14 May
2005
14 May
'05
5:05 p.m.
What a day! I've been on the go non-stop for over 12 hours but I've made
some GREAT hauls! First I went to tiny hamfest in a nearby town. Sold a LOT
of coax cables there even though I hadn't set up. People were asking for
cables and I had a bunch of them in the car trunk that I was going to take
to a friend that owns a surplus store so I kept going out to the car and
bringing back cables! Then I meet a guy and got to talking to him about
hobbies. When he found out that I was interested in vintage computers he
asked if I was intersted in a Sage computer. (You KNOW what the answer to
that was!) Then he said he also had a couple of Grid laptops in search of a
new home. Then asked if I wanted an Apple. I said no but then he added that
it was one made for business. I asked if it was an Apple III and he said
yes! Then found out that he also had a HP 9845 that needed another home! I
found out that he lived near where I was supposed to be headed so I made
arrangements to meet him later in the afternoon.
Then went to Melbourne and stopped at an electronics scrap yard that I
frequent. I quickly found a TI Silent 700 terminal in a transit case. Then
checked a second transit case and found a "Micro 5000" made by Harris Corp.
I opened it up and whatta ya know! an intel 8008 CPU, eight 1101 RAMs and a
bunch of 1702 EPROMS! Definitely a keeper!!! Searched through the scrap
bins and found an industrial looking chassis that has the same computer in
it. Wow! My first 8008 computers and TWO in one day! Found one more but it
was almost completely gutted but I did get some more 1101 RAMS and some
early 70s TTL ICs. (yippee! spare parts!) The industrial chassis are
marked "50-0300 Simulator" but it looks like the same board in a different
package. These look like some kind of data logging equipment. In the same
pile I also found a Televideo 910 CRT Terminal Installation and User's
Guide, a Silent 700 Operating Instructions book and some other docs. Looked
around some more a found a buttload of the twist lock power plugs like
those used on the old Tektronix equipment and some Intels. Needless to say
I left happy.
Next I went to the surplus store and sold him a trunk full of cables that
I had picked up somewhere else for nothing, $$$$ :-) (Don't worry, he'll
get it all back in sales. I'm down there at LEAST once a week!) While there
I found a half a dozen keyboards with the switchs and keepcaps like those
used on the Intel and a lot of other old SBCs. The same boards also have
some nice gold and purple M6820s and 6821s. Also got a phone call while I
was there from an old friend that had a bunch of old computer stuff that
he'd found and he said he was going to be in my neighberhood later today.
(Aren't cells phones great!) Also while there I found a package of Davong
Multi-OS for the IBM PC and XT. I've never heard of this before. Does
anyone know anything about it?
Left there and went to see the guy that I'd meet that morning. He gave
me a ***MINT*** Visual 50 terminal, a MINT Sage II computer with ALL the
docs, a working HP 9845B, a stack of manuals for the 9845, a couple of HP
catalogs, a promise of a pile of early Byte magazines when he can dig them
out, two Grid laptops, a service manual for the HP Vectra LS-12 laptop
computer (HP sent it to him by mistake. It's probably one of those service
books that HP won't admit that they ever made.) He still "owes" me the
Apple III and a second set of docs for the Sage :-)
FINALLY went home and got to sit down for the first time since 6:30 AM!
Then called up the guy that was visiting over in my neighberhood and went
to see him. (Switched cars first since the first one was overflowing!) He
gave me an AlphaMicro 2000M along with some other odds and ends. OH! and
some original disks for my Rubicon CPM machine!! I found out that the
company that he works for used to be an AM dealer/service center so I made
him promise to look for any AM manuals, parts, etc left around there. He
also knows of an AM that was JUST taken out of service and is complete and
100% functional. He's supposed to check and see if he can get it for me.
That's it! Now I just have to unload two cars full of computers and find
a way to sneak it all inside before the OL finds it!
Happy Hunting!
Joe