I would like to know the price of my IBM computer to sell it and raise money for my studies.

[VERAULT]

Yep. I think you should learn Assembler to continue.


lets take a side step. Do you have any interest in this machine other than monetary gain? I feel like the answer is no and therefore I feel less inclined to help.

Some friendly advice I would give my kids.. This computer isn't your meal ticket. There are no get rich quick payouts, no wonka golden tickets. Your young. If you want something work hard for it. Thats not meant to be derogatory. I had nothing when i moved out at 16. I worked my ass off for every scrap I have today. And looking back I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for the lessons I learned in the process.

Young people today seem to have no work ethic and expect alot.... Nothing separates the youth of today from the endless legions of people who have lived and died before them. And they all worked for what they wanted....

 

[daver2]

Err, not assembler but BASIC. Try the following program:

10 FOR I = 1 TO 10
20 PRINT "Hello Octavio"
30 NEXT I
40 END

LIST
RUN

 

[Octavio]

Yep. I think you should learn Assembler to continue.


lets take a side step. Do you have any interest in this machine other than monetary gain? I feel like the answer is no and therefore I feel less inclined to help.

Some friendly advice I would give my kids.. This computer isn't your meal ticket. There are no get rich quick payouts, no wonka golden tickets. Your young. If you want something work hard for it. Thats not meant to be derogatory. I had nothing when i moved out at 16. I worked my ass off for every scrap I have today. And looking back I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for the lessons I learned in the process.

Young people today seem to have no work ethic and expect alot.... Nothing separates the youth of today from the endless legions of people who have lived and died before them. And they all worked for what they wanted....

Hi Verault, I saved this PC from almost going to the trash; there was 30 years or more of dust and grease on it. I joined this community to learn more about it because I fell in love with it. I started cleaning it carefully, part by part, because when I found it, it still worked. When I discovered that, I instantly knew that I had to give it the care it needed because where it was, it would only be destroyed. I repaired the keyboard cable, learned about its physical drivers, RAM, and many other things (you can see photos in the Google Drive link). Since I rescued it last year until now, I haven't stopped researching about it and cleaning off the dust.
If it were possible, I wouldn't want to sell it, but I'm going to study more than 1000 km away from home, and this equipment must weigh 50 kilos. Also, if I managed to sell it, I would like it to go to someone who can give it the same love that I gave it in these last few months.

I fully agree with everything you said, and furthermore, all my income comes from my own efforts; I haven't asked my parents for a cent since I started working on my own. I really appreciate your advice; people like you understand these kinds of situations well and know how to value effort.

Err, not assembler but BASIC. Try the following program:

10 FOR I = 1 TO 10
20 PRINT "Hello Octavio"
30 NEXT I
40 END

LIST
RUN

AWESOME, thank u daver2, it worked, i am going to research more

 

[daver2]

I assume it booted into BASIC without installing any floppy disks?

What about the hard disk? Did you hear it operate on a power up?

The manuals are available online. Just make sure you find a manual for the same version as is indicated on the screen at boot up.

Dave

 

[Octavio]

I assume it booted into BASIC without installing any floppy disks?

What about the hard disk? Did you hear it operate on a power up?

The manuals are available online. Just make sure you find a manual for the same version as is indicated on the screen at boot up.

Dave

It seems like it did. When you turn it on, you hear the floppy reader spin, then a bip, and then you see the hdd light turn on for a second. I will look for the manual online. Thank u

 

[Timo W.]

Is this a 5150 or 5160? Can't read it on the badge in the picture. I assume it's a 5160 due to the half-height floppy disk drive.

It jumps into BASIC, so the hard disk is not working. The keyboard is the wrong one, too. As some said already, this won't make you rich. In that condition, you are really lucky to get more than 200 bucks for it. Fully working and with the correct keyboard, 300-400 bucks are possible.

You may also consider selling the PC, the monitor, and the keyboard separately. You can get more money this way in total.

 

[1ST1]

We talk about Argentinia. The country is in big financial trouble and has a new mad president who tries to solve that problem with - let's say - very unconventional methods. With that backround I have no idea how serious this topic is.

 

[Octavio]

Is this a 5150 or 5160? Can't read it on the badge in the picture. I assume it's a 5160 due to the half-height floppy disk drive.

It jumps into BASIC, so the hard disk is not working. The keyboard is the wrong one, too. As some said already, this won't make you rich. In that condition, you are really lucky to get more than 200 bucks for it. Fully working and with the correct keyboard, 300-400 bucks are possible.

You may also consider selling the PC, the monitor, and the keyboard separately. You can get more money this way in total.

It's an IBM 5160. In the photos, the keyboard is one I had on hand, but I currently have the original one working. (It's just that I haven't updated the photos). Also, I'm not sure if the hard drive works or not.

We talk about Argentinia. The country is in big financial trouble and has a new mad president who tries to solve that problem with - let's say - very unconventional methods. With that backround I have no idea how serious this topic is.

Wasn't it that in the forum we couldn't talk about politics?

 

[Zare]

I don't know anything about Argentina but mentioning state of the economy while trying to asses the market seems quite on point.
The point is the market not the politics.

It's pretty hard to safely ship a screen and case across the world especially if you're new to it, persons I ordered such equipment from were about max 1000km away and knew what they were doing in terms of packaging and situation they have with the shipping company.

I would recommend you see on the local market and sites that South Americans use, about state of demand of IBM monitors, that's the most valuable item you have. Do sell the keyboard internationally, many people out there needlessly buying IBM keyboards, and your configuration is not an original package anyway as you have disparate IBM parts. The case you can sell in parts, the boards you can ship internationally easily.

So with some patience and over time you could earn up to $500 this way.

IBMs are far more valuable in Europe now because there's too many of them in USA. I don't know what's the situation in South America, you should explore a bit yourself that part.

Good luck.

 

[Zare]

P.S by numbers that google gives me for 2024 and current conversion rate, the monthly median salary in Argentina is below 50 euro. Not sure if that's correct, but even with +-100% error, selling a retro machine locally might be hard but internationally it's quite a payoff.

 

[IBMer]

The problem was the keyboard, i fixed it. But i dont know assembler (i believe it is assembler), so i don't know how to continue

View attachment 1277386

Assembler is a low level programming language, where each assembler language instruction (mostly) corresponds to one machine code instruction. What you are looking at is the operating system PC-DOS (like MS-DOS). You can enter operating system commands. Try typing "Dir" without the quotes to list the current directory.

 

[Plasma]

Assembler is a low level programming language, where each assembler language instruction (mostly) corresponds to one machine code instruction. What you are looking at is the operating system PC-DOS (like MS-DOS). You can enter operating system commands. Try typing "Dir" without the quotes to list the current directory.

That's not DOS, it's ROM BASIC. If a 5150 or 5160 can't boot from the floppy or hard drive, it will drop into BASIC.

 

[Oddsocks]

Yep. I think you should learn Assembler to continue.


lets take a side step. Do you have any interest in this machine other than monetary gain? I feel like the answer is no and therefore I feel less inclined to help.

Some friendly advice I would give my kids.. This computer isn't your meal ticket. There are no get rich quick payouts, no wonka golden tickets. Your young. If you want something work hard for it. Thats not meant to be derogatory. I had nothing when i moved out at 16. I worked my ass off for every scrap I have today. And looking back I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for the lessons I learned in the process.

Young people today seem to have no work ethic and expect alot.... Nothing separates the youth of today from the endless legions of people who have lived and died before them. And they all worked for what they wanted....

Come on, that's a little harsh. If it ends up in the hands of someone who cherishes it, that's awesome but also each to their own. If I owned a 1970s mustang, I'd be more interested in what it was worth than keeping it, but with the money I could buy more retro computers to the point I'd be getting divorced

 

[Eudimorphodon]

If I owned a 1970s mustang, I'd be more interested in what it was worth than keeping it

If you had a 1970's Mustang II you'd probably have people wanting to buy it off you so they could reuse certain front suspension parts in other cars that weren't just spicy Pintos.

(Or, I dunno, maybe that's not true anymore. Pintos are rare enough today they probably count as collectable. Considering how many IBM 5160s I used to trip over on street corners it's still mildly surprising to me that those are collectable now.)

 

[Zare]

5160 was produced in millions, besides it's the OP that salvaged it from the dumpster.