Sticky cable (was Re: UK1010

[Roger Holmes]

>
> My word! I'm astonished at the levels of interest in this box. I'm
> still trying to contact the donor to arrange collection at the moment.
>
> In addition to this thread, I've also had multiple emails from
> would-be claimants; between multiple time zones and transmission lag,
> I have no idea who was first.
>
> My current thought is this: I could put it on eBay, and whatever the
> selling price it goes for, I will donate that to Bletchley Park or
> some other suitable charity relating to preserving classic computers.
>
> How does that sound to everyone?

Sounds very fair to me, though I was not one of the claimants as I  
have had one of these from new.

On a related subject, the mains cable of my UK101 has become sticky  
where it has been in contact with expanded polystyrene for many  
years. Has this happened to anyone else and does anyone know if this  
is a chemical reaction? It might just be coincidence and maybe I  
spilt something on it and have forgotten about it. I used a large  
ceiling tile to stand the machine on when I first got it so it would  
not scratch the table and its been there ever since. Yes I know NOW  
about static and expanded  polystyrene (I think its called styrofoam  
in the states), but back then all the 74 series chips I bought, came  
by post pressed into bits of normal white (non antistatic) expanded  
polystyrene so I presumed it was safe, apart from the fire risk of  
course.

I bought my UK101 ready assembled though I had to insert the second  
4k of chips about 6 months later because every time I rang to  
complain they said they went out yesterday and were in the post. By  
the time I got them the chips had fallen in price considerably. I  
built an expansion board with a 6522 on it though I cannot remember  
why, nor what a 6522 can do. About then I was offered a moonlighting  
job programming the Apple ][+ with the offer of a machine (with two  
disk drives) as payment so I lost interest in the UK101.