New Collector - Pointers to Sources

<I am a relatively new collector and new to the list, so this may be a <naive question - please excuse. I would like to get my hands on <either/or/and a PDP-8/?, PDP-11/?. Where does one look - keep an eye on? Ok, For smaller systems the PDP-11 Q-bus based ones are resonable. They are easy to deal with power wise and space wise. Most of the PDP-11 Unibus systems tend to be multiple 4-6ft racks for reasonably operable systems. Smallest PDP-11 systems are the MicroPDP-11s <one deskside box> and the largest <PDP-11/70> will easily be 3-5 72"tall racks plus disk drives the size of washing machines and require special power(220V 3phase). This line is very varied! Moving the big ones is a non trivial task. In the common but non bussed PDP-11s there are the PRO350 , PRO380 and PDT-11/series. While some argue they are not "real PDP-11s" they are certaily the same instuction set and related members worthy of collection. Size PCish, no special power. You should be able to find them free to inexpensive. PDP-8 series, the 8e/f/m are the easiest to find and work with. A full system can be one box (11Hx21Wx28D) is you use a PC to simulate, or better yet obtain, a teletype so paper tape software can be run. Systems with disks will need at least a small rack in the 30-72" height. Some of the older 8I, 8(no designator) can easily be two to four racks and tax the power budget of standard house wiring and possible the floor <weight!>. There are PDP-8 based systems that are quite small and interesting in the own right. DECmate I/II/III series are aimed at word processing but do use a common cpu (cmos chip that is PDP-8 instructions set). They will run a variation of OS8 <os/78 or os/278). These are easy to find, common and should be very inexpensize to free. Size, desktop PCish. I would suggest researching what you want and what you can store (and power) first so you know what your looking for and at. There are a lot of web sites with pictures and descriptions. You're referenceing a lot of postential machines and narrowoing what you might like is not a bad idea. Allison