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-   -   Devaluation of original Atairs - due to Reproductions (http://www.stockly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28)

disneysub 11-22-2006 04:14 PM

Devaluation of original Atairs - due to Reproductions
 
I think this is a real possibility and a welcomed one too I might add. Now that Grant has produced an accurate reproduction, many will want his instead of an original. Not to say that some will always want to "collect" the real Altair, but I think we may just see a down turn on the insane eBay prices that have been occurring for the last 5 years. It is absolutely amazing to me, that Grant has executed his kit at a near perfect level compared to when the kit first came out!

Grant Stockly 11-25-2006 10:18 AM

It was never my intention to devalue the original Altair. I own two myself! :) I think people who WANT the original will still get the original.

I think a LOT of people want something to play with. I never had the experience of building a huge kit like this, and so I began a 9 month process of CREATING the kit so that I could build it. :) Sitting down for 20 or so hours and the having your computer creation come to life is something everyone should have the ability to experience. That is what I am trying to provide.

I think if the ebay prices go down, they will go down because of the following reasons:
1-The more of any Altair on ebay, the lower the price because of supply.
2-A LOT of Altairs are advertised as AS-IS, "I don't know how to test it" or "I'm afraid to plug it in"... I've allways thought that kind of message meant, "It smoked when I plugged it in, good luck". The kit I sell is guaranteed to work. If you can't get it to work, I will diagnose and repair the problem for free (see the sale page for exclusions and details). Even if you do get it to work, I will still "tune" the CPU card with an oscilliscope (of corse if you have one you could). In fact, I will tune ANY Altair CPU card as long as postage is paid both ways.
3-It looks great! ;)

Just Bob! 12-06-2006 01:33 PM

There has already been an impact on ebay....
 
.....Although a small one, but most of the new ebay ads are including the word 'ORIGINAL' in the text, that they never used before!

Grant, I think you got their attention!;)

Just Bob!

sje 12-10-2006 04:00 PM

ebay: caveat emptor
 
I've seen auctions on ebay for Altair/IMSAI computers with phrases like "mint condition" and "just like new" in large print, but with "sold as is" in a much smaller font size.

It takes only a minute to key in a seven byte test program to echo the sense switches, but some not so surprising reason some sellers find this too burdensome. Asking for over US$1000 for a thirty year old untested box is no problem for them, however.

TomL_12953 01-31-2007 03:02 PM

Reply to caveat emptor
 
The tiny program you mention might not show the problem. I had an 8800b that ran the complete serial I/O test just fine but after I had it a few months, refused to load Altair BASIC or DOS from floppies. I never did figure out what happened. I sold it on eBay As-Is with a full description of the problem.


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