1 Jan
2022
1 Jan
'22
12:44 p.m.
At 07:50 PM 1/01/2022 +0000, you wrote:
True.
But if you're trying to get > $5000 for something, it doesn't seem unreasonable
to suggest that investing a bit in getting an extension cord run to the location of the
machine would be a good idea. The absence of that effort makes me wonder if the owner
knows what the outcome of such a test would be and doesn't want to have to report it.
But what would that accomplish? I think testing something like this requires a lot more
effort than plugging it in and hitting the circuit breaker. To test this to see if some
ODT comes up probably requires quite a lot of effort (locate a terminal/pc, wire it up,
figure out where to plug it into the 780, etc. If this guy is a bulk dealer I would be
surprised if he has the knowledge to do anything more than a power test which, again,
would not be very useful and could even be detrimental.
Exactly. The machine has a 3-phase 208/240V plug, they don't have such an outlet.
Their efforts stop right there.
But you're all focussed on that, and missing another important detail. The machine has
a liquid cooling system.
Some of the hoses look like they are Tygon, in the age-decayed brittle stage. Touch them
and they crumble away.
Running the machine without cooling would utterly wreck it. Even if they solved the mains
power problem,
they would be very unwise to actually power it up.
The 'installation and configuration' manual for this machine would be huge. They
don't have it.
Plus, it's a mainframe. Not even any blinkenlights. Without setting it up as a
complete system
with everything interconnected properly, how would you even know it was running
correctly?
Plus you can safely assume at least some of the system unit interconnect cables are
missing.
Potentially weeks, even months of restoration work for a buyer, before even daring to
apply power.
Then if there's anything wrong in the electronics, good luck diagnosing and getting
spare parts.
Considering the uncertainties plus high transport, restoration, operating and manhour
costs, who'd
buy it? A museum perhaps? Or someone wanting a 'static display object' never
intending to run it.
Guy