rarest computers. was: RE: Xerox Alto Restoration + Emulation

<Can't find the beginning of this thread, so I'm gonna shove my response here.> I've got a few "rare" machines, but they mostly seem to come out of some sort of "scientific instrumentation". A vector-based computer that processed NMR data - an Aspect 3000, some machines made by Nicolet and others, etc. Some of my favorite "rarer" machines are my General Automation SPC-16/40 and /45 (which are neither complete nor functional right now ): It was a machine targeted where the Data General Nova was targeted (a general purpose 16bit machine in the early 70s). Encore Multimax - a massively SMP UNIX box with NS32332s (or 32232's?) that went up to 40 processors and 128MB of memory in the late 80s, and ran a Mach-based Unix. I've not yet gotten that up and running, but I've got install tapes and documentation for it that the SPC-16s don't. Another uncommon machine (in model, not in processor architecture) is my MicroVAX 3520. I'd love to pick up more processor cards for it at some point and see how many I can get it to happily run with. My favorite machines, though definitely not all that rare are my VAX-11/750 (first ...and only for now... UNIBUS machine) and my IBM S/390 Gen3 9672-RC4 (which is only 1.5 years away from being "classic" by the 10 year rule). As soon as I get more unpacked into my new home, I'll have some time to set up my 11/750 and the Multimax to try and play with them. This reminds me I need to get back to updating my website sometime. Pat -- The Computer Refuge -- http://computer-refuge.org Purdue University Research Computing -- http://www.itap.purdue.edu/rcs