Components available - the rest of the story

[curiousmarc3 at gmail.com]

I might be interested, as I already have two FFT systems that I am restoring (an HP 5420A and a HP 5451C). I am local. Just drop me an email.
Marc

Sent from my iPad

> On Sep 8, 2016, at 10:08 AM, Tom Gardner <t.gardner at computer.org> wrote:
> 
> The rest of the story.
> 
> As Al pointed out, much to our surprise, the museum has rejected an offer
> from Art's estate for the donation of a Fast Fourier Transform computing
> system which included both the Unicomp Computer and a hardware FFT
> accelerator.  This is a very strange decision since the system is one of the
> earliest if not the first implementation of a FFT in anti-submarine and
> anti-aircraft warfare.  FFT mathematics dates to 1965 but processor until
> much later had the power to do it real time in software at the resolution
> necessary, so Art invented the hardware accelerator and multiple units were
> sold to the Navy.  The estate is appealing the museum's decision.
> 
> The estate would like to keep the FFT system together and so if the museum
> continues with a cranial rectal inversion it will look to other alternatives
> including those of u who have already 
> 
> I will respond by email not later than tomorrow to the several list members
> who expressed interest in the components and/or the computer.  I'm busy
> today helping set up the Atari retrospective for the IEEE Silicon Valley
> History Committee.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Tom  
> 
> Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2016 18:16:23 -0700
> From: Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org>
> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Components available
> 
> 
>> On 9/6/16 4:18 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
>> 
>> A friend of mine died recently; he was amongst many things an 
>> electronics tinkerer and has a closet full of small parts in bin 
>> cabinets (resistors, capacitors, ICs, transistors, hardware, etc.).
> 
> 
> There is also a Unicomp 18 bit minicomputer, paper tape reader, and FFT
> processor circa 1972 in the garage (6ft rack) with full documentation.
> 
> I walked out of the donations meeting with the other curators today who
> thought it was a piece of s**t and didn't want to take it, calling it a
> 'dumpster fire'
> 
> Art was a friend of mine.
> 
> Hopefully it can go someplace where it can be appreciated.
> Talk to Tom about it, unfortunately, time is short.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 73      AF6WS
> Bickley Consulting West Inc.
> http://bickleywest.com
> 
> "Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
>