Re: looking for hardware

[Dave McGuire <mcguire%neurotica.com@localhost>]

On 12/17/2013 12:50 PM, pierre-philipp braun wrote:
> what organizations are there in the US about keeping old hardware alive?
>  In France we have a few associations made of individual collectors but
> nothing more for now unfortunately.  I myself own a few DEC and SUNs but
> nothing older than a VAX station.  I would love to see and play with
> PDP-11 boxen.  Do you have some?

  I have about twenty PDP-11s here.  The PDP-11/70 on the Wikipedia
"PDP-11" page is mine, for example.

  I have some old Suns (some that I ran in production years ago and
kept) and a lot of VAXen, but my focus is generally on older hardware.
I have several PDP-8 systems, a pair of PDP-10s, and lots of PDP-11s.

> It's not like I am planning to travel
> in East USA in the near feature anyway, but who knows.  And it's also
> good to make contacts in this small hardware preservation community.  It
> is small in France and Europe, at least.  I am not sure how it is in the
> US.

  There are a good number of classic computing museums here nowadays.
There are a LOT of collectors...there are a dozen or so people just near
my city who have (for example) some PDP-11 systems.  Far more people
collect 8-bit personal computers than minicomputers, but there are still
quite a few minicomputers out there.

  If you decide to travel to this area...the museum I am building will
not be open to the public for a long time yet, but you are still welcome
to stop by, hang out, and power up some old iron.  Over 200 computers,
some sixty racks, most of which are functional.  I am here every day;
just contact me via email and let me know your travel schedule.

  That offer, of course, is extended to everyone here.

               -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA