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PDP-8 stuff saved from a scrapper in Utah, needs a good home.

TJ_Mossman

TJ_Mossman

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2013
Messages
370
Location
Bristol, England
Hi All,

I recently found out that a scrapper in Utah had started pulling apart a PDP-8/a for its metals, so gave him an earful to say the least...
Well, he got back to me, and after some back-and-fourths and a zoom call we managed to figure out a good deal of what he still has.

So, if anyone's looking for the following, let me know and I'll put you in-touch:

- Various OMNIBUS boards (I'm waiting for him to make a list for me, I'll probably be taking a few myself...)
- PDP-8/e chassis with PSU, X2 OMNIBUS backplanes, and front panel. The aluminium bezel is cracked, but the plexiglass is in one piece with some scratches and sticker residue. Most switches are there, and the fuseholders are intact on the PSU. No cards, rails, or top cover.
- PDP-8/f or m chassis with PSU. No front panel.
- PDP-8/a chassis, badly damaged as it was pulled apart for scrap.
- What appears to be most of an RF08 disk controller and an RS08 disk. I spotted a front panel, backplane with cards, disk unit, and air blower/filter. Cables are cut but looks like it could be salvageable.
- ECCO paper tape reader.
- RK05F, missing front bezel/panel but otherwise looks complete. No rails. If no one wants this I may pick a few pieces to restore my own...
- AED 3100B quad 8" floppy drive. Has 3 of 4 drives.
- XEBEC XTF-91 disk controller.

All the equipment was pulled from the racks before the scrapper got to them, so there are no racks for any of these units.

I will update this thread with more info as pics once I get them.
There is also some stuff from Bell Labs that may or may not be related. I'll get some pics of those too.

The seller is willing to box/palletize/crate items to be shipped. Buyer pays shipping.
 
Hi Tom,

Hope you are well down in wet Bristol.

I’ll send you an email tomorrow if I may regarding bits of an 8...

Good save though!

Dave
 
daver2 said:
Hi Tom,

Hope you are well down in wet Bristol.

I’ll send you an email tomorrow if I may regarding bits of an 8...

Good save though!

Dave
Click to expand...

I'm doing well thanks, hope you are too. (I could do with less rain though, I need to crate something up and all my wood is wet...)

Sure thing. If we both get something out of this lot we could save on shipping..?

-Tom
 
Al Kossow said:
Someone needs to save that RF08, they are incredibly rare
Click to expand...
Already put in my desire for it since I know how rare they are. We shall see. As long as someone
gets it and it doesn't get trashed is good for me. But wouldn't mind owning it. The TSS/8 system
I used as a teenager had the RF08 with 3 RS08 disks.
 
I'm interested in doing a restoration for a local university computer museum. I can also do local pick-up to avoid shipping. Please PM me.
 
I'm in Utah, but I have no personal interest in this stuff. However, I have a warehouse and can offer pickup/storage if someone needs some time to work out logistics. Send me a PM if you need my assistance.
 
It's about 20 hours southeast.

Border is closed currently, so I cannot make a run for it this time.
I do however have people in the Seattle area who might be interested, so check your PM's TJ.
 
Here's a link to the pics so far: https://imgur.com/a/cxOLZUz

I have a personal interest in most of the OMNIBUS boards in the lot to expand my system for timesharing, and as spares for other broken boards I already have. As such I threw out an offer and ended up buying all but two of them that I recognized went with some peripherals that I'm not planning to buy.

I left the following with the seller as he has the peripherals that go with them:
R-9000-8E-R0-A (Paper Tape Controller)
Xebec BD 100969 Rev C (Hard Drive Controller)

I ended up with these but don't have any use for them... If anyone wants them, DM me and I'll pass them on for a token price.
Broken (snapped fingers):
M103 Device Selector
M8410 FPP8A Floating Point Processor control for PDP-8/A
M8411 FPP8A Floating Point Processor data for PDP-8/A
M9360
G8018 8/A Regulator
Edit: 300-00100 (odd card with PDP printed on it but nothing on the tabs. Is this for the AED floppy maybe?)

OK looking:
A124 x2 4 Input Multiplexer Switch
A220
A708 Dual Voltage Regulator
A862 Bipolar High Speed A/D Converter

B134 4 2-Input Positive AND Gates, 3 Loads, 2mA

M101 Bus Data Interface
M111 Inverters
M161 x2 Binary to Octal/Decimal Decoder
M216 6 D Flip-Flops
M602 Pulse Amplifier
M626 AD01 related*
*Note: look for AD01 backplane and find more info

M837* KM8E Extended Memory and Time Share Control
M849* KK8E RFI shield
*Edit: Someone asked me for these.

M8363 <I don't know what this is>
 
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All the OMNIBUS board have now been claimed by various parties, with the exception of the R-9000-8E-R0-A (Paper Tape Controller) and Xebec BD 100969 Rev C (Hard Drive Controller), and their associated devices.

The Flip-Chips are still available.
 
I would be interested in the AED board for my 6200. It is really unlikely anyone else would have a need for it
It really should have gone with the 3100, oh well, the interface is documented. I would think the PERTEC drives
would have interested someone restoring old MITS stuff. We didn't really like them much at AED, they weren't
very reliable and had a non-Shugart interface. Later double-sided products switched to Qume.

aed.jpg
 
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These are still available and will be listed on eBay shortly if no one arranges anything with the seller. He can be reached at badideametals@gmail.com

- Empty PDP-8/a chassis.
- RK05F, missing front bezel/panel but otherwise looks complete. No rails. If no one wants this I may pick a few pieces to restore my own...
- AED 3100B quad 8" floppy drive. Has 3 of 4 drives. Includes controller.
- XEBEC XTF-91 disk controller.

The RF08/RS08 has been claimed but the interested parties should contact the seller about them if they haven't already.
 
Tom,

If it gets to the point where the RK05F is being scrapped, I'd like to get a handful of the quick-turn fasteners that hold the sheet metal panels to the cast chassis.

Thanks!
 
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