>more to the point :-). I had very little feedback. One from one 

	There may not be many 11/78x machines in hobbyist hands.
	There may not be too many corporations subscribed to
	this list :-)

	It took me many years (admittedly in the UK) before
	I came across a uPDP-11. I've never seen a Robin (hint,hint...).
	You need to be patient. In my experience, the docs and
	hardware will come along at different times - never
	turn down an incomplete package (I'm preaching to
	the converted here since you have the innards
	already !).

	How many VAX-11/78x machines were produced?
	These days you expect that thousands of any machine would
	be sold (except maybe the specialised supercomputers).
	I believe that for the VAX 9000 series, only 400-500 made
	it out of the door. The same order of magnitude may well
	be true for the VAX-11/78x systems. 

	How long have people been collecting such
	large machines? I don't have the room -
	I could not realistically find room for a VAX 4000
	right now, never mind anything bigger!
	 

	>9 months ago :-). However, I have indication that my 11/785 boards
	>won't work on the 11/780 backplane. So, I'm still desperately 
	>looking for a 11/785. I would be a lot more patient if I saw those

	I don't know anything about the 11/780 => 11/785
	upgrade but I would be surprised if the backplane
	had to be replaced. 

	>in the first place. Where are they?

	They may all be in dealers wharehouses and defence
	sites and nuclear power stations. I did hear of three
	being decommissioned in the UK a few years ago
	but that's about it.

	>get some leads to follow. The underlying assumption being that
	>there is one 11/785 recycled as scrapmetal every month that I don't
	>find it.

	I suspect the underlying assumption is just that
	there are not that many of the beasts still around.
	I guess by the time I have the room for one of
	these, there won't be any left!

	Antonio