deskthority

IBM Model F XT. 200$

....Also..... IBM PC 5150
And Monitor
And Printer
And Software
And Disks
And And Manuals.

I took it.

Sounds like a good deal, especially considering the price of shipping. Heck, look at the prices just the XT keyboards bring. Does the 5150 turn on? Also I would love to see some pictures whenever you have a chance.

1: Craigslist, so no shipping hassle!

2: Here are le pictures: http://i.imgur.com/ex62Bpu.jpg

Excellent deal.

Wow, very nice!

it was a crappy deal , i will help you cover your losses by paying you 150 USD for it so you only lost 50

Nice deal! Also, nice that you can pick it up; got a 5291 two days ago, and I was fearing that the shipping expenses would've kill it. Luckily I ended up paying 35€, which is quite reasonable for shipping it from Spain to Italy.

DustGod wrote: ↑Nice deal! Also, nice that you can pick it up; got a 5291 two days ago, and I was fearing that the shipping expenses would've kill it. Luckily I ended up paying 35€, which is quite reasonable for shipping it from Spain to Italy.

That's a pretty good deal too. What website do you check? I find that eBay rarely list items from Europe, which usually means I end up buying something from the US and having to stomach horrendous shipping costs.

Clavius wrote: ↑ That's a pretty good deal too. What website do you check? I find that eBay rarely list items from Europe, which usually means I end up buying something from the US and having to stomach horrendous shipping costs.

Yes, European listings are significantly rarer. I found it on eBay. Gave 70€ for a 5291 terminal, the monitor and the matching bigfoot Model F (minus 3 keycaps).

Although that monitor is not the original IBM one, I really like the amber color of the text. I bet that was an expensive kit in it's day. Also it is a really nice bonus that you have one with a working hard drive. You got a good one for sure.

Original owner said it was 6000$ paid over a 20 year loan.

Sounds about right. Computers were quite expensive back in the day, even the "home computers" of the time.

Perhaps this weekend I'll go to my basement, take out some of my COMPUTE! magazines from the mid-80s and scan/photograph some of the advertisements inside. When it comes to computers, it never ceases to be impressive to compare numbers (RAM, speed, disk sizes, price...).

depletedvespene wrote: ↑Perhaps this weekend I'll go to my basement, take out some of my COMPUTE! magazines from the mid-80s and scan/photograph some of the advertisements inside. When it comes to computers, it never ceases to be impressive to compare numbers (RAM, speed, disk sizes, price...).

Yes please!

Depends. If you want just the F XT keyboard, not very good. If you like vintage computing, pretty excellent .

Man, those good old IBM PCs are just so awesome, IMO the absolute most interesting computer system of all time. For anyone who's interested, give the wikipedia article on it a go sometime, it's an absolute cracking read crammed with superlatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer . There was nothing about this thing or even IBM in general at that time that wasn't amazing!

Chyros wrote:Depends. If you want just the F XT keyboard, not very good. If you like vintage computing, pretty excellent .

Man, those good old IBM PCs are just so awesome, IMO the absolute most interesting computer system of all time. For anyone who's interested, give the wikipedia article on it a go sometime, it's an absolute cracking read crammed with superlatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer . There was nothing about this thing or even IBM in general at that time that wasn't amazing!

I got it for the WHOLE machine. The keyboard just happened to come along for the ride.
Awesome things about this machine no modern machine does:
1: power switch feels like its from a nuclear power plant.
2: hard drive geos whirr.
3: the bright light dot that occurs when turnng off the display
4: 16.8 millions colors, more like 1
5: Floppy disk goes wobbly!
6: plz enter time and date
7: BASIC PROGRAMMING
8: keyboard that weighs more than a "brick shithouse" so I tell people pick it up and they are super confused why its so heavy
9: dir /w
10:......
11:*insert herE*
.............
45061: Upgradable CPU!
45062: 125LBS OF DOT MATRIX

Yeah, the org. IBM PC is quite a machine alright!

I consider the XT layout the more ergonomic option for those that want an ISO enter along with an ANSI US layout.

ideus wrote:I consider the XT layout the more ergonomic option for those that want an ISO enter along with an ANSI US layout.

True.