15 Jan
2014
15 Jan
'14
11:35 p.m.
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How many of these exist? How much will this one go for?
-Glen
15 Jan
15 Jan
11:43 p.m.
On Jan 15, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How many of these exist? How much will this one go for?
-Glen
Nice photo's, and a very clean looking system. I hope someone gives it a good home.
Zane
healyzh at aracnet.com
http://www.zanesphotography.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanes-photography/
16 Jan
16 Jan
2:16 a.m.
Hey, check out that knob wall..
So what's the rack of analog waveform synthesis hardware doing here? Do the
owners think it's part of the PDP system?
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 5:43 PM, Zane Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
On Jan 15, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Glen Slick <glen.slick
at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How many of these exist? How much will this one go for?
-Glen
Nice photo's, and a very clean looking system. I hope someone gives it a
good home.
Zane
healyzh at aracnet.com
http://www.zanesphotography.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanes-photography/
3:26 a.m.
Sweet. I am deeply intrigued.
On Wed Jan 15 2014 at 9:19:54 PM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:
Hey, check out that knob wall..
So what's the rack of analog waveform synthesis hardware doing here? Do the
owners think it's part of the PDP system?
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 5:43 PM, Zane Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
On Jan 15, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Glen Slick <glen.slick
at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How many of these exist? How much will this one go for?
-Glen
Nice photo's, and a very clean looking system. I hope someone gives it a
good home.
Zane
healyzh at aracnet.com
http://www.zanesphotography.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanes-photography/
3:38 a.m.
On Jan 15, 2014, at 18:16 , drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:
Hey, check out that knob wall..
So what's the rack of analog waveform synthesis hardware doing here? Do the
owners think it's part of the PDP system?
Judging by the knobbage on the rack the PDP-12 is in, maybe it was set up for data
acquisition stuff. There's recent and current thread over on VCF from a guy who wants
a PDP-12 (and unfortunately isn't in a spot where it's practical to buy this one
on eBay), and one poster said that the PDP-12 was popular in medical research.
Hey, here's the thread in case anybody here has another PDP-12 to sell/trade to him:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?40932-DEC-PDP-12-Min…
Anyway, the one on eBay really has me drooling. Luckily for my credit card balance,
it's way too far away from me.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
3:59 a.m.
On 1/15/14 7:38 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
one poster said that the PDP-12 was popular in medical research.
That was me.
Use by medical research goes back all the way to the original LINC, which was developed
under an NIH grant.
Most medical schools and VA hospitals had them (LINC-8's or PDP-12's).
The last surplus one I saw for sale out here was at Weird Stuff a LONG time ago (they
were
just moving out of the Milpitas location) that came from the VA in Palo Alto.
It doesn't surprise me at all that there would be waveform generators
along with this machine since the 12 has built-in A/D's and D/A's.
Lyle Bickley may have some comments on this as well, since he was the DECUS PDP-12 guy.
5:20 a.m.
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014 19:59:01 -0800
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 1/15/14 7:38 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Indeed, I was a serious PDP-12 buff. I was the DECUS Coordinator for
the PDP-12 for many years and owned one from about 1976 until I donated
it to the Computer History Museum in the mid-late 90's.
I bought mine directly from DEC (Blue Bell Office, PA) a couple of
months after they had been discontinued. DEC Blue Bell had been a
training center for the PDP-12 and had a huge collection of new Manuals
for the system. I bought it for $3,000 - and it included an ASR-33 and
RF08/RS08 disk (and appropriate DWO8/DM08 interfaces, etc.). I later
added a TC08 and another DECTape (TU-55) as well as a 9-track tape to
the system.
PDP-12s were used in medical labs, biology labs, used in psychological
studies, etc.
One of the really "fun" aspects of the PDP-12 is the fact that it can
switch from the LINC instruction set to the PDP-8 instruction set with
a single instruction in either mode.
The LINC instruction set has some very cool instructions that allow for
very interesting graphic displays in "real time".
You could run "DIAL" as the OS in LINC mode or OS/8 in PDP-8 mode.
Since I was the DECUS PDP-12 Coordinator I had the entire DECUS library
for the PDP-8 AND PDP-12. In addition, DEC offered me (and I gladly
took) the master copies of DIAL source code. As far as i know, they are
the only ones that exist. All of this software was donated with my
PDP-12 to the Computer History Museum.
Whoever acquires a PDP-12 will have a great system to restore and play
with ;)
Cheers,
Lyle
--
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
one poster said that the PDP-12 was popular in medical research.
That was me.
Use by medical research goes back all the way to the original LINC,
which was developed under an NIH grant.
Most medical schools and VA hospitals had them (LINC-8's or PDP-12's).
The last surplus one I saw for sale out here was at Weird Stuff a
LONG time ago (they were just moving out of the Milpitas location)
that came from the VA in Palo Alto.
It doesn't surprise me at all that there would be waveform generators
along with this machine since the 12 has built-in A/D's and D/A's.
Lyle Bickley may have some comments on this as well, since he was the
DECUS PDP-12 guy. 
3:57 p.m.
Boeing Micromation? Anyway the computer generated micrographics shop in
Kent Washington in the late 70's/80's had 3M 715 COM machines, and one
huge Dec PDP of some kind. Perhaps it was a PDP-12. Anyway, they used
it to generate 35mm color microfilm, and some animation. We had a tech
office next to the guy that supported that machine,,, we supported the
3M machine, which had a PDP-8A running the 105 mm camera, character
generator, and a couple of tape drives.
Good memories, best company I ever worked for (3M).
On 01/15/2014 09:20 PM, Lyle Bickley wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014 19:59:01 -0800
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
On 1/15/14 7:38 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Indeed, I was a serious PDP-12 buff. I was the DECUS Coordinator
for
the PDP-12 for many years and owned one from about 1976 until I donated
it to the Computer History Museum in the mid-late 90's.
I bought mine directly from DEC (Blue Bell Office, PA) a couple of
months after they had been discontinued. DEC Blue Bell had been a
training center for the PDP-12 and had a huge collection of new Manuals
for the system. I bought it for $3,000 - and it included an ASR-33 and
RF08/RS08 disk (and appropriate DWO8/DM08 interfaces, etc.). I later
added a TC08 and another DECTape (TU-55) as well as a 9-track tape to
the system.
PDP-12s were used in medical labs, biology labs, used in psychological
studies, etc.
One of the really "fun" aspects of the PDP-12 is the fact that it can
switch from the LINC instruction set to the PDP-8 instruction set with
a single instruction in either mode.
The LINC instruction set has some very cool instructions that allow for
very interesting graphic displays in "real time".
You could run "DIAL" as the OS in LINC mode or OS/8 in PDP-8 mode.
Since I was the DECUS PDP-12 Coordinator I had the entire DECUS library
for the PDP-8 AND PDP-12. In addition, DEC offered me (and I gladly
took) the master copies of DIAL source code. As far as i know, they are
the only ones that exist. All of this software was donated with my
PDP-12 to the Computer History Museum.
Whoever acquires a PDP-12 will have a great system to restore and play
with ;)
Cheers,
Lyle one poster said that the PDP-12 was popular in
medical research.
That was me.
Use by medical research goes back all the way to the original LINC,
which was developed under an NIH grant.
Most medical schools and VA hospitals had them (LINC-8's or PDP-12's).
The last surplus one I saw for sale out here was at Weird Stuff a
LONG time ago (they were just moving out of the Milpitas location)
that came from the VA in Palo Alto.
It doesn't surprise me at all that there would be waveform generators
along with this machine since the 12 has built-in A/D's and D/A's.
Lyle Bickley may have some comments on this as well, since he was the
DECUS PDP-12 guy. 
9:02 p.m.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 09:20:33PM -0800, Lyle Bickley wrote:
Indeed, I was a serious PDP-12 buff. I was the DECUS
Coordinator for
the PDP-12 for many years and owned one from about 1976 until I donated
it to the Computer History Museum in the mid-late 90's.
Thank you for doing this.
mcl
17 Jan
17 Jan
2:25 a.m.
New subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
I recently came across an early Zenith PC laptop, that was not working and the price
seemed right (free!). It's a model ZFL 181-92. My web research came up empty as far
as a service manual goes, and am wondering if anyone has any leads/pointers to one.
Plugging in a 12 vdc adapter does nothing, however if I take out the battery pack
(it's a sanyo and the cells do add up to 12v!) and connect my power source there, it
comes alive. This leads me to think it's either a bad connection on the connector or
some bad components at the power input side. I should be able to figure that out when I
open it up, but the thing that has me puzzled is a 'hum' that is directly
proportional to the brightness control. Any ideas on what this could be?
The other problem it has is a "disk seek failure". I am assuming this is a
cleaning and lubrication issue with drive a:? Swapping drives is not an option since they
are not stock 3.5" drives...
Any ideas would be appreciated
Cheers
Alex
7:41 a.m.
New subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
i think if this is right i dont know for sure but i had a zenith that
the hard drive died by not even powering up. seems a common thing with
zenith laptops. mine was also a 12v but no battery. i think that maybe
if u found a working replacement that might work but its a pain to get
into some of those zenith laptops.
On 1/16/2014 6:25 PM, azd30 wrote:
I recently came across an early Zenith PC laptop, that
was not working and the price seemed right (free!). It's a model ZFL 181-92. My web
research came up empty as far as a service manual goes, and am wondering if anyone has any
leads/pointers to one.
Plugging in a 12 vdc adapter does nothing, however if I take out the battery pack
(it's a sanyo and the cells do add up to 12v!) and connect my power source there, it
comes alive. This leads me to think it's either a bad connection on the connector or
some bad components at the power input side. I should be able to figure that out when I
open it up, but the thing that has me puzzled is a 'hum' that is directly
proportional to the brightness control. Any ideas on what this could be?
The other problem it has is a "disk seek failure". I am assuming this is a
cleaning and lubrication issue with drive a:? Swapping drives is not an option since they
are not stock 3.5" drives...
Any ideas would be appreciated
Cheers
Alex
9:27 a.m.
New subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
The drive should be a 3.5" 720K floppy, could be one that used a drive belt
that turned to goo.
-----Original Message-----
From: azd30
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 9:25 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only
Subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
I recently came across an early Zenith PC laptop, that was not working and
the price seemed right (free!). It's a model ZFL 181-92. My web research
came up empty as far as a service manual goes, and am wondering if anyone
has any leads/pointers to one.
Plugging in a 12 vdc adapter does nothing, however if I take out the battery
pack (it's a sanyo and the cells do add up to 12v!) and connect my power
source there, it comes alive. This leads me to think it's either a bad
connection on the connector or some bad components at the power input side.
I should be able to figure that out when I open it up, but the thing that
has me puzzled is a 'hum' that is directly proportional to the brightness
control. Any ideas on what this could be?
The other problem it has is a "disk seek failure". I am assuming this is a
cleaning and lubrication issue with drive a:? Swapping drives is not an
option since they are not stock 3.5" drives...
Any ideas would be appreciated
Cheers
Alex
---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is
active.
http://www.avast.com
18 Jan
18 Jan
4:10 a.m.
New subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
I've got an early Zenith Data Systems ZFL 184-01 "SuperSport" on-hand,
which I believe is an XT-compatible machine. It does use a 12V DC adapter
and large D-cell based NiCd battery pack that clips onto the rear of the
case.
Don't know too much about it, but it does work just fine, far as I can
tell. If I can be of any assistance, just let me know.
On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 3:27 AM, TeoZ <teoz at neo.rr.com> wrote:
The drive should be a 3.5" 720K floppy, could be
one that used a drive
belt that turned to goo.
-----Original Message----- From: azd30
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 9:25 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only
Subject: Early Zenith PC Laptop
I recently came across an early Zenith PC laptop, that was not working and
the price seemed right (free!). It's a model ZFL 181-92. My web research
came up empty as far as a service manual goes, and am wondering if anyone
has any leads/pointers to one.
Plugging in a 12 vdc adapter does nothing, however if I take out the
battery pack (it's a sanyo and the cells do add up to 12v!) and connect my
power source there, it comes alive. This leads me to think it's either a
bad connection on the connector or some bad components at the power input
side. I should be able to figure that out when I open it up, but the thing
that has me puzzled is a 'hum' that is directly proportional to the
brightness control. Any ideas on what this could be?
The other problem it has is a "disk seek failure". I am assuming this is a
cleaning and lubrication issue with drive a:? Swapping drives is not an
option since they are not stock 3.5" drives...
Any ideas would be appreciated
Cheers
Alex
---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
protection is active.
http://www.avast.com
16 Jan
16 Jan
2:59 a.m.
I am very grateful this is located halfway across the country, and
already has bids on it.
I used one in college and remember it fondly. The console looks
better (at least in my memory) than the pictures indicate.
mcl
4:09 a.m.
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How many of these exist? How much will this one go for?
-Glen
Beautiful!
We will attempt to acquire this for the MARCH museum because it's in our
backyard, so the pick-up is easy.
Everything in our museum is donated. Hoping (seriously) that we can
quickly convince some of our supporters to donate the funds to purchase
this.
10:10 a.m.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 03:35:06PM -0800, Glen Slick wrote:
How many of these exist?
I can't know for sure, but here is a lower bound: 11
Clubs:
1 - Update Computer Club, Uppsala
2 - Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island.
Museums:
1 - Living Computer Museum, Seattle
3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain view (the may have more, but at least 3)
Private collections:
3 - Undisclosed :)
And one in this current auction. There are lots of artifacts out and
about too, frontpanels and parts.
There are also three, possibly four, LINC-8's that I'm aware of.
Cheers,
Pontus.
2:51 p.m.
Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> writes:
Robert Krten has a longer list of potentially-surviving PDP-12s:
http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp12/location.html
I've just asked the technicians at Dundee University's Psychology
department (just down the road from me) about their PDP-12, which that
list mentions. John Morris reports that they've still got it as of
January 2014, "although it hasn't been switched on since about 1981/82."
Thanks,
--
Adam Sampson <ats at offog.org> <http://offog.org/>
How many of
these exist?
I can't know for sure, but here is a lower bound: 11
21 Jan
21 Jan
8:42 a.m.
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 02:51:54PM +0000, Adam Sampson wrote:
Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE>
writes:
Robert Krten has a longer list of potentially-surviving PDP-12s:
http://dustyoldcomputers.com/pdp12/location.html
All the ones I listed are in Krten's list.
/P
How many
of these exist?
I can't know for sure, but here is a lower bound: 11 
17 Jan
17 Jan
2:50 p.m.
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational
MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
This addressed to a number of people on this list - you know who you are.
I am going to have to fetch this machine for later transport West?
I ask, as I am planning a trip to Lawn Guy Land in the next few weeks.
Please respond OFF LIST - unless, of course, you want to blow your cover!
--
Will
3:08 p.m.
> This addressed to a number of people on this list
- you know who you
are. I am going to have to fetch this machine for later
transport West?
I ask, as I am planning a trip to Lawn Guy Land in the next few weeks.
...And for anyone who'd like it to stay here on the east coast :) we in
MARCH are trying to raise money to make a bid on the '12. Everything in
our collection is donated, and that's why we are not attempting to just
bid on it with existing funds. So far our members have committed $2,800,
although that's still far short of the current bid. Anyone who's
interested should email me ASAP. - Evan K..
4:05 p.m.
On Jan 17, 2014, at 06:50 , William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
This addressed to a number of people on this list -
you know who you are.
I am going to have to fetch this machine for later transport West?
I ask, as I am planning a trip to Lawn Guy Land in the next few weeks.
Please respond OFF LIST - unless, of course, you want to blow your cover!
LOL! Am I one of the people you had in mind? I'm not concerned about blowing my cover,
since it's not like I'd hide the fact if I bought it. No, I'd have all sorts
of things to say about something that cool on my web page.
Honestly, it didn't even occur to me that I might buy the glorious monster and
contract with you for pickup and delivery. Am I getting hopelessly senile, perhaps?
In any case, this particular machine is going to be well outside my price range unless the
seller would like to take a 5-ton 6x6 truck in barter. So I think it's safe to say
that you won't need to fetch this machine on my account.
Hmm, I wonder if a VAX 11/780 would fit on your trailer? ;)
P.S.: Have you found any 1" oiled roll tape for an ASR 33 in your vast treasure
trove?
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
4:16 p.m.
LOL! Am I one of the people you had in mind?
No, but I know the usual suspects. There are quite a few of them out
West that have used me to haul stuff in the past. For the record, none
have contacted me as of now, so I have no idea who will be players in
the game.
Hmm, I wonder if a VAX 11/780 would fit on your
trailer? ;)
I think DEC Corporate cabinets will actually fit in my covered trailer, too.
P.S.: Have you found any 1" oiled roll tape for
an ASR 33 in your vast treasure trove?
I have not found it yet, but I did find a bit more fanfold. I need to
determine how much fanfold papertape I need to hoard, then the rest
will become more available (more, if my supply releases more, as
well).
--
Will
22 Jan
22 Jan
9:38 p.m.
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 3:35 PM, Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How much will this one go for?
And the answer is $16,400.00 Too bad it wasn't mine to sell.
9:56 p.m.
On Jan 22, 2014, at 13:38 , Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
And the answer is $16,400.00 Too bad it wasn't
mine to sell.
WOW!
I was also watching a new-looking TRS-80 Model 4P, in box, with the original goodies. It
went for about $640!
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
11:04 p.m.
Anyone here have or know who gets the bragging rights for the PDP-12?
On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 3:56 PM, Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net> wrote:
On Jan 22, 2014, at 13:38 , Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
And the answer is $16,400.00 Too bad it
wasn't mine to sell.
WOW!
I was also watching a new-looking TRS-80 Model 4P, in box, with the
original goodies. It went for about $640!
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
23 Jan
23 Jan
12:04 a.m.
On Jan 22, 2014, at 16:38, Glen Slick <glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
It went up from $8,100 in the last 4 seconds, too. Ouch.
- Dave
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 3:35 PM, Glen Slick
<glen.slick at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's something you don't see on eBay:
Vintage PDP-12 computer was completely operational MUST PICK UP
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161199469414
Long Island, NY
How much will this one go for?
And the answer is $16,400.00 Too bad it wasn't mine to sell. 
12:49 a.m.
On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 01:38:18PM -0800, Glen Slick wrote:
And the answer is $16,400.00 Too bad it wasn't
mine to sell.
Way out of my price range, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it.
And the price pretty much guarantees that the new owner will guard
it with their life, so it's definitely safe for a while.
John Wilson
D Bit
4003
days inactive
4011
days old
27 comments
19 participants
participants (19)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
ats＠offog.org -
azd30＠telus.net -
barythrin＠gmail.com -
drlegendre＠gmail.com -
fraveydank＠gmail.com -
glen.slick＠gmail.com -
grif615＠mindspring.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
lbickley＠bickleywest.com -
linimon＠lonesome.com -
news＠snarc.net -
nf6x＠nf6x.net -
pontus＠Update.UU.SE -
rmx44＠aim.com -
teoz＠neo.rr.com -
tony.aiuto＠gmail.com -
wdonzelli＠gmail.com -
wilson＠dbit.com