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AT&T Unix PC... Worth an offer?

EddieDX4 said:
NOBODY.....CALLS ME.....CHICKEN!

*goes and submits a ridiculously high offer*
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:D Good luck with your offer, and my offer of copies of the docs still stands, even if you get that machine. I had been considering scanning it all and archiving it anyway, but haven't had any good motivation to do so yet.

I've been kicking myself for the last year ever since I missed a DOS card for the UNIX PC. Seems to happen too frequently... I tend to snipe things on eBay, but haven't ever gotten around to using any automated tools. As happens too frequently for me, I got distracted around the end of the auction and completely forgot to bid, and to make it worse, it sold for a steal (something like $15 or something, but I don't remember).

Win some, lose some I guess :p
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Trevor
 
Looks like the machine sold, for full price too... was that you Eddie?
Hope the seller packs it well for whomever bought it. I had the guy who sold me my second pack the 'neck' extra carefully. Even when stationary, the monitor isn't really very solid on the machine.

I booted up my second 7300 and remembered/rediscovered that it has a 40MB drive in it with 75% space free still.
I am almost positive the other machine has a 20MB drive in it though.

Both of my machines suffer from a fair amount of "stiction" on the HDs. After sitting unpowered for any great length of time the platters will settle and need "unstuck."
With these machines being so unpleasant to open, toggling the power switch a few times seems to work, even if not the best for the power supply. When I powered up the 2nd machine today, the HD didn't spin up the first try, so I toggled the power just once and it spun up on the 2nd try. Both machines boot fine however, after un-sticking.

Any better fixes for sticktion?

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Trevor
 
Lord Moz said:
Any better fixes for sticktion?
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There's not a lot you can do if you can't get inside the box easily, but you can try giving it a whack at the same time as turning it on - I've done that. It's probably too heavy, but twisting the box quickly as you hit the switch might be just enough. I've had that be mildly effective on a laptop with a sticky MFM drive. If you have the machine open, then a hair dryer can warm up the drive enough to giddiup. There is no permanent fix that I've heard of, and it only gets worse. I've heard of sticky drives going for a long time like that though. More experienced people here will hopefully be more informative.
 
Lord Moz said:
Looks like the machine sold, for full price too... was that you Eddie?
Hope the seller packs it well for whomever bought it. I had the guy who sold me my second pack the 'neck' extra carefully. Even when stationary, the monitor isn't really very solid on the machine.

I booted up my second 7300 and remembered/rediscovered that it has a 40MB drive in it with 75% space free still.
I am almost positive the other machine has a 20MB drive in it though.

Both of my machines suffer from a fair amount of "stiction" on the HDs. After sitting unpowered for any great length of time the platters will settle and need "unstuck."
With these machines being so unpleasant to open, toggling the power switch a few times seems to work, even if not the best for the power supply. When I powered up the 2nd machine today, the HD didn't spin up the first try, so I toggled the power just once and it spun up on the 2nd try. Both machines boot fine however, after un-sticking.

Any better fixes for sticktion?

__
Trevor
Click to expand...

Nope, that wasn't me. I wouldn't pay $400 for that machine, but I guess to someone the software was worth a whole lot. I never even sent an offer (my previous statement was in humor...because of the whole Back to the Future bit...) :)

I always wondered about the neck bit... How were these machines originally shipped by AT&T? Was there a foam "brace" surrounding the neck?

I'm sort of on a "portables" kick at the moment, trying to find a decent (e.g. none of the ones currently on eBay) IBM 5155 to modify. Part of the reason I didn't send an offer to the eBay seller for the UNIX PC is that I have space constraints. But I'm going to start listing a few of my machines on CL and eBay to make up space for one. Hopefully you'll still have one available. :)
 
I'm not really actively thining/selling anything right now, but there are a few machines/items that I have duplicates of because they were sold in bundles with things I wanted.
I really have zero use for 3 Color Computer 2s, or 4 Color Computer 3s for instance. Most things that I have multiples of are only duplicates, so it's not too[/] bad... right? :p

I did just pick up a very beat up but working Kaypro 4 (as painted on the case) that seems to be an '83 model that I will likely try to sell after cleaning it up. With over 100 machines now (inc. multiples) and many accessories all stuffed into a ~1300 sq. ft. house, I'm having a few space issues as well :p
Gotta start building that extra room in the back yard...

So... about that portable kick you're on... I hear Kaypro's are nice...:cool:
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Trevor
 
Lord Moz said:
I'm not really actively thining/selling anything right now, but there are a few machines/items that I have duplicates of because they were sold in bundles with things I wanted.
I really have zero use for 3 Color Computer 2s, or 4 Color Computer 3s for instance. Most things that I have multiples of are only duplicates, so it's not too[/] bad... right? :p

I did just pick up a very beat up but working Kaypro 4 (as painted on the case) that seems to be an '83 model that I will likely try to sell after cleaning it up. With over 100 machines now (inc. multiples) and many accessories all stuffed into a ~1300 sq. ft. house, I'm having a few space issues as well :p
Gotta start building that extra room in the back yard...

So... about that portable kick you're on... I hear Kaypro's are nice...:cool:
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Trevor
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Kaypros look interesting... I've never actually used one before. I've always thought they have a very industrial weather-proof look to them, like they could survive a windstorm.

Once I clear up some room, I'd like to revisit the idea of acquiring one of your UNIX PC's (If the timing is right and you happen to be wanting to part with one, that is).

Out of curiosity, what part of TX are you from? I lived in North Texas for 3 years (Denton, then Irving/Las Colinas). Mom and dad live in The Colony. Sister, her husband, and my niece and nephew live in Frisco. I was just down there in February, I'll be down there again possibly for Thanksgiving, if not Christmas.
 
I'm stationed at Fort Hood, which is right next to Killeen, between Waco and Austin.

As mentioned before, I'm not from here, just stuck here by the Army. There are better places to be, but there are worse as well.
I'll be glad when I can leave though... :p

Chances are high that the UNIX PC will be available later. As I mentioned, I have not really actively been trying to sell anything. It just happens that there are some parts that I'm willing to part with, and some of those that I know I /should/ part with.
I'm patient though (that's what we'll call it :D), and can wait for the right buyer...

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Trevor
 
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Lord Moz said:
I'm stationed at Fort Hood, which is right next to Killeen, between Waco and Austin.

As mentioned before, I'm not from here, just stuck here by the Army. There are better places to be, but there are worse as well.
I'll be glad when I can leave though... :p
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Oops, I knew that... Should have asked "What part of Texas do you live at?". I remember you mentioning you lived or were originally from the PacNW... :-}
 
I wouldn't pay what this guy wants for a broken 3B1 but, if you want to see the very hard to find ethernet board I think I see it there in the back. http://cgi.ebay.com/AT-T-PC-7300-Unix-PC-Nice-/200503622062 His definition of 'nice' is different than mine.

Finding the driver disks and tcp/ip stuff might be interesting. I know about the collection of disk images on Bitsavers but, is there any other archives of 3b1 disk images or scanned manuals ? Bitsavers doesn't have any of the manuals and they probably should.
 
Vintagecomptuer museum is on this forum, ...so mr vintagecomputer museum - how about a picture of Ebay auction 200503622062 that shows the item is actually working? $479 is a lot of bread without proof that it works or any software.

UPDATE
..I'm sorry, I see now that the "Hard Drive has been removed for security reasons"

I see....hmmmm
 
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I HATE when hard drives are removed from systems like that. Not only do they usually contain the software you need to run the thing, they probably are really hard to find/replace. I personally don't care about any personal or company information, as I delete that crap anyway. It's still one of my pet peeves.

I mean, right now, that machine is almost a giant paperweight. It's in non-working condition. I wouldn't plop down that much money for something that I don't even know if it works all the way, or if I probably won't ever get the right hard drive, or even worse, find the software, at all.

Apparently it uses an MFM hard drive, there's another large cost. Finding someone with a copy of the OS is going to be a real treat. I'm sorry folks, but you have to adjust your prices accordingly. And please, stop separating hard drives for "security reasons". The information on that drive is going to be severely out of date anyway (not to mention, nobody cares.).
</rant>

eBay Auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/AT-T-PC-7300-Unix-PC-Nice-/200503622062?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
 
mikerm said:
I HATE when hard drives are removed from systems like that. Not only do they usually contain the software you need to run the thing, they probably are really hard to find/replace. I personally don't care about any personal or company information, as I delete that crap anyway. It's still one of my pet peeves
</rant>

eBay Auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/AT-T-PC-7300-Unix-PC-Nice-/200503622062?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0
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It is frustrating but, I understand why. I got a 20 year old AS/400 box they didn't, thankfully, take the drives out of. Still, it was for a large manufacturing business. It actually still had the name, social security number, home address, and union membership and status of over 500 people on the drives. It would have been almost impossible to delete as it was just in a database that was part of their accounting program. They would have to delete each record individually in the software or have pretty serious as/400 skills. The machine hadn't even been turned on in 10 or more years. Nobody was left that even knew how to use it. Even though the info was over 20 years old all that info was just as sensitive as the day it went in there.
 
The HD could have been removed ages ago when the data was important, or the seller could be a recycler in an area where HD's need to be wiped or removed before resale. Sometimes the drive with software could be worth more then the machine they pulled it from (maximizing profit). I collect laptops and quite often the drive and more importantly the sled are removed, making the system useless until you find another custom mount.

If you don't like working on or completing old system, finding parts and old software, then you will pay a MINT to find 100% complete and working systems plus miss out on the fun of making an incomplete hulk into a functioning system.
 
For what it's worth, and to those interested, I do have copies of the system set (v3.51) and a few other packages for the PC 7300/3b1/UNIX PC and the original documentation. My offer before still stands to anyone interested regarding copies of the disks or docs.

I get frustrated when I find machines like that too, with various essential components removed. I especially like how he says he has no way to further test, but has a 2nd fully functional machine he's listing at about 2x the price.

It's really not difficult to swap the drive to the new machine for testing purposes, and after tested working, 1/2 height MFM drives aren't that expensive. He could sell it for a lot more if he did minimal testing.
Most of his auctions are listed at crazy prices with terrible pictures and matching descriptions. I seriously get the feeling he is using eBay as more of a showroom for his museum than as any serious marketplace.

I could be wrong though...
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Trevor
 
I could use copies of the docs for sure. I'm sure bitsavers.org would be a good place for them too. They have requirements on how they are scanned though. I'll take scans in any format ;)
 
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