I was going through some boxes of old documents as I prepare to thin out
my computer collection and ran across a couple leads that I had 30+ years
ago on a couple early vacuum tube era computers--one was a Bendix G-15 and
the other was a Royal Precision LGP-30. Thought it would be fun to see if
either computer was still there and turns out that the Bendix G-15 is
buried in a storage unit yet! I haven't heard back on the LGP-30 yet. When
the weather warms up, I will get a chance to help dig out the Bendix and
hopefully make a deal on it.
Apparently, the Bendix was operational before going into storage in the
mid-1970's. So, what are the chances that after sitting for almost 40
years that it would still be operational? I know that vaccum tubes can
deteriorate but those are easy to replace. What about the capacitors,
resistors, and diodes? I do not know if the storage unit was climate
controlled, but if not, I assume corrosion could be a problem with all the
contacts. What other issues might one expect with an old system like this?
Unfortunately, I am not an electronics expert but always like a challenge.
I now regret selling my Bendix Diode tester a few years ago on eBay! Maybe
I will have to rent in some day if I make the deal!