youtube video of a runnning XDS Sigma mainframe with lots of nice peripherals

Pierre et al, I posted the video you linked to. The machines on the video belonged to George Plue, who ran a medical billing service bureau in Flagstaff AZ. They are now located at the Living Computer Museum (LCM) in Seattle. George originally ran the Computer Center at Anderson University in Berrien Springs MI, and the center ran several generations of SDS the XDS Sigma mainframes over the years. When Xerox decided to get out of the mainframe computing business in August 1975 the market for Sigmas essentially collapsed despite Honeywell agreeing to buy the carcass of the business. George and a partner got into the used Sigma HW business and he maintained a stock of HW, SW and documentation at his home in MI. More info here: http://www.andrews.edu/~calkins/profess/SDSigma7.htm I'm unclear on when he acquired his second home in Flagstaff, but he had a typical ranch style house in Flagstaff. The big difference being that he had installed a significantly larger electrical feed with three-phase power than one would find in a residence, and the downstairs family and bedrooms were used as the machine room in the video. I visited George in the early 2000's (I think) and at that time he had a fully configured Sigma-9 and Sigma-8 mainframes, along with several tape drives, and string of DASD. Yes, the machine room was strewn with printouts, docs, partially finished projects, tapes, etc. But all the machines worked and it was glorious. ;-) Unfortunately George passed away a few years ago. All the HW and SW that was in running condition was rescued by the LCM in Seattle. I know LCM has had someone with Sigma experience working on and off on the Sigma to get it running again. Not sure of the current status. But, that would be an awesome time-sharing system alongside the DEC-20 they have. There was also a group in AZ working on restoring a Sigma mainframe, maybe some of Georges collection. He also had a complete Sigma-7 and a boatload of Honeywell peripherals in his garage in Flagstaff. The AZ group was very energetic, but I have not heard any updates in several years. Having worked on CHM's first restoration, the IBM 1620, from start to finish I know its a huge undertaking to get even a relatively straightforward machine up and running. Back in the late 1990s I deinstalled a Sigma-5 at CMU that CHM acquired. Video here: https://youtu.be/Sv3TnaaCVoc I also learned FORTRAN on a Sigma-7 in 1973 at UT-Arlington. Cool machine. Would *love* to hack on one again. :-) Cheers, Lee Courtney On Sat, Oct 31, 2015 at 4:15 AM, P Gebhardt <p.gebhardt at ymail.com> wrote: -- Lee Courtney +1-650-704-3934 cell