LET'S RESOLVE THIS ISSUE was (Re: Made a deal to get a Vax6000,2 Fujitsu Supercomputers and TOPS10???)

Upon the date 10:47 AM 11/25/99 -0500, Allison J Parent said something like: Allison has hit right on the mark in reply to your suggestion there's 100k or so 11/780's still out there, John B. How can you say there are that many when we hear of only even a few more recent vintage 11/750's coming available for example?? I would wager 750's had been more common in their day than 780's were for various reasons. Were there even 100k 11/750's made??? We've got quite a few sets of eyes and ears sensitive to looking for minis on this list, not just micros --including folks with close connections to scrappers-- and there are relatively few alerts raised as to 780 or 750 (and other big iron mini) availabilities vs. your contention many types are common. Case in point: at present I have up for adoption a VAX 11/750 which is the first one of these in months that I really recall seeing available. A fellow presently is interested but timing and distance for him to come get it is presently an issue and storage co$ts related to it are becoming an issue for me. I do *not* want to scrap it and part it out as it was a *running* system when I bought it amongst a truckload of other DEC gear. I'm a preservationist and really want to see it go to a collector who can have a running system. However, I'm off the beaten path for big iron collectors to readily come for it and there is a risk nobody can get it whole. Therefore there's a risk that a big iron VAX may die as a system. With that, it makes me seem like the "heartless" type who would scrap a working machine just to make room around here and I *don't* like that feeling one bit. Then I recall with shivers up my spine that if I had not discovered the availability of the truckload of DEC gear I bought, the original owner who had it would have proceeded to call a trash hauling company the next day to take it all away so he could clear out his ex-company office ASAP and fly back to his home in California. So at least I am able to have offered it plus other surplus DEC gear to everybody here plus save out a big batch of stuff which gives me a rather decent DEC collection. Yeah, well I see John B's point in simply scrapping a machine to a _limited_ extent. In my mind that doesn't quite forgive unilaterally deciding to scrap a collectable machine, or even a more modern interesting machine like the Fujitsu, just because "they are common" or "too big", etc. Just let us know and and encourage us to pass the word around. There may be potential computer homes out there we don't know of. But if not, at least the thing has been given a chance to live. I guess collectors have to try to keep doing the best they can in spite of logistics . . . Regards, Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/