O.K. I now have the inventory of the VAXen. You can see the listing at

http://aurora.regenstrief.org/VAX.html

It's quite extensive. These are indeed four 6420 cabinets, though 
basically 4 times an identical parts list, and no disk support at all.  
One has a bad power unit. I will use that one as a resource for spare 
parts. Unless anyone wants to repair the power unit, that will go to the
junk yard. One of the other machine's cabinets lacks a back door, so
I will even use the door from the machine with the broken power unit.
I'll save all boards, cables, and screws that I can get off easily.

The two machines I will give away will have 2 CPUs each and 256 MB RAM.
I will hold on to the spare parts in order to trade them for other 
interfaces if necessary. We should get one SDI and one DSSI interface
at least, if not an SCSI interface. So far we have some hope. I also
strongly request that we coordinate any acquisition of parts from the
market. If suddenly this market has three more buyers we're ending
up driving up the price. And more money is what I am least eager to 
spend on this activity (my wife says I should buy a lawn mover instead
:-). If you want something or have an idea where to get something 
please let me know, so we can coordinate.

Matthew Hudson offered to donate SDI disk drives and perhaps a DSSI
interface card. The SDI drives are heavy (64 kg, according to Geoff.)
Does anyone have an idea how best to ship those from Omaha Nebraska 
to central Indiana? What Matthew has almost sounds like a small truck
load, and it would probably be enough drives to equip the lower
compartment of all three cabinets (see images on Geoff's web site.)

But we still don't have SDI interface cards. If anyone can donate 
those, please do.

Buck, are you still interested taking one to St. Louis? If so, let
me know ASAP. Later this week is where everything's going to happen.
If there is another taker, please notify me ASAP. If we don't have a
taker for the third system we may end up thorroughly dismantling this 
as well and store in a small box rather than a huge cabinet.

Brian, you're organizing the truck for shipment to Bloomington? I'd 
be most grateful if that truck would also bring my machine home in
Indy. We may need about 3 to 4 more hands. If need be I'm willing to 
accompany you to Bloomington to help with carrying the stuff you take.
Make sure you get a heavy cart and lots of strong and long straps. There
are carts that have a strap so you can get a tight hold of a 
refrigerator or laundromat. This works fairly well, but ask them what
the maximum load is, these boxes are about 300 kg (according to Geoff)
though mine may be lighter 'cause there are no disks or power backup
unit inside.

regards,
-Gunther