# very old computer



## uksmoker (Jun 24, 2008)

hey guys i have found a old computer ill see if i can get the pic up , its called a (tatung einstein) says on box designed in britton built in britain , 80k memory, intergated half a megabite disk drive,compact 3 inch floppy disk, 16 colour graphics lollmao, ive tryed googleing it and nuffin come up about it , it has loads ov gold connectors at the back like a hard drive today wood but like 10-20 times more , dnt want to open it up really incase i void the warrenty lol nah not really just incase its worth more as it is , so i cud do with sum help on this one plz, crack it open for the gold or ebay the beast?? i also found loads ov old football programs form like 1990 witch ill be ebayin ,chears kev,


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## Rag and Bone (Jun 24, 2008)

Don't scrap that unless you have money to burn. Old computers go for big money on ebay, especially in original packaging.

I wouldn't expect much gold from that. It looks a little on the cheap side. Old Kaypro and Tektronix computers are deadly for scrap (assuming they're beyond repair/collecting)


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## Shaul (Jun 24, 2008)

Here's the info from the Wikipedia:

Tatung Einstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tatung Einstein was an eight-bit home/personal computer produced by Taiwanese corporation Tatung, designed and assembled in Telford, England. It was aimed primarily at small businesses.

The Einstein was released in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1984, and 5,000 were exported back to Taipei later that year. A Tatung monitor (monochrome or colour) and printer were also available as options.

The machine was physically large, with an option for one or two built-in three-inch floppy disk drives manufactured by Hitachi. At the time, most home computers used ordinary tape recorders for storage. Another unusual feature of the Einstein was that on start-up the computer entered a simple machine code monitor, called MOS (Machine Operating System). A variety of software could then be loaded from disk, including a CP/M-compatible operating system called Xtal DOS, and a BASIC interpreter (Xtal BASIC).

More expensive than most of its rivals, and lacking an obvious niche market other than technically-advanced home programmers, the Einstein was commercially unsuccessful.

A later, revised version, called the Tatung Einstein 256 suffered a similar fate.


[ Technical specifications
CPU: Zilog Z80A @ 4 MHz 
RAM: 64KB system RAM; 16KB video RAM 
Video: 16 colours, 32 sprite planes 


Shaul


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## Rag and Bone (Jun 24, 2008)

There is computer nerd somwhere who will sell his soul for that thing


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## Gotrek (Jun 25, 2008)

You'd think so but all the antique Computers I've tried to sell never sell.


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## Shaul (Jun 26, 2008)

Yeah, I've got a Kaypro-2 from the early '80's.

Maybe in a hundred years it'll be worth something, but right now it's going for like $15- on ebay.

Shaul


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## Eric (Jun 26, 2008)

If you crack that open you may be disappointed with the amount of gold that is inside. I have been cracking open quite a few computers this month and I managed to recover 45 grams of gold plated pins. If you have 500 of those computers, then you have a good amount or gold but if it is just that one, sell it on ebay and make the inexperienced urban miners think that there is a lot og gold in there, even though the experts on this forum would not waste their time opening that up.


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## Shaul (Jun 26, 2008)

Eric;

Not everything is meant to be scrapped. Most kids today (even the older ones), have never seen the likes of a Kaypro-2. 

From the early 80's (the generation of the original portables).
Two large floppy drives, a small screen and a full-sized keyboard weighing in at 25-lbs.+/-.

And it still worked the last time I plugged it in.

I would never scrap it; it's got too much educational value.

This doesn't mean, of course, that every old computer you find you need to save for the museum, but if you have only one you might feel differently.

Trying to explain a Kaypro-2 to someone who's been raised on Laptops is like trying to explain Teletype to someone who's been raised on Fax.
They think it's from Mars.


Shaul


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## Rag and Bone (Jun 26, 2008)

I'm fascinated by old computers. In the past I have foolishly scrapped some very nice vintage computers. Now I hold back the really nice stuff. I worked for a computer repair shop as a kid and cringe when I think of the roll-off dumpsters I filled with very old boards.  I remember looking at the gold fingers on a board and telling my boss, "We should save this, I think it's gold". "Chuck it, it's junk".)


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