Large Peripherals on Large Systems (was Re: Discussion of large systems) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

1 Nov 2006

On 11/1/06, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
...
  I agree, which is why I started collecting in two
areas: serial
 terminals and graphics boxes.  "Graphics boxes" includes things like
 dial boxes, button boxes and graphics tablets and even plotters. 
Cool.  I've always been fascinated by dial boxes and button boxes,
but, DECUS aside, never got the chance to play with many.  I know they
were big with SGI systems, but my experiences tended to run to DEC and
Sun more than SGI.

(here's an ASCIIfied doc I found on the VAX 8000 dial box - very
cool... now I want one ;-)

http://deathrow.vistech.net/~cvisors/DEC94MDS/vsxdatm1.txt

...
  However, I see things like large line printers and
other such early
 printing peripherals seem to be rare.  They only seem to appear in
 people's collections if they were part of a big bundle. 
I have a LP05-type line printer and several smaller DEC printers
(LA-180, LA36...)

The LP05 is awaiting some attention, but my first LA-180 saw a lot of
use its first few years... I bought it from Newman Computer Exchange
in the mid-1980s to hang off of my PDP-8/a when they sent me a "free
shipping on your next order" coupon.  I looked through their catalog
and picked out the heaviest item I thought I could get some use out
of.  A few days later, a van shows up with a palletized printer.

Fortunately for me, a couple of years later, I got a contract job
writing PDP-11 software and really _needed_ that printer (and equally
fortunately, the $300 PDP-11/23 I picked up to do the work already had
an LPV11 installed).

I can't say that I had as much need for a true line printer fifteen
years later, but they are cool to watch work.

...
  Any other peripheral collectors out there? 
I collect CPUs _and_ peripherals, if that counts.

-ethan