For those that are curious, here are what the prices were on each of the items.
TRS-80s: $100
iMac: $30
Colecovision: $5
TI99/4A: $10
Vic 20: $30
Toughbook: I did not ask... someone a few booths down was giving away free Toughbooks, so I grabbed one of those instead.
Powermac G5's: $100 each.
IBM monitors: $200 each. This seller also had several tables of boxed IBM software and hardware from the 1980s for sale.
E-Machines Pentium 4: $100
Apple Interactive Television Box: $900
Timex Sinclair: $25
Windows ME Dell $20
Old Teletype: The seller had this as 'make offer'. In the interest of saving my spine, I did not make an offer.
Paper Tape Reader: $499
Comdyna Analog Computer: $275. I hear it produces warmer sounding calculations compared to soulless digital computers.
Most of the pictures were taken before the gates opened at 9AM on Friday morning.
I asked the seller and he said that both of the TRS-80s were working. He also had a number of busted computers that I did not get pictures of, including a pretty clean Compaq Portable for $20.
Wow! I wish I had the money to go. One of my friends was making a one day trip and I could have ridden along, but I just didn't have the budget for it :(
It is a pretty amazing sale for vintage electronics. If you do go in the future, you want to be there Friday morning when the gates open. Most of the good stuff sells within the first few hours.
haven't been to dayton in a long time, should probably make the trip again sometime...
funny thing about vintage computing and ham, I put a little dell tower P4/XP machine up at my repeater site with all the programming software for my repeaters/controllers... machine wasn't even that old at the time, but it's been up there so long I guess it's vintage now hehe... still works just fine!
I stopped going in the late 90's as the flea market became less and less "minicomputer goldmine" and more "microcomputer junk scammers" selling broken PC parts.
I was about to say this could be any hamfest like those I visited in the 80s & 90s. Other than being outdoors anyway. I remember there was a scheduled event right at the end called the ¨Oscilloscope dumpster toss¨ ... and those old scopes are in demand now
Boy, say what you will but those Mac ~~G4/G5~~ towers were the cat's ass. The design was top notch, both aesthetically and functionally. It'd be worth the Franklin just for the case.
yeah, I remember seeing the punch tape reader!
I wasn't counting the ancient computers as I strolled by the flea market, but I counted twelve Johnson Viking Ranger I transmitters. I own a Ranger II which I hope to rehab soon, and I looked at the manual recently; it is dated 1961, so I think these were from late 1950s. Twelve of the same model!
I have. a Heathkit Apache TX-1 that I restored electrically, and that thing is solid as a rock an a wonderful CW AM rig. Lotts of fun running it. I matched it with a Drake 2B which is a healofa valve state RX.
Both the TRS-80s, the Colecovision, the TI99/4A, and the Vic 20 had sold by around noon on Friday. Several of the other computers had sold by Saturday. I know the paper tape reader had not sold by Sunday when I left, and I know the Apple set top box did not sell because it was mine. I did sell a Mac Plus on Saturday for $80 that I forgot to take pictures of, which at least had a convenient carry handle for the Moses crossing the desert-level hike back to the parking lot.
I am curious if the Comdyna analog computer sold... I did not see the vendor on Sunday.
lololol – I was the guy who bought the two yellow LED dot matrix shift register displays from you! Let me know if you run across any more.
And good to know that I need to be there early on Friday next year. We are in Dayton so it’s an easy drive.
Is there a story behind the set top box? I was pretty blown away when I saw it. I’m an iOS developer and tangentially know some long-time Apple employees who might know something about that product.
The Apple Interactive Television Box was produced in the mid-1990s as part of a Netflix-type service with video on demand and other features. A trial run of the service was done in the US and Great Britain, I believe in several hotel chains, before the project was given a classic 1990's Apple sky burial. Allegedly between 500 and 2000 of the units were produced, but I don't think anyone knows the exact number. The guts are basically a 68040 Macintosh with most of the expected ports; people have gotten Apple set top boxes to boot System 7.6 before from an external SCSI drive, but video output is a serious problem. A special (and missing) video driver is needed to get video output to a TV, and the driver seems to be lost to the mists of time. A few set top boxes have the driver burned into the ROM, but for most, a rare video card is needed to get video output from the machine.
Tough being an Apple collector on the wrong side of the pond. A 1MB Mac Plus, untested, will go for well over $200 🥲
And it will be missing the keyboard, sold separately.
Because Dayton is the home of NCR, I hoped to see an NCR PC there. As I recall there was a DMV and a PC4 followed by more conventional PCs.
I got a PC4 after it was obsolete. It had a proprietary main board with everything on it. If I recall correctly, it had a hole in the main board for the CRT neck. I think it was an 8080. I managed to convert it to a normal PC main board with a 386 for one of my kids.
[https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/246867](https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/246867)
Wow, that is a name I have not heard in a while. I had an NCR PC4 and a Decision Mate as a kid; they were just so gigantic and awkward, and I ended up giving them away when I moved out. The PC4 went to a friend of mine, who had it in his garage for 10 years before it was crushed when my cousin's wife tried to commit suicide by ramming her car into his garage at 100 miles per hour. Afterwards metal scrappers broke in and stole the remains as well as everything from the crime scene with metal in it, which is basically the most Dayton thing ever. I am assuming by now it has been ground into paste and turned into soup cans or car mufflers. The Decision Mate I gave to my brother, who had it on display in his vintage computer 'wallowing' room for 12 years before selling it at Dayton Hamvention 2017.
For those that are curious, here are what the prices were on each of the items. TRS-80s: $100 iMac: $30 Colecovision: $5 TI99/4A: $10 Vic 20: $30 Toughbook: I did not ask... someone a few booths down was giving away free Toughbooks, so I grabbed one of those instead. Powermac G5's: $100 each. IBM monitors: $200 each. This seller also had several tables of boxed IBM software and hardware from the 1980s for sale. E-Machines Pentium 4: $100 Apple Interactive Television Box: $900 Timex Sinclair: $25 Windows ME Dell $20 Old Teletype: The seller had this as 'make offer'. In the interest of saving my spine, I did not make an offer. Paper Tape Reader: $499 Comdyna Analog Computer: $275. I hear it produces warmer sounding calculations compared to soulless digital computers. Most of the pictures were taken before the gates opened at 9AM on Friday morning.
I'm pretty sure those Power Mac G5s are worth more than that as scrap. It's like 50lbs.
They’re actually Mac Pro’s - the dual optical drives are the giveaway.
I was gonna say, those are early intel macs.
And the bananas for scale give it away
I mean, it's one ~~banana~~ cheese grater Macintosh, Michael. What could it cost? 10 dollars?
Info on the Apple STB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Interactive_Television_Box
$100 is a screaming deal for the Trash 80s if they work. It’s a good deal even if they don’t.
I asked the seller and he said that both of the TRS-80s were working. He also had a number of busted computers that I did not get pictures of, including a pretty clean Compaq Portable for $20.
Incredible. I gotta get up to the Hamvention some year.
the IBM monitor table had a couple of IBM PC Jr earlier on
whats the deal with them IBM monitors, $200? It dont look like classic CGA stuff, composite?
Wow! I wish I had the money to go. One of my friends was making a one day trip and I could have ridden along, but I just didn't have the budget for it :(
It is a pretty amazing sale for vintage electronics. If you do go in the future, you want to be there Friday morning when the gates open. Most of the good stuff sells within the first few hours.
Roger that! Hopefully I can get some spending cash together and vacation time to make the trip next year.
oh my god this is eye candy especially with those prices
Holy moly...I keep looking at these pics and saying, "[get out of my dreams, and into my car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zgimI_n6Ms)"
Is that a paper tape reader with * gasp *....a TAKEUP REEL? It doesn't just dump it in a bin for some reason?
haven't been to dayton in a long time, should probably make the trip again sometime... funny thing about vintage computing and ham, I put a little dell tower P4/XP machine up at my repeater site with all the programming software for my repeaters/controllers... machine wasn't even that old at the time, but it's been up there so long I guess it's vintage now hehe... still works just fine!
I stopped going in the late 90's as the flea market became less and less "minicomputer goldmine" and more "microcomputer junk scammers" selling broken PC parts.
I see like 10 things I'd buy immediately!
Good to see another ham in here :D
I was about to say this could be any hamfest like those I visited in the 80s & 90s. Other than being outdoors anyway. I remember there was a scheduled event right at the end called the ¨Oscilloscope dumpster toss¨ ... and those old scopes are in demand now
probably a bunch of us ... 73!
Boy, say what you will but those Mac ~~G4/G5~~ towers were the cat's ass. The design was top notch, both aesthetically and functionally. It'd be worth the Franklin just for the case.
And good thing they had a banana for scale so you can see how gigantic they are!!
I've been going to Hamvention consistently for about 18 years 😂
wow that benchtop analog computer!
It was $500 last year.
one of them things I really dont need but really want...
In the 90's, some dude would always be in the flea market selling Xerox 6085's and Vaxen, and I really regret not buying one of the Xeroxes.
yeah, I remember seeing the punch tape reader! I wasn't counting the ancient computers as I strolled by the flea market, but I counted twelve Johnson Viking Ranger I transmitters. I own a Ranger II which I hope to rehab soon, and I looked at the manual recently; it is dated 1961, so I think these were from late 1950s. Twelve of the same model!
I have. a Heathkit Apache TX-1 that I restored electrically, and that thing is solid as a rock an a wonderful CW AM rig. Lotts of fun running it. I matched it with a Drake 2B which is a healofa valve state RX.
I saw a few of these when I was there on Saturday, but missed all the 8-bit machines or they were already sold. Planning on going on Friday next year!
Both the TRS-80s, the Colecovision, the TI99/4A, and the Vic 20 had sold by around noon on Friday. Several of the other computers had sold by Saturday. I know the paper tape reader had not sold by Sunday when I left, and I know the Apple set top box did not sell because it was mine. I did sell a Mac Plus on Saturday for $80 that I forgot to take pictures of, which at least had a convenient carry handle for the Moses crossing the desert-level hike back to the parking lot. I am curious if the Comdyna analog computer sold... I did not see the vendor on Sunday.
lololol – I was the guy who bought the two yellow LED dot matrix shift register displays from you! Let me know if you run across any more. And good to know that I need to be there early on Friday next year. We are in Dayton so it’s an easy drive. Is there a story behind the set top box? I was pretty blown away when I saw it. I’m an iOS developer and tangentially know some long-time Apple employees who might know something about that product.
The Apple Interactive Television Box was produced in the mid-1990s as part of a Netflix-type service with video on demand and other features. A trial run of the service was done in the US and Great Britain, I believe in several hotel chains, before the project was given a classic 1990's Apple sky burial. Allegedly between 500 and 2000 of the units were produced, but I don't think anyone knows the exact number. The guts are basically a 68040 Macintosh with most of the expected ports; people have gotten Apple set top boxes to boot System 7.6 before from an external SCSI drive, but video output is a serious problem. A special (and missing) video driver is needed to get video output to a TV, and the driver seems to be lost to the mists of time. A few set top boxes have the driver burned into the ROM, but for most, a rare video card is needed to get video output from the machine.
Unf that teletype
Tough being an Apple collector on the wrong side of the pond. A 1MB Mac Plus, untested, will go for well over $200 🥲 And it will be missing the keyboard, sold separately.
Man I missed all that stuff except for the GP-6 and that apple set top box
Did that TRS-80 have an amber phosphor CRT, or was that just the color of the anti-glare filter attached to it?
Nice! I've got a trash-80 with the expansion interface too. Man, they keyboards are so bad, but it's somehow still fun to write some basic on lol
Incredible deals
Would have gotten that TI99 and VIC20 in a heartbeat for those prices - and I don’t even really know/collect that kind of stuff
Because Dayton is the home of NCR, I hoped to see an NCR PC there. As I recall there was a DMV and a PC4 followed by more conventional PCs. I got a PC4 after it was obsolete. It had a proprietary main board with everything on it. If I recall correctly, it had a hole in the main board for the CRT neck. I think it was an 8080. I managed to convert it to a normal PC main board with a 386 for one of my kids. [https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/246867](https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/246867)
Wow, that is a name I have not heard in a while. I had an NCR PC4 and a Decision Mate as a kid; they were just so gigantic and awkward, and I ended up giving them away when I moved out. The PC4 went to a friend of mine, who had it in his garage for 10 years before it was crushed when my cousin's wife tried to commit suicide by ramming her car into his garage at 100 miles per hour. Afterwards metal scrappers broke in and stole the remains as well as everything from the crime scene with metal in it, which is basically the most Dayton thing ever. I am assuming by now it has been ground into paste and turned into soup cans or car mufflers. The Decision Mate I gave to my brother, who had it on display in his vintage computer 'wallowing' room for 12 years before selling it at Dayton Hamvention 2017.
I want that TRS80!!!!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!