[rescue] Finding antique machines

[John Floren]

On 4/16/07, Jeremy Grosser <synack at csh.rit.edu> wrote:
> There's already a PDP-11 in the dorms at RIT... Computer Science House
> has one that even boots up. An alumni came and gave a seminar on
> assembly programming for it a few months ago.
>
> There used to be a lot of SGI hardware on campus and you can still
> find some of it here and there but most of it has been thrown out by
> now. As far as I know, most of the larger businesses in Rochester sell
> off their old hardware to either http://www.rochestercomputer.com/ or
> http://www.maventech.com/ You might want to get in touch with either
> of them if you're looking to buy some old stuff. They're usually happy
> to get it off their hands. Rochester Computer also retails through
> ebay under the seller name 'electronicscafe' and they don't mind if
> you want to pick things up locally to avoid shipping charges.
>
> In a few of the departments around campus, they'll just dump the stuff
> in the tunnels and wait for it to disappear. Usually it's really old
> and useless (eg. stripped bare Pentium Pro) but sometimes you find
> really neat stuff (like a pile of NuBus cards for old Macs). The first
> place I'd look for this sort of thing would be in the basement of the
> Gosnell building (no. 8).
>
> Finally, make friends with anybody you know working at ITS... When
> they go to throw things out, they usually ask employees if they want
> it first.
>
> Good luck! Let me know if you find anything interesting.
>
> On 4/15/07, John Floren <slawmaster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hey everybody, me again.
> > For some time I've been kicking around the idea of starting up a sort
> > of Vintage Computing Club here at the Rochester Institute of
> > Technology. I think there's a few people here that would be
> > interested, but that's not the point of this email. I'm wondering: how
> > hard is it to find PDP-11's, VAXen, and similar old hardware these
> > days? We're in a decent-sized city; are there still businesses that
> > have these things in their basement, just waiting for a tax-deductable
> > donation? Or would I have to somehow connive RIT into giving me a
> > couple hundred bucks so I can go junkyard-searching? ;)
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> > John Floren
> > --
> > Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
> > _______________________________________________
> > rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> >
>

Well, I've got a decent handle on on-campus recycled computers... I
picked up a nice, complete PIII system a month or two ago, and I
bought that old SPARCstation 4 from you last year, remember?
I suppose CSH is going to hold on very tightly to their PDP-11, and I
don't blame them :) You're a member, do you think you could arrange a
visit so I could check the thing out? I knew they had cool old stuff,
but I never knew about the PDP-11.

By the way, basement of Gosnell is the worst place to find junked
computers on campus, unless you really like completely stripped PII
motherboards and broken PC cases.
Thanks


John "digi" Floren
-- 
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn