[rescue] VT320's, glass TTYs in general - Re: hack42's collection [Was: Re: Tektronix 4002 terminal]

[Richard]

In article <5352F840.7020208 at telegraphics.com.au>,
    Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> writes:

> On 19/04/14 1:19 PM, Simon Claessen wrote:
> > well, the key is not taking everything. :-) we keep about 1/4th to 1/5th
> > of what is there and the rest will go to a recycling organisation we know.
> > what use is 20+ vt320's?
> >
> 
> A few people are still looking for glass tty's, they are not very common 
> any more.

Technically speaking a VT320 is nowhere near as brain dead as a "glass
tty". :-)  When I think "glass TTY" I think something like a TEC
terminal <http://terminals.classiccmp.org/wiki/index.php/Category:TEC>.

A VT320 is quite a useful terminal, actually.  As someone that has
amassed a significant collection of terminals, I can tell you that
terminals are indeed becoming scarce.  They aren't getting listed on
ebay very much at all anymore compared to say 5 or 10 years ago.

I'm pretty sure that if you offered them up for cost of shipping on
classiccmp, you'd get rid of most of them without them getting
scrapped.  Usually a recycling organization will not take anything
with a tube for free because there are fees they have to pay to
dispose of the tube.

Also, don't confuse "this is the price I'm asking" with "this is the
price that someone paid" for terminals.  There is the ebay business
model of "I have something that is a critical replacement item for
someone's business" where terminals are routinely listed at expensive
prices because someone needs a working replacement ASAP.

To get an idea of what people are willing to pay, always search completed
listings and see what people actually paid instead of what someone asked.
For instance, searching for "completed listings" on ebay reveals
that VT525 bases have recently sold for $93 (USA) and $190 (Israel).
Both were in working order.  Neither of these included the keyboard or
the monitor, although I suppose a VT525 is recent enough that they
probably use PS2 compatible keyboards and VGA compatible monitors.

Earlier models like VT320 don't have a separate monitor and use a
special keyboard.
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