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Re: Various Accelerators

mdj wrote:

On Sep 1, 7:30 pm, "Bill Buckels" <bbuck...@mts.net> wrote:

"Charlie Springer" <R...@regnirps.com> wrote in message

0001HW.C4E098B700005F5BF02845B0@news.nw.centurytel.net">news:0001HW.C4E098B700005F5BF02845B0@news.nw.centurytel.net...


I wonder if you all could help with a little consensus on value?

Will somebody who is fair and knowledgeable about pricing please let Charlie
know what they think each of these are worth so I can send him some money if
he'll take money?

Michael Mahon, Henry, Bill Garber??? What do you guys think? Others???


I bought a 4Mhz Zip Chip on eBay recently for $100. That's about what
I think it's worth. My Transwarp I is (probably) worth somewhere
between $50 and $100, but I'm not interested in selling it at any
price. If I had a spare, I'd sell it to someone who wants to actually
*use* it for $100. I refuse to sell anything to anyone who simply
wants a museum piece.

A Zip 8000 would be worth somewhere between $150 and $250. $150 to me
since I have other options, I'd go to $250 if I didn't.


I think that's a quite fair analysis.


Thanks. I realize that may not even get one if others are ahead of me, but I
too would like to hear the consensus on value.

My gut tells me these could range anywhere between $400-$800 each. Am I
right? High? or Low?


Way too high, IMO. They seem really valuable now, but sooner or later
someone will implement the Zips logic in a CPLD...


I am talking about working accelerators for my //e. Not broken ones.


Zips are fragile and temperamental enough IMO that people are reticent
to part with the spare ones they have. I'd venture there's a few
people round these parts with a handful of them.


The fragility is a result of fairly soft copper wires used as pins--
they are quite durable unless repeatedly bent (which some folks manage
to do when inserting or removing them from the processor socket).  If
you always use a tool for removing and always insert straight in after
lining up all the pins, it's not a problem.

The early ones (I think the first 8MHz production run) suffered from
unreliable cache SRAMs *inside* the potting, and thus fatal.  An 8MHz
Zip Chip that still works is almost certainly not one of this lot.  ;-)

-michael

AppleCrate II: An Apple II "blade server"!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."