Hope you consider this message an encouragement.
It is directed to those are are new to the hobby or
those of you who are disappointed because you
still haven't found that special something even
though you have spent much time trying to find it.
Have we dried up sources of old computers? Hardly.
Can you still hope to find that missing system/
software/manual/etc.? Indeed.
The proof I offer is the PDP-9 that Merle Pierce, of the
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc., recently
told us about.
There weren't many of them to start with and it is
30 years old so what are the chances there would
still be one working everyday in a building in
Philadelphia. Pretty low, but still, against the odds
it is now safe for another 130+ years in the museum's
collection.
A while back a the fellow from the company in
Philadelphia that used the 9 contacted me. He
came to me because his 9 wasn't working and
upon doing a search of the web he discovered I
had a reference to PDP-9s since I used to have
one.
He asked me for help in fixing his, but I was no
help. I did mention how much I'd like to have
another one and that was end of our correspondence.
About 7 weeks ago he contacted me out of the
blue and offered the 9 and other gear if
I would come and pick it up.
Tempting. The customs and other regulatory
hassles made the trip impossible so I offered
the gear to Merle and the rest is history.
Seek and ye shall find. Really, lots and lots of
wonderful old small and big computers are
waiting to be discovered.
Yours in good faith.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
Kevin Stumpf * Unusual systems *
www.unusual.on.ca
+1.519.744.2900 * EST/EDT GMT - 5
Collector - Commercial Mainframes & Minicomputers from
the 50s, 60s, & 70s and control panels and consoles.
Author & Publisher - A Guide to Collecting Computers &
Computer Collectibles * ISBN 0-9684244-0-6
.