On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote: Well, your last sentence answers your second. That, and the unhelpfulness of the seller made me pass it up. Good to see someone will preserve it, tough. I want pics!

Richard wrote: I did get a little worried when they couldn't tell me if there was installation media there or not - if the hard disk is toast then without it it's just a big (albeit cool-looking) boat-anchor, unless the Dutch crowd with one of these can supply media copies or a hard disk image. But that's probably just my natural caution against using ebay as a selling medium - I tend to always feel like I'm going to get screwed :-) Surely you have an SGI with an Indycam knocking around? ;) cheers Jules

OK, talked to the owner today. Apparently there was more in the auction than was obvious from the ebay listing: - 3 20" Barco monitors (PAL video format) - Main cabinet (approx. 450 lbs with box steel frame) - Operator's console/table (approx 50. lbs, with membrane keypad and tablet) - Printer: possibly made by Kodak, about 2'x2' with stand, has color resolution to 1/100" - Scanner: unknown brand, a separate peripheral from the main unit - Some sort of side piece for the unit, not shown in the photos on the net, that is driven by either an XT or an Apple ][. I believe this is some sort of console processor, but its unclear. - Large external power supply assembly - 3 totes full of manuals, etc. The totes contain the contents of a 40 hr. training course that tells you how to operate the unit from start to finish. Apparently the idea of training 40 hours to run the thing put off the current owner so he never turned it on. It was mothballed in the mid 90s and has been kept in a good location, but moved around several times after being decomissioned. The current owner told me a number of stories about this unit; I have not verified any of them. This particular system was used to create a large mail-order catalog (~1000 pgs) in the 80s and 90s to allow for rapid turnaround on late changing details in the catalog (product discontinued, price changed, etc.). The system was the result of a cooperative design effort between Apple, Kodak and Xerox to create the ultimate system for 2D graphic design. It originally came with two large drum scanners (SciTek brand), but since those were easily resold, they are not bundled with the Aesthedes. Later, Apple put together a system for the same market that addressed ~85% of the functionality of the Aesthedes for less than 10% of the cost. However, some graphic designers claim that the Aesthedes is still one of the best systems there is for graphic design. Supposedly the "Peanuts" strip was rendered with this system at some point (why, I don't know, it seems totally overkill!). The current owner came by the system because the company that purchased it went out of business and couldn't find a buyer for it. The current owner obtained the system along with a bunch of other equipment in a package deal from the company as it liquidated its assets. I'm guessing this thing is going to need a bonafide wood crate for the main unit at the very least. There's a Craters & Freighters in Minneapolis, so I'm going to get a quote from them. I would not be surprised if packing and freight shipping was in the 2-3K$ range, hopefully it will be more on the 2 side and less on the 3 side. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

In article <ded268c40810102352g42ad8ddkabd3867ea2bc1fa6 at mail.gmail.com>, "Paxton Hoag" <innfoclassics at gmail.com> writes: That would make sense; the Dutch site mentioned earlier in this thread says that a RIP peripheral was available. Me too :-). I got in touch with the contact person listed at the Dutch museum site; he says they have no technical documentation on their system, so while it is assembled, it isn't functioning. I may be able to help them get their system back on-line if the documentation with this system provides the necessary information. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>

On Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 07:17:53PM -0700, Richard wrote: Congratulations with that acquisition. From what I read, the guts of that sound really fun. I look forward to the pictures and to any success stories about reviving it. -ethan -- Ethan Dicks, A-333-S Current South Pole Weather at 7-Nov-2008 at 02:30 Z South Pole Station PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -37.8 F (-38.8 C) Windchill -64.8 F (-53.8 C) APO AP 96598 Wind 10.2 kts Grid 76 Barometer 687.6 mb (10343 ft) Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html

In article <e1d20d630811061908v6c7024c8keeac2fdd17c15022 at mail.gmail.com>, "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at gmail.com> writes: :-) This will be the largest single piece of hardware that I have, but mostly because its a giant countertop :-). The guy did say that he found the boot floppies in one of the totes of stuff that goes with it. -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html> Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>