How did you get started?

From: William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net>
Date: Wed Apr 9 22:19:46 1997

> > This raises the question of how people got into this hobby. Was it
> > a single event or something which happened over time (with or without
> > you being aware of it?)

I first ran into several boxes of DEC Flip-Chip modules at a flea market
(general, not a ham/computer fest). I purchased the lot, hoping to scrap
them. I never did part them out, but rather stuck them on a shelf
inserted into the supplied backplane (it looked neat, with all of the
green and magenta handles). I then ran into the DEC bible, _Computer
Architecture_, and decided I needed to get into this stuff. A few
hamfests later, while picking thru some LSI-11 boards, a man offered me
an old DEC machine for $5. Of course I bought it. That PDP-8/s was my
first machine (and my first adventure in moving a big rack).

Other machines, mostly micros and DEC stuff, was aquired piece by piece.
Nearly all were purchased at hamfests, although my other monsters came
from my old school and my employer.

The collection also got a boost when my first contact (the guy with the
8/s), called and said he had found more computer stuff for me. Thinking
it was stuff for the PDP-8/s, I told him to come over. He did, and left
me with my front yard covered with stuff from the dawn of the
microcomputer era (nearly all M68 based - SWTPC, Sphere, etc.). I still
do not know exactly what I have. I started sorting thew miles of paper
tape (DEC PDP-8/Interdata/M68/misc.), but am still swamped.

I then lost interest, and my machines sat for a few years (nothing
scrapped, as I knew it deserved better). It was you lot that drew me back
in!

> That event was my missing the acquisition of a PDP-15 by about a
> half-hour in 1987.

Does anyone know how many of the 18-bitters were produced, and how many
survive?

> Any leads, of course, would be vastly
> appreciated. :-)

Maybe I am stating the obvious, but if anyone knows of any old minis
slated for the scrap yard, post it on the list! The loss of that PDP-15
is tragic, as they are so rare, and perhaps in the future can be avoided.
Micros, being small and nearly worthless to the scrapmen, survive much
better.

William Donzelli
william_at_ans.net
Received on Wed Apr 09 1997 - 22:19:46 BST

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