Fascinating, if it came from MIT is was probably part of the MIT "Whirlwind" making it an extremely valuable artifact. Too bad you didn't pick it up, I'm guessing it would fetch over $10K at auction. --Chuck At 06:23 PM 10/16/2000 -0400, you wrote:

-> > Fascinating, ..."Whirlwind" ... $10K at auction. -> -> Ease up. It's a Fleamarket of independants. -> They can get whatever MIT surplusses if they're -> in the area to start with. Many are the gypsy type. -> -> (But where Do 30" platters come from...???) I remember working on a large drive that used 30" platters around 1975, and it was vintage then. IIRC, it had an external air compressor and was about 6 feet long by 4 feet wide and 6 feet high. It had clear doors with windows on both of the long sides where you could see the platters spinning and the heads moving. Don't remember much else. Bill

Yeah, I just found this old house, apparently owned by one of Babbage's decendents, I couldn't believe it, wall to wall ENIACS! With boxes and boxes of replacement tubes. There is also a working difference engine but I may sell that to a scrapper because it has a lot (and I mean a LOT) of brass and copper in it. Besides it didn't come with a manual. Only a couple of Enigma machines that were new in the box, one still marked with the Luftwaffe transport seals. I'll probably break my back single handedly loading these into a forty five foot 18 wheeler that I rented for the day. Sheesh. I'll set a few aside for people on the list maybe. --Chuck At 04:40 PM 10/16/00 -0700, you wrote: