Frankly, do you really intend to use those drives? My point is that I would acquire them but, only as a component of a complete system, and definately not as a part which I expected to function. Compared to contemporary systems, they are woefully inadequate, and so usage of same seems pointless, if not foolish. Those drives are museum pieces, and should be viewed as such. Hence, get them, since they look nice next to the CPU but, do not use them. Find an alternative source of external storage to use with the CPU. For instance, I have two RM02's as part of my 11/44 but, I never supply them with power. Instead, for actual operating storage, I use some Fujitsu Eagles. As a practical point, I think it is very good to acquire and hold old mainframes but, it is better to use emulators (like Ersatz-11) for actual execution. The reason is the excessive power needs of older systems versus the same for modern systems, not to mention the tremendous improvement in throughput offered by an emulator over the old hardware. After all, when it comes to computers, they are all Turing machine equivalents, yet, no one actually runs software designed for an actual Turing machine. The results of execution will be the same, whether executed on a real PDP, or an exactingly implemented emulator. The only expected difference will be in the time to completion of program execution. Sure, sure, I know my position is not going to be well accepted by those members of our list having a purist bent but, I do expect that emulators will continue to be effective long after our hardware possessions stop functioning due to failing parts, etc. Moral: Forget about using those RM03's. Instead, get them for the museum value. William R. Buckley

Gooijen H wrote: Absolutely! A nice collection really needs one of those drives that look like top-loader laundry washers and have drums as big as those. I just passed on one RP07 because it only was the size of an American laundry washer but not a removable drum. I think the RM03 comes closest to my romantic image of that top-loader. I probably will never have one, but will stick to RA60s (I just love RA disks and only need a 7x and a 60 to have the complete series 60, 81, 82, 90, 92, 7x.) I already know where the RA60 will go. Top-loader removables are just great and if you have a truck and drive 1100 km for other stuff, by all means take them too!!! -Gunther -- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org