--- Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: In my case the -8/e was the _last_ one I got. I'm personally fond of the pre-OMNIBUS machines (-8/L and -8/i) for the simple matter that they are made of wads of TTL and assembled in such a fashion that it's entirely possible to envision how this gate connects to that flop, etc, and trace the operation of the ALU, etc. The appeal of the OMNIBUS machines is that it's easier to hang modern devices off of them. Of course, it probably comes down to the question of "what did you encounter first". In my case, it was an -8/L followed by an -8/i followed by an -8/a. As for most common, around here, I ran across as many -8/a's as all other kinds put together (during the 1980's when such things were to be found in the wild at all). I wish I could have rescued the two -8/m's that were at OSU analyzing horse urine for the state racing commission. They had a rack of Diablo RK03's on a switch with one CPU attached to a mass spectrometer and the other CPU attached to a 9-track and a Tektronics printing terminal. It was four racks of CPUs, disks and such. The last time I saw them was 1987, give or take a year. It's where I cut my teeth on RTS-8 (during the maintenance time on the mass spec). -ethan _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com