I'm looking at clearing out my basement a little as my old computer interests and
space requirements change and am considering getting rid of part or all of my Series/1
system. It has never been operational while I have had it, and was originally wired up for
240v operation - although the CPU and small tape drive were re-configurable to 120v by a
jumper, and I did power them up together shortly after obtaining the system, but
didn't have any OS or software to run on it.
I have one IBM rack, which I am willing to part with if the whole system is going,
otherwise all my network gear and newer servers are going into it(it's only 6'
tall so it fits well in my basement. I have a 4967-K00 CPU, a 4968 tape drive, an unknown
model Cipher tape drive(very large), one or two 4959 expansion units, maybe a broken
8" floppy drive if I still have it. I also have two terminals and a lot of cabling
for them in unknown but presumably poor condition, currently coiled up in the back of the
basement on the floor. I should also still have a decent pile of expansion cards, most of
them communications, some of them disk controllers. And hopefully enough interconnect
cabling to be useful.
Now for the really ugly part - I do indeed have some binders with information on some of
the units, and probably some stuff that isn't there, but we had a water leak a while
back and some of it was water damaged. I put them aside but never had time to attempt
anything with them.
I do have a picture of part of the system and the rack... The Cipher is sitting under the
1U server at the bottom of the pic. And one of the terminals with keyboard is visible
sitting on top of the PDP-11/84. They've both been buried in the basement behind
storage boxes for a while.
http://www.kd7bcy.com/images/comp/oldracks.jpg
On a side note, the PDP-11/84 may also be available soon. It's pretty bare bones and
will likely need at a minimum a disk drive and controller. I used to have a list of the
cards that were installed but I can't find it right now. I have a disk drive of some
kind in the garage currently, I think it's an 8" floppy drive but I haven't
looked at it closely, and it is in poor shape. The CPU rack in the basement is decent,
just a broken spot weld on the door hinge which makes it hang loosely. Similar story to
the Series/1 - never got it operational, but it was powered on long ago when I obtained
them during initial investigations and testing. Other than the drive that I picked up at a
local surplus store I have nothing that goes with this, maybe an old DEC paperback book of
some kind if I can find it. I'm tempted to put it on eBay after seeing the price the
last one sold for, but would be happy to entertain offers from this group
first(interesting trades are always welcome). I should have some random DEC boards of some
kind laying around as well. I know I've posted about both of these systems in the past
on this list, over a decade ago. I was hoping to get this one up and running in a
meaningful way but just never had the time or money to put into it.
The IBM is pretty much free to anyone who wants it, picked up at my house in Portland,
Oregon, USA. Time frame is pretty loose, it's not like I need these out immediately,
and it will probably take a couple of weeks to round everything up on weekends and get the
cobwebs cleaned up, but I won't be sitting on these a terribly long time either. I
imagine I will probably start dumping unwanted stuff by other means by late February.
Parts are spread all over the place, so it may take a weekend or two to get everything
together and moved up to the garage for pickup. I kinda like the rack, so if you don't
need it I can keep it, or if you have a spare rack 38U or shorter to swap that would be
great. If no one wants it, I will likely keep the CPU and tape drive in the rack and scrap
the rest of it. The Cipher looked pretty generic, it may be able to hook up to other
systems. If no interest in the whole package or it is unwanted I will make it available
separately.
If there is interest in one or more systems I will begin moving things to the garage and
making a more accurate catalog of what is actually present and a better idea of the
current condition of individual pieces.
A bit of a wall of randomly wandering text, but there it is. Cleaning out the basement can
be such a tedious job! tl;dr - PDP-11/84 and IBM Series/1 available in Portland, Oregon,
local pickup required.
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John Rollins | KD7BCY |
http://www.kd7bcy.com
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