[rescue] Cheapass MicroFax (sic)

[wrmartin at verizon.net]

Ah! So it's not some obscure ancient fax server or suchlike.  Now I *really* want it.

As for "useless", that's the word I use to describe my Sun 4/690MP and my PDP-11/70 to friends when they ask "But what do you do with it?"  It's much easier than trying to explain the real reasons I have those boxes.  They are "useless" in the modern sense of computing horsepower vs. resource consumption (broadly defined to include things like garage space occupied, electricity consumed, etc.)  But yes, they can still do useful things.  My son's SGI Onyx RE2 could usefully heat his house, but first we need to figure out how to get it from his dining room down into his basement.  The North Star Horizon I built in 1979/80 is still useful also (I used it until about 10 years ago) but I can't imagine doing anything useful with it now.  Can't even get ribbons for the printer anymore (NEC Spinwriter 5520.)

Is that answer careful enough?

Anyway, I've emailed the seller to see if it's still available.  Anybody else want it, or am I free to pursue it?

Bill Martin

> 
> From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
> Date: 2003/01/04 Sat AM 12:03:29 EST
> To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>
> Subject: Re: [rescue] Cheapass MicroFax (sic)
> 
> On Friday, January 3, 2003, at 11:09 PM, <wrmartin at verizon.net> wrote:
> > Gee.  It's big. It's heavy. It need to be "rescued". It's cheap. It's 
> > useless. I want it.
> 
>    Useless?  Why, specifically, do you say that?
> 
>    (if you answer this, do so carefully! ;))
> 
> > Maybe it'll be relisted.
> >
> > What is it?
> 
>    It's a VAX.  Appears to be a MicroVAX 3600, a KA650 or 655 based 
> MicroVAX-3.  Slow by today's standards, but not so slow as to be 
> without application.  It will run NetBSD or VMS very well, and...well, 
> it's a VAX, one of the most elegant processor architectures ever 
> designed.  And not actually all that big, either.
> 
>         -Dave
> 
> --
> Dave McGuire           "She's a cheek pincher.  I have scars."
> St. Petersburg, FL                          -Gary Nichols
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