Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

Hi,
How hard would it be to get a Sharp X68000 machine for someone outside of Japan today?
And how expensive?
Has anyone here done it? Via a proxy bidding service or some such?

For some reason, I want have such a machine to play with, but I wonder if I have the money for it.

..hm i believe i read a post somewhere here that a member owns one of this units...wasnt it neko himself i dont remember

I have a Sharp X68000 XVI I bought through eBay almost four years ago (October 2007). It came in the original box (with all documentation and accessories) and set me back $799 (shipping from Japan to the US came to $165 for a total of $964). I've also purchased a lot of game titles over the years, they mostly ranged $10-$20 each unless they were exceptionally rare.

Ouch! That was expensive (in my view). Suddenly I understand the price of this one . Too bad it is not a twin tower model. Another one here , but it says "pictures above are just for DEMONSTRATION", not a good sign.

I'm assuming competency reading Japanese would be at least "helpful" if not absolutely required...

Well, I haven't got anything there, ie. no Japanese language skills at all.

It can be helpful. Most of the arcade/console style games don't require any Japanese proficiency while the RPGs and visual novels certainly do. I guess it depends on what you plan on using the machine for

I remember aeeing a twin tower with keyboard and mouse at the Super Potato for around 20000 yen last summer. Even over there they are still pretty expensive so it isn't just import fees that you are getting dinged on.

There was one at eBay this week: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... AA:US:1120
and the seller said he would ship international.
Unfortunately, I didn't win it :-/
Someone else had deeper pockets / wanted it more than me.
Well, that's life. Cheers!

Ah, the seller is mistaken in the description - it's not an XVI (which is model CZ-634C), it's a Compact (CZ-674C). The problem with the Compact model is that it uses 3.5" disk drives, and nearly all the prepackaged X68000 software you'll find out there will be on 5.25" disks. Probably for the best that you didn't win that one

Well, I knew about the 3.5 inch drives (it was in the description) and still would have bought it.

How hard is it to fix these machines? Are the easily repairable, or more like "only the bravest fools will try to test their stamina on such a task"?
There is a ACE-HD available: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... SS:US:1123
but the seller describes it as "junk".

"Junk" on the Japanese auction sites just means "untested, sold as-is". It doesn't mean the part is actually junk. But it doesn't mean it isn't, either Pig in a poke ... but generally, anything I have bought from Japan has been well take care of.

Junk in Japanese auctions *mostly* means the stuff is untested as hamei mentioned, but it's here mostly for seller's protection - they don't want to take responsibility even if it appears to work - most of them have no idea what are they selling, and since in Japan, "face" is extremely important they rather get lower price and not be responsible for the trouble...
Couple examples:

Octane2 (bought in "powers on" state as Junk) - everything works except the XBOW 1.4 - it crashes the machine during heavier load.
VWS320 - junk - perfectly OK, I took it with me to Poland and swapped for a Fuel,Indy, and 2 O2's.
O2 - junk (got for 1$) - perfectly fine, but severely cracked skins.
Octane - perfectly fine.
Origin200 - all perfect.
Couple SCSI cards, terminators etc - all junk - all perfect.

So, ratio-wise, I've had pretty good luck with that junk...

Btw, about the X68k let me dig into auctions and the pricing, this doesn't seem very heavy - some 8-10KG, this means shipping to EU should be somewhere in $50-100 range... (depending whether it takes a week or 3 months )

As you can tell, I haven no experience buying stuff from Japan.
Thanks for all the information, much appreciated.

I could wait the three months for transport, but there is always the risk things get damaged. Doesn't that risk increase if transport takes longer time?

I'm not an expert on importing/exporting, but I would assume that the parcel is sealed inside a cargo container for most of that time. Which doesn't necessarily make it safe...

Well, yes, there's always a risk, but parcels are insured, so I don't think it's such a big deal.
I'm pretty sure a lot of your items came just the same way - all the difference is that somebody else takes care of that for a fee - and you simply don't see that yourself...

Oh, and looking at this, cargo container on a ship worries me the least:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKUDTPbDhnA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw-zxJI1YOo

Not always "on purpose"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89SKOBQTEuY&feature=related

And so that people don't think I have short temper for Fedex, here's another "company"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAq_KnDIPc&feature=related

Cheers

I guess you're right; either you are "lucky" with your shipment, or unlucky. Most of the time it works out.

Here is another one on eBay link .
To expensive for me with shipping and all, but maybe someone else wants it.

And one more: link , this one is in the US.