Do we have a VAX organization?

From: M H Stein <mhstein_at_usa.net>
Date: Mon Oct 29 13:15:54 2001

Maybe not just for VAXes?

>From another perspective:

A friend and I were both selling & supporting Cromemcos in the 80's and early 90's and, although neither of us is a "collector," as time went on and they became obsolete, we took them all back & hung on to them, first for parts and then because we didn't have the heart to throw them out. A few years ago we decided it was time to clear out the space and get rid of them, but could not find anyone seriously interested locally or on the 'Net at that time (mind you, being in Canada does make shipping a little expensive), so we hung on to them a little longer.

Recently we both needed space again; he decided that it wasn't worth the time and trouble to find a good home for them and tossed most of his into the dumpster, while I thought that surely there'd be lots of people who'd give their eye teeth (and maybe even a couple of bucks) for this stuff. I did get a few inquiries for a card or two, and several people wished that I were in California or Minnesota (or that they were in Toronto, although, at least for the Californians, that's less attractive as winter approaches :). And yes, I was contacted by a couple of local collectors who will probably take a few of the systems. But on the whole, so far it has indeed not been worth the time and trouble, especially since (unlike HP & DEC) there's not much of a user community (knowledge base) out there and people prefer them to be assembled & working instead of a pile of chassis and boxes of manuals & untested cards.

All this to say that it sure would have been nice if there'd been a central place with the organization & resources to arrange and/or pay for shipping the whole lot and a few bucks on top, and then dole them out to interested individuals. As it is, unless someone local actually wants it all, most of it will have to be scrapped.

Thanks for the tip about the value of scrap, BTW; believe these boards & connectors were still goldplated...

mike
Received on Mon Oct 29 2001 - 13:15:54 GMT