[rescue] Sun 2's and Sun 3's....

[Earl Baugh]

Just a few more data points for you on this....

I've got a 2/120 that I'm in the process of rebuilding... just got a
replacement power supply (made at least partly of unobtainium) so hope
to have some time later this year on it.
I've also got a line on a 2nd machine... if I get it, we could chat
after I see what all I end up with (not sure if I'll have 2 full sets
of parts, but might have enough to get you started... I've
got a few spare parts with the 2/120 I got now).    I'm also "proud"
of the fact that I got the 2/120 from James B. :-)

I've got a working 3/110 and 4/110.   The 3/110 is in a 3/140 chassis
(essentially the same, but different "part #" on it).  I like the
3/110 better than the 3/140, since the 3/110 had color
(and was the first Sun model I ever used).    I have a Clearpoint
NXRAM/12 card (which I believe is a 12MB card) but it has at least a
couple bad RAM chips on it.   The project of unsoldering ALL the RAM
and installing sockets so it can be fully debugged has, well been
daunting to start.  I've got a small other RAM board that gives "some"
RAM, but I'd really like to get this one fixed, or find something
larger.   Parts are getting scarcer  and scarcer (Michael T has been a
savior at LEAST a couple times helping me with parts! )     I've got a
keyboard cable to replace on one of the Sun 3 keyboards (to repair
some damage from my rascally pet rabbit who got out and nibbled on the
cord... Michael sent me a kbd to use to fix that... another blessing).

I've got a Sun 3/110 board that needs a couple caps replaced (it still
starts to come to life, but I'm not going to chance doing that until I
fix the components).   I've also still got the 3/140 motherboard.  I
don't expect to be needing that, so if you want to figure out a swap
of something contact me off list...

I did recently see 2 3/110's on ebay, with ridiculous prices on them
(in the $400-$500 range to START) that I tried to discuss with the
seller (I think it was a Goodwill or some such in CA).  They wouldn't
BUDGE on them, even though it's $100 EASY for shipping.  From the
pictures, I could only see that it had the CPU board, but don't
believe they had SCSI (not sure they had anything aside from the CPU).
 Locally a guy I've got things from (Fred D) has had a 3/140, but
won't go below $125 or so even with a local pick up (it's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sun-3-140-vintage-Sun-Microsystem-3-140-M-4-/321085707329?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac2331441)
 I thought he would because he has the shipping set at $20ish, so he's
got to be pricing some of the shipping into the price (though he does
enough shipping, perhaps he can actually GET that rate... dunno, but I
know he ships enough...)

> You can't make a 2/50. Still all that stuff went for too much. If the
> monitor worked and it came with a keyboard and mouse I'd say $400 to
> $500 is fair for a 2/50. Maybe even slightly more.

Yeah, the keyboards are really unobtainium... I've never seen one for
sale.  I've seen one in person, but not that I could purchase (nor the
mice).   I've also seen a Sun 1 (but it was literally at the
Smithsonian...)

Monitors are always "dicey", as folks don't necessarily see them as
required if they're expecting it to be a running machine.  If it's
more of a "show piece" then yes...


Anyway, you've got at LEAST a few other Sun 1-3/XX collectors here on
the rescue list :-)


Earl