Brian Knittel wrote:
A complete IBM 1130 system just surfaced for sale
in the midwestern
US. It is reputed to be one of the very first ones sold. It was used
by an architecture/engineering firm until a few years ago. It's an
impressive system: includes the CPU, external disk drives, 1403
printer, multiplex cabinet (interface for the disks and printer),
1442 card/read punch, 029 keypunch, documents and other stuff. We're
working getting more details. Buyer will have to arrange for pickup,
which will be a bit of a job as the machine is in a basement, and the
pieces weigh around 800 lbs each. (The multiplex box could weigh over
1000 lbs). We suspect that a stair crawler might be required.
We (we being Norm and Brian at
ibm1130.org) don't know what the
seller expects to get for it. He's under pressure to get it sold and
moved within two weeks. This is a terrific system, but the pool of
interested people is fairly small, and the moving costs are going to
be considerable. (We would guess that the stair crawler alone will
cost $1500 or more to rent for the day, and trucking will cost
another $500 to 3500 depending on where in the US it goes -- overseas
would be much more). He's aware of this, and we hope that he's
realistic about it. We have an idea of what "realistic" might be and
could suggest what you might want to offer, if you want the advice.
ebay 200053482851 IBM 1130,1133,1403,1442,1627,2311,29 ORIGINAL SYSTEM
Ok, so it was neck and neck between 'luckyjavalina' (?) and 'shiresoft'
(Guy Sotomayor) until 'doctor_death' (?) came in at the end and snagged
it for $9200. Anybody know who 'doctor_death' happens to be? Pseudonym
for 'dkdkk' maybe :-) ?
Is this system going to end up in a museum, another basement, or going
to be parted out on ebay?
I was (obviously) hoping to get it since an 1130 was the first computer
that I programmed professionally (in 1971). Because docs and software
for it are somewhat scarce, as part of the acquisition I wanted to lend
out the docs and media to make them available to the community at large
(which is what I try to do with the other docs and media I acquire).
Unfortunately, it looks like this will just fall into a "black hole". :-(
--
TTFN - Guy