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DEC stuff is hard to find!

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Vercus

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
123
Location
Pennsylvania
Hello all,
I have to admit, I'm beginning to get a little frustrated at how hard it is to find a PDP setup. I've given up on craigslist (worthless) and ebay is insanely overpriced, at least for my budget. Where do you guys find your stuff? I've been searching for what seems like forever, and haven't found a PDP anywhere.

One real limitation for me is my budget. Sure, if I had $4k I could probably buy something off ebay right now, but that's not going to happen. We don't have any computer recyclers around here that I'm aware of, and I wouldn't know what to do with them anyway, as they're not in the habit of re-selling stuff anyway. I don't have any local friends into vintage computers, so no help there. Kinda lost, and a bit bummed. It's worse now with those RL02's teasing me, just waiting for something to do...

Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for what I have (2 RL02's and a VT-102), I'm just itchy to put them to use. I'm just afraid that I'll never be able to afford the astronomical prices this stuff goes for, as I lost my primary job, and just have one part time job that's pulling back my hours. Perhaps I should consider another less expensive hobby...

-Jon
 
The SBC6120 will probably not drive an RL02.

With a little patience, you will probably be able to find an 11/23 or similar. They are quite common and usually not so expensive.

I've been extremely lucky and been given most of my gear, simply because I know people who wants to get rid of their bulky machines and I've been willing to drive long distances to pick them up.
 
pontus said:
The SBC6120 will probably not drive an RL02.

With a little patience, you will probably be able to find an 11/23 or similar. They are quite common and usually not so expensive.

I've been extremely lucky and been given most of my gear, simply because I know people who wants to get rid of their bulky machines and I've been willing to drive long distances to pick them up.
Click to expand...

Be willing to wait and you should find stuff. eBay was pretty decent 4 or 5 years ago
but now the prices are insane. Browse the Google groups alt.sys.pdp8 and alt.sys.pdp11.
Subscribe to the classiccmp list. Subscribe to pdp-8 lovers list. Put a notice on all of
the above that you are looking for stuff and someone might contact you. Yes, be prepared
to drive a long distance if it's free. :) It may take time, but if people see you are interested you will eventually get contacted. It just takes time.
 
I am confident that you'll see a DEC locally if you keep checking. Where I live, in the Philadelphia area, I have seen free VAX's and $20 DEC Rainbows on craigslist.com

:)
 
Time. It takes time. It took me FOREVER to finally find a Vax. I used to believe that they really didn't exist, and people just talked about them as some sort of weird inside joke. But then I found one. I remember spending a couple years looking for my first 11 as well. It will happen.

-Ian
 
Yup, as with the others it's a time game. A frustrating one but you just have to look once and a while but know it's not something that'll necessarily come quickly. Acquire some parts in the mean time if you come across some but just keep looking once a while.
 
And don't forget, now that others know you are looking they may tell someone they know
who might have something and that person may end up contacting you. Just think you
already have more than you had a month ago.
 
Hello,
Posting on the MARCH site is a good idea. I'll definitely do that. That reminds me, the vintage computer festival website (vintage.org) has been asking for a password. I've been trying to find out about the vintage computer festival east, as it's not too far from me. However, I don't know how to get in. It seems odd that the home page would ask for user/password. Is there something I'm missing?
-Jon
 
How much DEC gear hasn't been made in Hondas yet? Most of what is left should be in collectors hands by now.
 
Vercus said:
Hello,
Posting on the MARCH site is a good idea. I'll definitely do that. That reminds me, the vintage computer festival website (vintage.org) has been asking for a password. I've been trying to find out about the vintage computer festival east, as it's not too far from me. However, I don't know how to get in. It seems odd that the home page would ask for user/password. Is there something I'm missing?
-Jon
Click to expand...

No, you're not doing anything wrong: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?p=109544#post109544
 
Sometimes letting people know you are looking helps. I have let people, through networking, know what I'm looking for. Letting people in other forums know does help. Most of my DEC gear, I have aquired from recyclers and word of mouth.

Dan - Western PA
 
Hello Dan,
What is the best way to approach recyclers? Do they usually want money for the stuff then? I would assume so, if they had to pick it up, as they have fuel costs, etc. I just haven't known the best way to approach them. I also have a local university here in town, but same thing- I don't know who / how to ask.

-Jon
 
Hi Vercus!

Boy howdy, I sure do feel your pain. I've been in love with DEC stuff since I first found an abandoned PDP-11 in 1993. Until then, I'd never had a chance to be around any minicomputers, just microcomputers, and it immediately caught my fancy. I've been a DEC-head ever since.

It really feels like there was a glory period back in the early and mid 90s where PDPs were relatively easy to find. They were regularly being decommissioned and scrapped, and were common if you knew where to look and who to ask. I even once scored a complete pdp8/i in 1996 just by asking "hey, does anyone have any old DEC gear they'd like to get rid of?" The same went for peripherals. VT-100s and VT-220s seemed to be on every loading dock waiting to get carted off to the scrappers, so it was never an issue to just pick one up for free. I got lots of good stuff that way.

Well those days are LONG gone, and with them, at least for me, 90% of the fun of collecting. The joy of making a new haul is no more. And worse, over the years, I've had a few big life shake-ups and I've ended up giving away all of my gear to other collectors, so I don't have a single piece of PDP equipment any more. I've thought about trying to get a MicroPDP-11/23 setup going, but even those are rare as hen's teeth and many times more expensive. In 1994 I could get them for free. Now? $300 if I'm lucky enough to find one. Same for VT-100s, I haven't had one of those since 1998. So it goes, I guess, but it is frustrating.

Good luck with your search! I hope you find something that'll make you happy!
 
I normally find re-cyclers during my travels, my job requires ~60% travel. Some I find on ebay. I do offer cash, some accept, some not, but this never stops me from trying. I realize these guys have expenses, but the money they get from re-cycling requires volume, so the money I offer is more than what the machine is worth as ground up scrap. I get to know people that I know are doing IT work and they definately know I like old DEC gear. I do drive distances to get the stuff. Matter of fact I'm in the Phoenix AZ area now and I have found a half a dozen or so re-cyclers and I plan on visiting them all. I already have aquired two Alphastations for $55, in excellent working condition. Of course I will have to ship them home as airline baggage and some cost.

Now that you have planted the seeds of your needs I can always act as a pair of eyes for you and help where I can
 
Hey DDSnyder,
I travel with my job too, but not real far. Plus, we don't have time to do side stops. I'll try to keep my eyes out as much as I can. I've been telling everyone I know that I'm looking, but so far no real leads. I'm sure it'll take time.

-Jon
 
pontus said:
Here is a small PDP-11 on ebay. It lacks an RL01/02 controller (which I think you want) and I'm not sure if it has a console interface on the CPU-board? Perhaps someone could correct me on this.
Click to expand...
Yep, that board has two SLUs, one of which being for the console.

pontus said:
Not so much memory either, but It's a complete system.
Click to expand...
Looks like a good start. A lot of older software won't use more than 256K anyway.
 
Thanks for mentioning the PDP-11. A micro could be a good start, plus it doesn't take a lot of space. I could actually keep it out in the living room, which is currently where the terminal resides, sitting next to the Pentium III which is it's controller right now.

My main concern with this one is it looks pretty rough. Looks like it sat in a moldy dungeon. Or maybe it's just dust/dirt. Can't tell on this computer monitor.

Since it's untested, what should I expect? I'm assuming the hard drive's probably bad. Any chance on getting a hard drive for this? Is it standard SCSI, or a proprietary interface? Anything else I should be worried about being dead/bad on this one?

Shipping for this guy's gonna be about $120, so that's something I'll have to factor in. Still cheaper than driving all the way out to Kansas! What do you guys think this system would be worth? I'm so new to this, I don't really know the values of this stuff.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
-Jon
 
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