HP 9000 Model 550 sold on eBay

Glen Slick glen.slick at gmail.com
Sun Oct 2 22:05:32 CDT 2016


I was wondering if this item would attract much attention.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/262642624725
Sold for $787 this evening.

I don't know anything about these systems. Looks interesting, but this
bit of text didn't sound too encouraging: "The 550s have not held up
particularly well over time. As of 2013, the museum had two units.
Both units have non-functioning power supplies. The system control
boards are also subject to damage from battery corrosion."
http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=581

Also this bit of text about the HP-UX 5.0 Operating System:
"The downloadable file is an image of the system software tape for
HP-UX on 500 Series computers. It was made from a 150ft tape. We
obtained 47 read errors while imaging the tape, so it's probably not
entirely intact, and we don't have a working 500 Series machine to
check. However, the file contents of the tape are readable by issuing
the BASIC CAT command from a 300 Series computer."
http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?sw=534

Just curious if anyone knows much about these systems and if anyone
has one in working condition. What might the chances be for whoever
bought this system to get it into any sort of working setup? Does
anyone else have software for these squirreled away in their
collections?


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