A very sad PDP-8/S

[Guy Dunphy]

At 04:34 AM 3/11/2018 -0700, Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:
>On 11/3/18 1:00 AM, Guy Dunphy via cctalk wrote:
>
>> I only received this machine on Thursday, opened the box properly on Friday and found it was missing such
>> such major parts. It belongs to the ACMS (Australian Computer Museum Society) but with the way things are
>> going with them and their storage space ongoing misfortunes, I may be 'looking after it for them' indefinitely.
>> (grins)
>
>The loss of a non-profit collecting institution is nothing to "grin" about.
>I hope you start thinking about who it will go to when you die.
>
>Also, since it isn't yours, did you tell them you intend to 'restore' it?


Al, a few points:

1. This and several other items from their collection were passed specificaly to me BY THE ACMS last week, on their
   initiative, since their storage situation has deteriorated further. The executive of ACMS have visited my workshop,
   and know my capabilities and intentions.

2. I'm not grinning about the tragic lack of support for tech museums in this country (Australia.) If you knew me at all,
   you'd know my opinions of why that is, and what a disaster it is.
   I'm grinning about having a chance to preserve such a nice machine, myself. This should be obvious to anyone who wasn't
   predisposed to a hostile attitude, for some reason.

3. I'm currently only evaluating options for restoring it. And will discuss with ACMS before doing anything, apart from
   making a screw-on protection for the wire-wrap backplane asap. (Next week, need to buy some aluminum sections.)
   It will be a *long time* before I can seriously begin on it, due to the length of my work queue. Which doesn't mean
   I can't start trying to locate information and parts now.

3. It seems you have time to go out of your way to criticise in a situation you know little about, but you don't have
   time to find that Documation TM200 physical manual you recalled seeing at bitsavers, and repeatedly ignore me when
   I ask you about where it is now, what are your plans for it, can I borrow or buy it from you, etc.
   Since I'm restoring a TM200, and so far yours is the only sighted copy of a manual anywhere, that's disappointing.

4. 'When I die' - this is a known issue. Though thankfully not an urgent one. Australia is very different to the USA.

Guy