Another PDP-11 available: Wisconsin

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Mon Oct 9 20:52:13 2000

>Bill Bradford wrote:

> (another mail sent to me _at_ pdp11.org that I'm not personally able to
> save/salvage - perhaps someone else here can? --bill )
> If interested in this system, please email Tom at
> the e-mail address given below. He'd like to see his
> PDP-11 system go to a good home.
> He's asking $100 plus shipping for the lot.
> - - -
> My first home computer was a LSI-11: A Netcom box (card cage) with Diablo
> emulations of RK05 drives. I ran RT-11 3, then version 4, and I may have
> actually genned a v5 system for it. Still have it in storage, need to get
> rid of it.
> I don't know if the processor is an LSI 11 or 11/02. It's QBUS. I think I
> have assorted serial and parallel cards installed. I made a 8" floppy
> subsystem based on a heathkit card, built into the most incredibly ugly
> plywood box. I have 3 working diablo drives and a 4th that has serious
> electrical problems, but the heads are good.
> The original bootstrap/terminator card used a charge pump/inverter chip to
> provide negative 12v for the boot prom, but it never came up fast enough
> and you always got dumped to the _at_ prompt at power-up. Type 173000g and off
> you go - but that wasn't good enough for me. I hid a little transformer,
> bridge, and capacitor behind the backplane, and maybe a 7912 regulator (can't
> remember) and thereafter, it takes off from power-up without help.
> It has a Digital Pathways TCU-50 clock card, but the batteries are
> probably long dead, and you have to hard-code the year into the fortran
> / macro program that reads the hardware clock and sets the RT-11 time/date,
> which meant a small edit and recompile every January. I have a compiler and
> assembler. I've got an armload of RK05 packs for it.
> This pup is a real dinosaur. Please help!
> Thomas M. Peters
> <Peters.Tom.M_at_MBCO.COM>
> (414) 931-3887
> --
> Bill Bradford * KD5LQR
> mrbill_at_mrbill.net
> Austin, TX

Jerome Fine replies:

First I must admit I am biased since I do not regard PDP-11 hardware
as being very important as opposed to the software. On the other
hand, I have attempted to keep available a reasonable REAL PDP-11
system at considerable expense compared to that $ US 100 mentioned
above.

BUT, unless there is some specific reason as to why some of the specific
hardware mentioned is extremely important, I would suggest that the
requested price is in excess of the value by a factor of 100. Old
LSI-11 or 11/02 systems are so inhibited as compared with even an
11/23 CPU, let alone a 11/73 system, that I can't see why anyone
would want one - except maybe to fill out a full line of PDP-11
systems. When an emulator on a PC can duplicate most, if not
all of the functions, only a die-hard hardware fan (addict - yes I am
a PDP-11 software addict) would want an 11/02 system. And at
$ US 100, that is so overpriced compared to an 11/73 in a BA123
box no less about 2 years ago at $ US 10, I can't begin to see why
Tom thinks or feels that such a price is reasonable. If Tom really
wants to see it go to a good home, he should be offering to help
with the shipping as well.

Anyone willing to suffer through the hardware problems of an old 11/02
system needs to be encouraged. I actually have a couple of such old
systems which I haven't used in 10 years, but have kept just in case
someone might want then, but if and when they are ever available
(which could be within a year or two since I must start cleaning up
the basement), they will be for free. Anyone who has that in mind,
contact me and I will keep you on a list. Note that they are in Toronto
and local; pickup only. The last time I gave away an 11/34 backplane
and power supply, it took over a year to get someone to pick it up
and almost ended up in the dumptser.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Mon Oct 09 2000 - 20:52:13 BST