My dream was always an Altair Mits 8800 but when an IMSAI 8080 was offered for sale in Europe in April 2023, I could not resist. The seller is from Switzerland. A very nice person, I am in regular contact with him by e-mail. I also got the two Altair 1K boards from him.
The special thing about this IMSAI 8080 is that it looks almost brand new to me. Yes, the plexiglass on the front panel is a little scratched, or you can see a few marks, but from the inside it looks perfect. The purchase was a real stroke of luck.
In the meantime, I am even glad that I have acquired an IMSAI 8080. It is technically better than the ALTAIR 8800 and just looks great, really great.
And then there’s the story about David Lightman and Jennifer Mack. Even in 2023, i.e. after 40 years, the topic of 1983 is red-hot and has lost absolutely nothing of its topicality. Mankind simply does not learn.
In the hobby of accumulating retrocomputers, the only winning move is not to buy…
I was looking around for an easy way to try my Basic experiments on Microsoft’s original Altair Basic - haven’t found it yet.
I would say that depends on the price.
But usually they are too high (depending on condition).
And risky when buying and not picking up personally.
If someone has enough money, time and skills. Why not.
But the fun is often short, till the next purchase.
For all other there are emulators. And books.
It’s the same for other collectors like cars.
Now on Hacker News (currently in the “pool”), see here for comments:
Thank you! You just, most likely unknowingly validated the conclusions of a strong struggle I had that led to the creation of a fictional retro computer still in development. I feel that part of it’s DNA is to offer others more than an old machine can while respecting their nostalgia.
Made that a statement in the continuum manual introduction months ago:
But really glad to get at least one indirect confirmation of my decision since it was hard for me not to buy the damn thing… That’s also, still for sale.
Sorry for the off-topic.