IBM Series/1, PDP-11/84 potentially available in Oregon

[Jacob Ritorto]

Hey John..

  I'm interested in the 11/84 if it goes; have nineties Macs and Suns and
possibly some other pdp11 ephemera as well that I could offer as trade.  I
don't wish to be a hog, though, as I do have other elevens.   Let's talk
off-list when/if you're ready -- I'm open to the fact that there may be
more suitable homes for the machine.  I'm in western Pennsylvania, but I
travel to southern Oregon a few times a year.

thx
--jake

On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 12:47 PM, John Rollins <kd7bcy at kd7bcy.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
> ------------
> John Rollins  |  KD7BCY  |  http://www.kd7bcy.com
> Ham-Mac mailing list http://mailman.qth.net
> ------------
>
>
>