Jump to content
IGNORED

Black Box on UK ebay


xrbrevin

Recommended Posts

Wow... very complete - 64K RAM, floppy board, hard drive, zip drive, and well written description by someone who is obviously knowledgeable, presumably original owner. Definitely a fine specimen for someone interested. Not for me though. Shows no shipping to Canada anyway - is it listed UK shipping only?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Nezgar said:

Wow... very complete - 64K RAM, floppy board, hard drive, zip drive, and well written description by someone who is obviously knowledgeable, presumably original owner. Definitely a fine specimen for someone interested. Not for me though. Shows no shipping to Canada anyway - is it listed UK shipping only?

yes, posts to UK only 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, lbaeza said:

This makes me ask if any of you guys know any convenient (not too expensive) UK mailbox service that provide you with a physical UK adress and forward any packages arriving to that adress to the US?

 

Kind regards,

 

Luis

 google throws this up https://www.myukmailbox.com/ but I have never used it before.
Other option is to ask a UK AA member to take delivery for you and then forward it. I have done this from the USA to the UK in the past and also purchased sometging on ebay UK and then posted iot to an Australian AA member but that was only some cheap keyboard parts. Obviously you need to trust that they will actually forward it 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, lbaeza said:

This makes me ask if any of you guys know any convenient (not too expensive) UK mailbox service that provide you with a physical UK adress and forward any packages arriving to that adress to the US?

forward2me worked well for a couple of UK buys sent to continental Europe, don't know their US prices.

 

Did people set those up "bare" because the box was an extra 40$ or is it just that the boxes didn't survive?

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, slx said:

Did people set those up "bare" because the box was an extra 40$ or is it just that the boxes didn't survive?

Extra cost could have been a factor, possibly not available initially, but this Black Box has a floppy board upgrade, so that PCB stacked on top might have interfered with an enclosure...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Nezgar said:

...but this Black Box has a floppy board upgrade, so that PCB stacked on top might have interfered with an enclosure...

 

That's the first thought that came to my mind.

 

Maybe @Marius can speak up about it, as I'm pretty sure he owned a floppy board with his. Actually, maybe @Marius is the one selling here. ;)

 

Edited by MrFish
Was getting Marius confused with Mathy...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those were neither readily-available nor cheap in that part of the world when they were new, and I would love to know this specific unit's history as a result.  It's the sort of thing that someone with a recreational interest in commercial software protection techniques may have been keen to own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No it is not me on ebay. I would NEVER part with a blackbox. In fact, I am trying to see whether I could move back to it, since I have many fond memories of using it. 

 

I do not have a floppy board. 

 

I am SHOCKED though to see that it has zero bids. I was always under the impression that when I would need money BADLY I simply could sell one of my BlackBox to convert it into a big bag of gold. 

 

Hmmm wrong thought... perhaps it will get bids in the last hours?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/28/2020 at 9:08 AM, MrFish said:

 

That's the first thought that came to my mind.

 

Maybe @Marius can speak up about it, as I'm pretty sure he owned a floppy board with his. Actually, maybe @Marius is the one selling here. ;)

 

Actually it was @Mathy who owns a Floppyboard. Except for the first 2 characters in our names, we do not have anything in common... so I don't understand the mix-up haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Marius said:

No it is not me on ebay. I would NEVER part with a blackbox. In fact, I am trying to see whether I could move back to it, since I have many fond memories of using it. 

 

To be honest, I didn't really think you would be selling either; but who knows. I was thinking maybe you decided that you weren't using it enough to justify holding onto it, and better to let someone else have it who might use it more. So, I thought maybe this might be the end of your contemplating about whether to start using it again or not.  

  

7 minutes ago, Marius said:

I am SHOCKED though to see that it has zero bids. I was always under the impression that when I would need money BADLY I simply could sell one of my BlackBox to convert it into a big bag of gold. 

 

I'm shocked too. It's quite a decent starting bid for such a rare and desirable piece of kit; and I don't think they often include the floppy board when they actually do come up for sale. I'm pretty sure the auction would be going differently if it were up for sale here in the U.S. for that price. I will say that I prefer to see them cased; although, I'm not sure how well that works out with the floppy board in there.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mathy said:

Hello MrFish

 

And we both love Atari 8 bit computers.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

 

Haha you and @MrFish are so right!

 

1. Ma as starting characters in both our names

2. Both from The Netherlands

3. Both owners of BlackBox

4. Both love Atari 8bit computers

 

Are you a secret twin brother? 

Lol ;)

Greetz

Marius

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By the way...

 

There are a few odd things about this BlackBox on the photo.

 

1. On all of my blackboxes there is a green and a red LED. This one appears to have a yellow led.

2. There is a strange rectangle cut out on the right side just above the XE cart connector.

3. The power supply connector is different than original?

4. The color of the PCB is much lighter green than all of my BB's


It's a pity we don't see a pic of the blackbox without the floppy board. On older blackboxes the yellow resistor-chip (I believe it is a resistor pack) is in a socket as well. On later BB's it was soldered on the PCB. I have one older BB where it is in a socket. 

 

Anyway, still no bids. Very odd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

does £150 quid represent good value? i wonder if the price is discouraging the bids or will there be a last-second blitz?... ?

I have no idea, but I was seriously under the impression that when I would sell one of my Black Boxes it should bring in at least 300 euros. I am afraid that is not going to happen.

 

If I had no blackbox at this moment, I would definitely pay £150 ... including a floppy board. Obviously the times in a8 land have changed. Something I can understand very well of course (at this moment my black box is not in use as well, since the modern upgrades do some of the Black Box tasks faster and better) ... but still.... the Black Box has some unique features and sometimes I really miss them. And besides that... the Black Box 'breaths' the nostalgia feeling more than those modern add-ons... (for me) but that is probably a matter of taste; or something personal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...