Wanting to get my first classic computer

On 06/19/2019 10:31 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote: Ray, I'd take that a level deeper. And old machine is like an old car. Parts will be needed, they will come from various places including scrounging, parts may be unobtainium (long gone) or those available are expensive. You will have to do most of the work as most will not touch it. I liken having old systems and keeping them going to be like having an exotic pet that would do better in a zoo and isn't warm and cuddly and might even bite! The likelihood of finding something is high, however it may require work to get it up and running. The work maybe electronic repair, finding and replacing disk drives, or finding software on suitable media. There is also potential for replacing board or repairing them. If you lucky enough to acquire a working system, the task of keeping working is also there (spare cards, media to back up the disks to and so on). For VAXStation and the like disk drives are getting old and replacement is not unlikely. Qbus PDP-11 come in a large array of flavors and you need complete documents for what you may have and is likely not DEC standard configuration so you need all the supplemental documents for the alterations. At the same time finding media to load a copy of the OS is also something to consider. Besides OS specific knowledge you will require hardware specific knowledge lest you run in merry circles for a s simple issue. This means obtaining the needed manuals and reading them, thanks to many the information is on line. In short real hardware comes with real issues to solve and often the interfaces and media are not at all modern PC like. I'd add anything you know about PCs is unlikely to be helpful at best and can lead one down an unproductive path as PCs and most older non-PC machines tend to not be similar (other than being a computer). Allison