Many people that trad with HP-things have made some "good deals", i.e. paid far less that what it is "worth" (in the eye of a collector) for an item. Many collectors also have dublicate machines. So why not sell a dublicate machine and support some calc-related project (like MLDL2000, Clonix, OpenRPN or nonpareil, emu48,...) with the money?
Perhaps the projects can setup a description of their project, and the sellers put the items on ebay with a link to the project to be supported. The winner of the auction then pays directly to the project and gets the item.
I would like to support some projects, but I will not register to paypal to do so, so it would be convenient for me that the buyer takes care of this. And the projects would perhaps get some attention from occasional ebay-lurkers.

What do you think of that idea?

Klaus,

Being the originator of the MLDL2000, I appreciate the idea of supporting these projects. On a personal level, money is not really the issue. I did the MLDL2000 because I simply wanted to do this, and I had the means to do it. The best support that I get is the fact that there are users all over the world that are now using it and have thanked me for creating it. The actual cost for me was covered by the income from 'selling' the units, but it really did not cover anything else than the cost. The amount of time that went into it (and is still going in the project) is enourmous. But then again this is a hobby, and that is why I am doing it.

Again, I appreciate the support, but do not need it in terms of money. Just a pat on the shoulder every now and then is more than enough motivation ...

Meindert

Klaus,

As the founder of OpenRPN I appreciate your idea. However, the most valuable support comes directly from this community in the form of talent. Adsense revenue is sufficient to cover all of our hosting expenses (which now keeps the site running at all times.) Right now, the OpenRPN project is in shape to support a full-scale development effort, but we need programmers to return/join.

Best Regards,
Hugh

Hi all,

As the creator of Clonix & NoVRAM pojects, I want to adhere myself to every word above expressed by Meindert and Hugh. But your idea may well inspire some others to develop new projects... and this is always a good new... ;-)

Cheers.