At one of my usual electronics surplus stores the other day, they told me
"If I'm into old computers.... go see this scrap dealer" and gave me the
address. My interest was piqued, as it was not one I was already familiar
with. So, I headed out there today.
Interesting place... 8 acres... most of the stuff was inside crumbling
warehouses, some was outside in the elements. I believe I saw a deuce and a
half ;) But anyways... on to the computer stuff I noticed...
One of the lowboy HP cabinets (about 2.5 feet tall) with a 13037 subsystem
and 7906D drive mounted. The formica top was missing, but the insides looked
pristine. I already have one of these (with formica top), but may pick this
one up just to have a spare. They are perfect for a mobile drive (as mobile
as a 190 pound drive gets) and you can set a terminal on top (but don't
bother trying to read the screen when the drives voice coil is moving). I
may use the 7906 as a donor to get another 7906 working... anyways...
I noticed a large floorstanding Silicon Graphics machine, didn't get too
close to it but I think it said "IRIS" on it.
Summagraphics graphics tablet.
A large seven foot Digital rack with a processor, tape drive (TZ07), scsi
drive tray w/drives, RD42? (cd, no caddy). Dusty, but very good condition. I
may buy the TZ07. I couldn't see anything saying what kind of cpu it was.
The cpu tray had the cpu on the left, and 3 or 4 what looked to be hard
drive modules in front too. No clue what that is, I'm not familiar with that
era of DEC gear.
Saw another TZ07 too just sitting loose - it was a desktop enclosure - I may
snag that too.
Oh, there was a neat dual bay olive green rack - I'm guessing it was some
time of automated fire control for a military gun. Appeared to have front
panel buttons like "turret position, reload time, etc.". I think most of the
guts were westinghouse perhaps. Didn't appear to be (to me) an obvious OEM
cpu or anything. Quite old.
There were selectric typewriters by the palletfull.
Some huge floorstanding HP plotter... the front panel said something to the
effect of "HP Plotter model I". No interest to me.
Much to my joy - the guy who owned the place was just what us collectors
would hope for. Soon as I walked in the door he wanted to know what kind of
stuff I was looking for, my cell & home number, etc. He took copious notes,
and told me matter of factly he'd keep an eye out for the kind of stuff I'm
interested in and definitely call me immediately. Seemed most helpful. And
better yet, he said they have another location about 10 minutes away, but I
didn't have time to go look there. The guy did say "you do know stuff from
that period had decent amounts of gold in it", and I told him sure, and I'd
be happy to give him more than scrap value for stuff I'm interested in.
So, next weekend probably I'll go check out the other place. Note to self -
next time, take a flashlight, wear boots, and plan for more time - not every
area was searched.
Regards,
Jay West