[rescue] Looking for Microvax 3100-40

[Dave McGuire]

On Apr 29, 2004, at 1:02 PM, Mark T. Valites wrote:
> Here at the $college, our dorm access swipe card system runs off a
> Microvax 3100-40 sitting in the corner, just waiting to die.

   "Waiting to die"??  You'll be waiting a long time, my friend.  I've 
literally pulled those systems out of six-month stints in mud puddles 
and had them run just fine.

> Plans have been underway to replace the system, but much more than just
> the server needs to be replaced (remote card swipes & panels).

   Why?

>  The high costs associated with the replacement are delaying the 
> process. While the
> running joke is that we'd have to go to eBay to replace the machine, 
> we're
> starting to become more and more worried that it will die on us and in 
> the
> meantime we'll be stuck in a rather unfortunate situation.

   These machines aren't difficult to find.  Buy a spare for $20 on eBay 
in case of paranoia.  It will likely run forever.

   Don't fix it if it isn't broke, man.  The only thing that'll help is 
the wallet of some suit somewhere.

> The head of the department today mentioned she was doing some eBay-ing 
> and
> figured she'd ask the crazy systems guy with all the weird machines 
> (me)
> if I knew of any place we might be able to pick up a spare for the
> machine, so I figured I'd ask here. Payment could be a fuzzy issue, 
> but we
> managed eBay-ing a tape drive for it once, so if anyone has something 
> to
> offer, I'm sure we could work something out or there might even be some
> interesting equipment laying around here I could offer up for trade.

   I'd suggest grabbing one on eBay.  I'm not really interested in 
parting with any of mine, but if you get into a real bind, contact me 
and I will do whatever I can to help you out.

            -Dave

--
Dave McGuire          "PC users only know two 'solutions'...
Cape Coral, FL          reboot and upgrade."    -Jonathan Patschke