Beginner into Micros, etc.

<newbie> Ok, bear with me here. All this talk about VAXes and PDPs has me wanting to delve into this area of minicomputer collecting, mainframes, etc. But so far my experience is with micro computers only, so this is a whole new ballgame, I'm sure. But, I'm unsure where to start. I mean, getting hardware in the micro realm is a matter of chance stops at the Goodwill store or something...plug it in, see if it works, etc. No doubt in areas which have businesses which throw away minis the same is the case. However, it looks as though places like Ebay et al will be my source for such things. I don't know how the hardware follows conventions. I mean, in the micro world, there are a lot of standards: ISA, PCI, VGA, etc...so it makes some parts interchangeable and such. I would imagine when you get into micros and such the parts aren't all that interchangeable, and some are downright nasty to obtain. For example, I was looking at this auction today: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=469865813 It's a VAXstation 3100. I know nothing about it, but that doesn't mean I can't learn. But it looks like it doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard, etc, so I'd have to get those. And, of course, for the life of me I don't know what they take. So, if I were to bid on it, I'd be getting something I didn't know about, get it home, and then watch it collect dust. I guess I'm looking for advice from the list members to whom this stuff is "old hat". How you shop around for systems of this nature, how easy it is to interchange hardware, where you manage to find your systems, what to look for, what to avoid. Things like that. Just trying to expand my collective horizons and see how far my knowledge of the subject can go. Thanks for the help! Tarsi 210 </newbie>