Maximizing value selling a working 11/34

[Jerome H. Fine]

 >William Donzelli wrote:

>Keep it together. RL drives are pigs to ship and rather common.
>Basically, they are hard to sell on their own.
>
Also, be aware that the competition is not someone else selling
another PDP-11 system, but a PC running Windows which
runs the same software UNDER  Ersatz-11 much faster
and with MUCH more storage available.

I used to be in touch with an individual who also ran RSTS/E
under Ersatz-11 and it was the best decision that was ever
made.  Even if there are special non-DEC boards, it is
possible to connect either (or both) a Unibus or a Qbus
to the PC with special adapters.  Since it would be unlikely
that anyone interested in a PDP-11/34 has such a requirement,
the usual cost of running on a PC under Windows will be
quite low, even when a commercial license is also required.
If a hobby user is interested, then there is free hobby use
for Ersatz-11, so that cost can also be removed.

And, of course, if the buyer is not local and there is shipping,
that cost can be quite high.

On the other hand, ebay prices for PDP-11 equipment that
has been parted out have been much higher lately.

Jerome Fine

>>On Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 9:09 AM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
>  
>
>>So I know someone who has a working 11/34 (4 RLO2's and the 11/34 in an H960,
>>running RSTS/E) they want to sell, and they want to know how to maximize the
>>value - i.e. whether to sell it as a complete working system, or to part it
>>out - and if the latter, how to break it up?
>>
>>(No discussion about the morality of parting it out, please; this is owned by
>>a business, and they need the money to pay people's salaries.)
>>
>>So which direction would get the most money? My sense is that parting it to
>>the maximal degree possible (e.g. sell each drive separately, sell the memory
>>separately from the CPU, sell the feet separately from the H960, etc) is
>>the way to get the most money, but I'm interested to hear what others think.
>>
>>Thanks for any insights!
>>
>>        Noel
>>