system. PRO-LOG made many
universal boards for various purposes. These were often
designed into systems to save on engineering time.
Kind of early plug-n-play stuff.
Dwight