oi ancient IBM computer "Bible"

[Tony Duell]

[...]

An aside... About 15 years ago I managed to buy a pretty rare manual 
(HP71B service manual) still in the original shrinkwrap. I amazed other 
collectors preseent by immediately ripping of the shrinkwrap and starting 
to read the manual. But of course I'd bought the manual to learn how the 
HP71 works and how to repair it, not to have some object to put in a 
glass case.

> )  I have other friends in the vintage computer community who own very 
> valuable and rare items and have loaned them to me with the understanding 
> that I wanted them to duplicate them.  They were more concerned with 
> shipping damage than anything else.  ; )

This is exactly how I feel. I have some fairly rare documentation, and I 
don't feel it's value to me would be reduced if it was scaned and made 
available to others. But I don't have a scanner, and don't have anything 
I could connect one to.

I've always found fellow classic computer types to be a very honest 
bunch. I know full well that if I lent a menual to one of them they'd 
return it to me in the same condition that I lent it out in. But alas the 
postabl 'service, at least in the UK, is not something I'd trust with an 
irreplacable manual. So alas I can't think of an obivous way to share 
said manuals...


[...]

> pending assembly...  Out of the Altairs I've seen on ebay, it is easy to 
> see that maybe 10% work.  Thats good for a collector who wants it behind 
> glass, bad for an experimenter.  ; )  The kit comes with a guarantee that 

Well, unless the buyer is the sort of experimenter who likes faultfinding 
and repairing things :-)

-tony