Eelco de Groot wrote:Please have a look before it all disappears into Steve's vaults never to be seen again
!
Hi Eelco
i have most of the items already ..the items i didnt already own are prototype items which don't really interest me but i was mildly interested in the Turbo Kit so i contacted him
his first post seemed to imply he found these items lying around in his attic and rather then throwing them away he would be giving them away to collectors interested in the old computers ..but i did offer to pay for it anyway
he eventually decided to hold this anonymous highest bidder auction for the items:
http://www.top-5000.nl/auction2.htm
the current high bid for the Turbo Kit is just about what i would have paid for it
His Prototype Eproms for the Tasc R30 seems to be the hottest item
Ed mentioned he never released these eproms to Tasc because of all the problems Tasc had legally
Tasc was sued for copyright infringement involving their Smart Board\Piece Recognition
technology
(dont recall the Company suing Tasc ?)..They lost the suit and were forced to close down
so now..years later .. he is selling them....giving the buyer the exclusive right to make copies for resale..
i imagine Ed has the permission to do this?
Lang still sells his London Eproms for Mephisto units but i would imagine he got all of the proper permissions from Mephisto back in 1996
even if there is no legal permission .. Tasc is not in existence any longer so there is no one to complain..
personally i wouldn't touch a Tasc Unit outfitted with a copied eprom from someone who acquired the original because he was the highest bidder in an auction..but thats just me.. and i imagine that initially dozens of copies will be sold by the auction winner ..he best sell them fast though
the value of these copied eproms will plummet fast because the real fun starts when those buyers start making copies and start selling copies of the copied eproms ....and so on and so on
i see copied chess computer eproms for sale on Ebay all the time
they usually sell for next to nothing
i must admit though ..it is refreshing to see something new and controversial regarding the oldies ..been a long time since anything newsworthy transpired
Anyway ..i wont be joining in on the bidding ...so its all yours
Ancient Collector Regards
Steve