William Donzelli wrote:
One of the things *I* think would be really
useful for collectors is to
know the number of computers manufactured, both total and by year. The
only problem is in getting this information; anyone have any ideas,
Serial numbers DO lie, but they are often the only clues left. One source
of serial numbers (other than those on the machines) is maintenance
documents - especially those concerning ECOs. Often they have notes to
the techinicians concerning which machines (by ranges of serials) get the
treatments.
I guess another thing that would be useful would be the initial starting
point of the serial numbers for each computer. I find by looking at the
date code on the ICs, I can get *some* idea of when a machine was
actually built. Of course, that assumes that the chips were used
shortly after they were made, and I generally look at a variety of chips
to find the latest date code. I hadn't thought of ECO's; that sounds
like a good idea. Thanks!