Computer Listing

From: Captain Napalm <spc_at_armigeron.com>
Date: Mon Mar 24 09:30:04 1997

It was thus said that the Great A.R. Duell once stated:
>
> > On Fri, 21 Mar 1997 17:54:15 -0500, "Captain Napalm" uttered:
> >
> > > Limited - only a single run ever made, and then, not very
> > > many.
> >
> > How about some of the rarer minicomputers that were made in the '60s?
> > Beasts like the LINC-8 (of which there were only 142 built) or Packard
> > Bell equipment from the very early sixties count here. PDP-1.
>
> What about machines built at prototypes only (PERQ 2T4, PERQ3A, Tiger?
> Tandy Deluxe Coco, etc). Some of those are very difficult to find.

  Sound limited to me 8-)
 
> > I hate to flog a horse that's weak, but there is more to computing
> > life than microprocessors. Whilst I don't disagree that the micro-
> > based machines should be preserved (they should), I hope that folks,
>
> Absolutely. It never fails to amaze me that some 1980's home micros
> (particularly Sinclar ZX80's, ZX81's, etc and Commodore 64's) still fetch
> quite high prices second-hand, while I am often _given_ minicomputer
> equipment.

  At the auction I attended recently, Two large (and I mean physically
large) VAX systems were sold for $50 (for the two of them). If #431 [1]
wasn't bidding, it might have been fun to get them.

  But then again, how would I get a one ton machine (not that I know that it
weighs that much, but it was huge) home? Where do I get three phase 220
power? Even though my office is the Cold Room [2] where I work, we don't
have the room or the power to run those things.

  Shame really.
 
> The PERQ (sorry to keep on mentioning what I consider to be one of the
> finest machines ever made) has a minicomputer-like CPU (260+ chips, 74S181
> ALUs, 2910 sequencer, etc) that you can get amongst together with a hi-res
> bitmapped display.

  Now that's a machine I wouldn't mind owning.

  -spc (Anyone know anything about DEC VT320s?)

[1] Who bidded (and often outbid) on just about every lot in the
        auction, and seemed not to care what he got or even interested
        in what we has bidding for. Grrrrrrrr.

[2] In name only. It's the largest office actually, with two A/C
        vents, and were all our companies servers are. I'm not the
        sysadmin (at least, I don't want to be) though my partners
        haven't realized that yet [3].

[3] Oh, this ISN'T alt.sysadmin.recovery? Sorry.
Received on Mon Mar 24 1997 - 09:30:04 GMT