Questions about a PDP11/93

From: Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Wed Feb 20 20:27:59 2002

Y'all,
  I went on a donation pickup today (30-odd Compaq P133 junkers) and
after we collected the crap, the guy said "Y'all don't have a way to
dispose of mainframe type stuff, do you?"
  They have a PDP11/93 in their IS control room that's still plugged in.
Evidently was in service till a few months ago.

  <Quoting Wayne from "Wayne's World", as he ogles that guitar>

  Ooohh, yes. It WILL be mine.

  <End Quote>

  The first problem is that my boss was discussing disposal/hauling fees
with them, so I couldn't act very interested.
  The second problem is that I'm completely ignorant of QBus systems, so
even if I had been able to crawl around on it, I'd still be clueless.
Well, I'd probably know the PSU requirements.

  It's in a ~36" rack, has 2 tape drives showing with "PDP11/93" badges
on each, in 3U modules. One blank [1] 6U front cover that I assume is
the QBus backplane? and 2 blank [1] 4U units. The rack itself has the
2-inch louvred side-plates.
  It looks like it just came out of the crate. Hell, it looks like
somebody polished it yesterday.

  So the questions:
  Can anybody point me to pictures of an 11/93 that's NOT in a BA23?
  What's it worth, obsession aside? It's probably going to cost me about
$0.50/lb, USD. That's delivered to my garage. I'm guessing that's in
the $200 realm.
  What's the power input? 110V? 220V? Single/triple phase?
  The tape drives looked like the media would be about the size of a
TK50, but there's a horizontal locking lever. I think. I did look at
the badges next to the drives; they just say PDP11/93. Does that mean
there may be 2 CPUs?

  There are also a couple of Digital line printers there. I didn't get a
model, but I did see ribbon spools about an inch wide. The one that
comes with its own table.... They are also reputedly working, and also
look like they were polished yesterday. Are they useful?

  Aquiring minds want.

        Doc
Received on Wed Feb 20 2002 - 20:27:59 GMT