Date : Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:18:54 -0400
From : "Wright, Chris" <Chris.Wright@...>
Subject: Re: UC: Car boot finds!
200 beebs up in smoke! Wow. Hard hearted fellow though I am, even I
would have shed a small tear at that sight. Well at least now if anybody
has a sniff of a school dumping and it is posted on the list, the
vultures can be ready to take 'possession' ;-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Majordomo List Manager [mailto:majordomo@...] On Behalf
Of David Hunt
Sent: 14 September 2006 12:12
To: bbc-micro@...
Subject: RE: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
I remember in 1994 all the Beebs being chucked out at my old school. The
Head of IT called my Father and asked him if he wanted any of it,
naturally,
my Father rang me and I dashed from Cambridge to help out with the
clearance.
Three skips filled with 200+ beebs/Masters, monitors, printers, 200+ RM
Nimbus with monitors/keyboard/mice, a bunch of 380z/480z, Apple ]['s,
Macintoshes (I found homes for those). There was a dead Domesday machine
but
that already had a taker (shame)
Most of this stuff was in two store rooms that were being converted to
"resource rooms" over the Summer, also they were replacing the Nimbus
PCs
(80186) with Nimbus 486/25's.
I got a good selection of stuff (Master 512/Master Turbo/Teletext
Adapter/a
few Beebs/Modems/380Z/a filestore etc.), before it vanished into a big
hole.
I wish I'd saved some of those Nimbus machines, I hated them at the time
(I'm a Beeb man), they weren't real PCs, but they did a hell of lot more
than most PCs of that era. Decent sound, accelerated graphics, Ethernet
networking, some had hard drives - 20Mb ST506 I think.
The only real source of Beeb stuff in Cambridge was Cambridge Uni - car
boots don't sell Beeb/"retro" machines at reasonable prices - mainly due
to
the prices they've seen on eBay. House clearance companies sell their
contents at auction - perhaps that is an option too.
Dave ;)
> I got quite a bit from local schools in 2001/2002. I didn't
> encounter the "we can't give you that, suppose it explodes in
> 8 years' time and you sue us" attitude (which I can well
> believe exists everywhere) but rather, "Yes, do please come
> and take all this rubbish away for free, because if we
> dispose of it ourselves the Council charge us £xxx for
> getting rid of it."
>
> Most of it was standard Master 128s and some ropey disc
> drives, although I was lucky enough to get my first
> FileStore, the E01, and a Master 512.
>
> I've always been amazed at just how little Econet stuff is
> about, given that practically every decent sized school must
> have had an Econet of some description in the 1980s.
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
> Ian
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wright, Chris
> To: <bbc-micro@...>
> Sent: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:13:04 +0100
> Subject: RE: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
>
> As I was told not long ago...
>
> Are there not issues with schools giving you stuff ? I mean,
> if they gave you an old master and you were burnt by an
> erupting battery pack, could they not be held responsible ?,
> and so are more inclined to just bin everything as its not
> worth the risk.
>
> Of course if you can convince them to 'carefully' place all
> those old beebs and cub monitors into the skip, they can't be
> held responsible for a ford transit pulling up in the dead of
> night and emptying it!
>
> I guess a begging letter round all the local schools is the
> only way you would find out. Btw I will take an MDFS off your
> hands if you find one
> ;-)
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Majordomo List Manager [mailto:majordomo@...]
> On Behalf Of Steve O'Leary
> Sent: 13 September 2006 16:29
> To: bbc-micro@...
> Subject: RE: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
>
>
>
> ** Top posting because that's how this threads going **
>
> There must still be schools surely with dusty stockrooms
> where at the back you might find some beeb kit. Although
> after use in a school they can be a bit battered. Or do
> people think most schools have shifted all this kit now
> ?(probably to a skip). Was there perhaps a peak 10 - 15 years
> ago when it all went perhaps ? Still there must be some
> somewhere in schools.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>
> > From: CALITTLEFIEL@...
> > To: bbc-micro@...
> > Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:38:22 +0100
> > Subject: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
> >
> > I have to admit I managed to dig out one or two copies of Acorn User
> (or
> > some such) a while ago and it was really interesting to read
> especially the
> > Watford Electronics advertisements. I always wanted their
> fancy speech
> > synthesiser unit but could never afford it at the time (being a
> schoolboy!).
> > If I ever see one again I'll be tempted...
> >
> > Of course I can always make the computer speak profanities by using
> the
> > software 'Speech', always a laugh!
> >
> > Back to BBC finds, I've yet to find anything at a car boot sale that
> is BBC
> > related (other than the odd Electron game), plenty of Sinclair kit
> around
> > but never a stashed away Model B :(
> >
> > I'm obviously going to the wrong auctions. I keep peering into the
> skips at
> > work to see if there are any BBC items thrown out, most of the time
> its
> > knackered PC parts but you never know...
> >
> > Has anybody ever rescued any from skips?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Majordomo List Manager
> [mailto:majordomo@...] On Behalf
> Of
> > Ian Wolstenholme
> > Sent: 13 September 2006 13:35
> > To: bbc-micro@...
> > Subject: Re: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
> >
> > I can't honestly remember how I found out about it. He was
> local and
> > he may have contacted me through the website but it had only just
> > started at the time. The whole lot filled up the back seat and the
> > boot of the car and my popularity at home has never recovered!
> >
> > I think the best thing of all is the full set of Beebugs, these are
> > really fascinating for an insight into the early history of
> the Beeb
> > and all the distribution problems there were. You had to wait about
> > 9 months to get a Beeb back in 1981-82!
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> >
> >
> > Ian
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Littlefield Aaron
> > To: bbc-micro@...
> > Sent: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 13:23:21 +0100
> > Subject: UC: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
> >
> > Ian,
> >
> > How on earth did you manage to get hold of all that? Was
> the guy going
> to
> > throw it all away?!
> >
> > Aaron
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Majordomo List Manager
> [mailto:majordomo@...] On Behalf
> Of
> > Ian Wolstenholme
> > Sent: 13 September 2006 13:14
> > To: bbc-micro@...
> > Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
> >
> > This little lot wasn't bad....
> >
> > http://www.beebmaster.co.uk/GreatestFind/Greatest.html
> >
> > ...especially since it was all free!!!!!!
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> >
> >
> > Ian
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Littlefield Aaron
> > To: BBC-Micro Mailing List <bbc-micro@...>
> > Sent: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:18:55 +0100
> > Subject: [BBC-Micro] Car boot finds!
> >
> > Purely out of interest, what's the best Acorn item you've
> ever bought
> from a
> > car boot or private sale?
> >
> >
> >
> > Mine is probably a 128k B+ with all the receipts and the stickers
> still on
> > the case, which was from a guy at work.
> >
> >
> >
> > Aaron
> >
> >
> >
> >
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