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DEC units on ebay

reinhardtjh said:
Dave's Garage is selling his second VAX 4000 Model 300 Upgraded to a 500)
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I get an icky feeling about this. $4000+ for a VAX 4000 500A? I guess if you can build up a large enough YouTube fanboy base you'll have at least one or two that will gladly overpay for something that you're flogging. More power to you!

I don't have a YouTube channel, but I'd gladly sell a VAX 4000 700A KA692 maxed out with 512MB of RAM for a quarter of that price instead of a VAX 4000 M500A KA681 with 128MB of RAM.
 
gslick said:
I get an icky feeling about this. $4000+ for a VAX 4000 500A? I guess if you can build up a large enough YouTube fanboy base you'll have at least one or two that will gladly overpay for something that you're flogging. More power to you!

I don't have a YouTube channel, but I'd gladly sell a VAX 4000 700A KA692 maxed out with 512MB of RAM for a quarter of that price instead of a VAX 4000 M500A KA681 with 128MB of RAM.
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He managed to sell one of his PDP-11/73 in a desk side case for $5000, so, yeah, having a YouTube following helps a lot. I guess to be somewhat fair, it also has an Emulex UC07 and a ZuluSCSI card plus I think at least 2 (maybe 3) working DSSI disks. At least it did in the video. His listing is a little lacking in particulars about exact hardware. He's also including shipping on a pallet in a foam padded box, which I know from experience can run a pretty penny.
 
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reinhardtjh said:
So... Do you have a VAX 4000 Model 700A available? I was looking at a Model 300 but a 700A (even a 500A) would be so much better.
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I currently have one BA440 and three BA441 boxes, but one currently has a bad power supply. I'll have to check how they are currently configured. The sticky notes on the boxes say one has a KA691 600A and two have KA692 700A CPUs. Some of my old notes say the fourth one had a KA680 500 at some point. I might have also upgraded that one to a KA692. I'll have to check when I get a chance. At least two currently have the max 512MB of RAM.

The BA441 boxes are rack mount versions of the BA440 boxes. Basically a BA440 rotated on to it's back with the card slots facing up, and then the drive bays rotated back again to face the front. The BA441 use some custom rack mount slides that are impossible to find. I only have the half of the slides that attach to the BA441. Unfortunately the other half of the slides that attaches to the racks stayed with the racks.
 
gslick said:
I currently have one BA440 and three BA441 boxes, but one currently has a bad power supply. I'll have to check how they are currently configured. The sticky notes on the boxes say one has a KA691 600A and two have KA692 700A CPUs. Some of my old notes say the fourth one had a KA680 500 at some point. I might have also upgraded that one to a KA692. I'll have to check when I get a chance. At least two currently have the max 512MB of RAM.
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The KA694 and MS690-DA boards can be found on eBay at decent prices if you're patient. It beats trying to cobble together a 4000-705A that isn't a "mongrel" - made up of parts from multiple systems. For the museum-grade 705A I donated to the LSSM, I scrounged and got the correct fan tray, chassis, and door medallion (from 3 separate systems) to make a system that is a 4000-705A in both appearance and spirit.

Regarding Dave Plummer's $4000 4000-500, it has some good points - Emulex SCSI controller and ZuluSCSI emulator, and it has been tested more recently than "ran when parked". Shipping seems to be included in the listing price - remember, this is something that gets palletized and is likely shipped via motor freight. Bad points are that I don't know what DSSI disks are in there or if they work, and likewise for the TK-whatsit tape drive. Finding additional S-Box slot fillers (along with the side plates and screws if needed) is probably going to be the hardest part.

My 4705A at the LSSM:

486404007_1846514806098012_4946449237654109328_n.jpg
 
Terri Kennedy said:
The KA694 and MS690-DA boards can be found on eBay at decent prices if you're patient.
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There are a number of MS690 boards of various capacities on Ebay currently. I haven't seem a KA694 but until recently I wasn't looking. I've seen a couple KA675 (400) and KA680 (500) scattered about.

Terri Kennedy said:
It beats trying to cobble together a 4000-705A that isn't a "mongrel" - made up of parts from multiple systems. For the museum-grade 705A I donated to the LSSM, I scrounged and got the correct fan tray, chassis, and door medallion (from 3 separate systems) to make a system that is a 4000-705A in both appearance and spirit.
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Fortunately, I"m not looking for museum grade. Just "me" grade. ;)
Terri Kennedy said:
Regarding Dave Plummer's $4000 4000-500, it has some good points - Emulex SCSI controller and ZuluSCSI emulator, and it has been tested more recently than "ran when parked". Shipping seems to be included in the listing price - remember, this is something that gets palletized and is likely shipped via motor freight. Bad points are that I don't know what DSSI disks are in there or if they work, and likewise for the TK-whatsit tape drive. Finding additional S-Box slot fillers (along with the side plates and screws if needed) is probably going to be the hardest part.
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If it's the same system that he was on FaceBook asking help about loading VAX/VMS then it has 3 RF73 drives - or did if he kept them in the system. Plus the ZuluSCSI with several different bootable systems. I don't think he has any TK tapes so he probably didn't try the TK drive.
>>>show dev
DSSI Bus 0 Node 0 (R5VKRA)
-DIA0 (RF73)
DSSI Bus 0 Node 4 (R2DAVE)
-DIA4 (RF73)
DSSI Bus 0 Node 5 (EX1D01)
-DIA5 (RF73)
DSSI Bus 0 Node 6 (*)
DSSI Bus 1 Node 6 (*)
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ZuluSCSI (I assume)
UQSSP Disk Controller 0 (772150)
-DUA0 (RA81)
-DUA1 (RA81)
-DUA2 (RA81)
-DUA3 (RA81)
-DUA4 (RA81)
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Never mind about the DSSI drives. He's added photos showing the config from the VAX console and they aren't listed so it appears he has removed them.
 
Here is a PDP-8/e going for a small fortune - US$5500 or A$8455.
The seller claims: "It appears to be working although the power cord needs to be replaced".
I wonder how he figured out it is "working" without a power cord.
The CLEAR toggle switch is 3D printed in perfectly matching colour ... if you are colour blind. :p

www.ebay.com.au

VINTAGE PDP 8E Computer Mainframe working by Digital Equipment Corporation | eBay Australia

The computer itself is in excellent condition and is a rare piece of computing history. It appears to be working although the power cord needs to be replaced. I do have the cover which needs to be repainted and is included.
www.ebay.com.au
 
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thunter0512 said:
Here is a PDP-8/e going for a small fortune - US$5500 or A$8455.
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I got a make an offer from eBay and will probably offer $1500 knowing it won't be accepted. But that is what that particular machine would be worth to me. I wish there were more photos. I do like that the boards are all in their recommended placements. Means it hasn't been too molested. One thing I do have a question about is the cables between the front and rear backplanes. Mine don't look look that and I don't remember seeing that arrangement even though it looks very tidy. I just looked again and on photo 3 I can just make out DOUGLAS ELECTRONICS printed on the boards so those are not original DEC.
thunter0512 said:
The seller claims: "It appears to be working although the power cord needs to be replaced".
I wonder how he figured out it is "working" without a power cord.
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I replaced the power cord on my 8/e because the black outer casing was brittle and cracking, not because it didn't work.
thunter0512 said:
The CLEAR toggle switch is 3D printed in perfectly matching colour ... if you are colour blind. :p
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I think the blue paddle is from a different 8/e or maybe one of the 11variants, not 3D printed. The blue is a colour DEC used for the DECset8000 at the very least. Someone told me they thought the two shades of blue were also used on the medical versions.

It is a reasonably clean bare bones machine with 8k of core and a M8650 serial interface. Change a few jumpers to boost the baud rate on the serial interface and I could boot OS/8 via Console Serial Disk.
 
The front-panel is for the original reed-relay display selector rotary switch that did 180 degree travel. Newer models used a mechanical contact rotary switch with an updated front-panel silk screen to match the ~170 degree travel.
The M8320 (bus loads / terminator) board has the ECO that replaced the transistors in a DIP package with three discrete (T05 case) transistors.
Interesting solution to use Douglas Electronics replacement for the M935 Omnibus jumpers.
 
It has the front painting of the 180° version, but the position of the switch looks more like 170°. And from the pictures I cannot see the reed relais or the switch.
I also like and prefer the smooth switching of the reeds. Do you know when they changed the design?
 
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