Oldest serial number (was: Oldest machine (was: Re: Good haul of old pc stuph))

[William Donzelli]

> Lately I've been wondering if anyone attempts to collect
> mass-manufactured memorabilia by trying to get the lowest serial
> number.
> 
> For instance, I have an Atari 800 serial #388801.
> 
> Has anyone done a wiki/database type web page where everyone can enter
> the serial #s of their common computers?

This is mostly a pointless excercise, sorry to report. Serial numbers are
notoriously non-sequential. Some companies purposely skip chunks in the
series, and many actually will not start at 1 (it looks bad). To add to 
that, the serial numbers can change as a system goes thru the factory - 
#1 probably was not actually the first off the line, but the one
closest to the guy that put the stickers on when the shift started. The
real bastard companies are the ones that reuse serials!

William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org