Subject: powering up older machines - is it safe? From: "John F. Kuenzig" <jfk at kuenzigbooks.com> Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:21:02 -0400 To: cctech at classiccmp.org Hi all - I'm new to the list, been lurking for a while. By way of introduction, back in the 80s I was a bonified software developer (wrote a mag tape locking device for an early version of UNIX back when there wasn't such a thing, did work in telecom test equipment and speech recognition for years) but these days I'm in the old/rare book business, technical books and all. I like old hardware, though don't have the storage space for much. When I was in high school I took apart a Friden computyper in my parents basement just to see what was in it. Still have the "core memory" board around here somewhere. I've tried to salvage manuals for old computers, component manufacturer technical books, and an IMSAI or two over the years. Still have 20 boxes of old components (everything from transistors, caps, resistors, etc to tubes) in the garage I've accumulated over the years when I'm buying old books from hobbyists - buried deep enough I don't even remember what's in them. Anyway, a friend asked me to try and sell a DEC Robin for him (he tells me it's a DEC VT180 with a separate drive unit that he tells me was only available to DEC employees), and my question is this:

Is it safe to try and plug this machine in and try to power it up? I've seen various discussions about old capacitors dying, etc but I'm not sure if this machine is old enough to worry about. My plan was to try and power it up (my consignor also gave me some software with it, not sure if it's related or not yet), and see if it still ran ok, take some photos for the group (if anyone wants to see it) and my own records, and then try to sell it. It appears to be in good shape, in the original boxes, "monitor" in one box w/keyboard (looks to be a VT180), and a disc drive unit in the other. My consignor said it ran the last time he had it out many years ago. I've always enjoyed and preferred photographs of old machines with their startup screen displayed rather than a dark screen. Seems like they have more life with a live screen.

Any pointers appreciated (on or off list) - what to do or check in what order would be great. Its been a long time since I blew up directional capacitors in lab...so long I don't even remember what they're called. Thanks in advance!<grin>

from the person before that.

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