What was your single heaviest vintage computer haul?
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul? Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then. https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg ipad is probably faster and battery powered. Your turn!
At one point Mcguire and I picked up an entire truckload of DEC gear, including a full 11/60 and I believe a pair of RP04's. I have no pictures of this, but it was circa 1988. On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:05 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
-- Dave Shevett shevett@pobox.com
There was also an 11/70 in that haul from Beaver College. 1988 sounds about right. My largest recently was the IBM 4341 and the S/390 G3 (Multiprise 2000), with 3380 DASD, about seven years ago for LSSM. Two truckloads. -Dave On 4/20/23 13:08, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
At one point Mcguire and I picked up an entire truckload of DEC gear, including a full 11/60 and I believe a pair of RP04's. I have no pictures of this, but it was circa 1988.
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:05 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
We had to use two forklifts to get the UNIVAC stuff out of the facility on time. They literally had a wrecking ball positioned to take down the building as soon as we were done. I was sick as a dog that day too, it was miserable! I drove the truck to Wilmington and then Evan and someone else took it the rest of the way to info age. Those were the days. I also brought the entire PDP 11/44 system will all of those storage drives and everything from some guys basement (steep thin stairs) from Delaware to InfoAge, if you're wondering where half of the PDP 11 stuff in the warehouse came from. I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland. I rescued 2 PDP 11/40 racks from West Virginia and one from South Carolina. PDP 8 (straight 8) that I drove back from Chicago. I helped Bob Roswell move the Linotype to SYstem Source in Hunt Valley. THAT required an 18-wheeler. Dave McGuire can top me in sheer tonnage, but I have moved my share for VCFed for sure. I could go on... Bill On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 7:22 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
There was also an 11/70 in that haul from Beaver College. 1988 sounds about right.
My largest recently was the IBM 4341 and the S/390 G3 (Multiprise 2000), with 3380 DASD, about seven years ago for LSSM. Two truckloads.
-Dave
On 4/20/23 13:08, Dave Shevett via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
At one point Mcguire and I picked up an entire truckload of DEC gear, including a full 11/60 and I believe a pair of RP04's. I have no pictures of this, but it was circa 1988.
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:05 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18'
dock
height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On Thu, 20 Apr 2023, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM. Mike Loewen mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 10:48 PM Mike Loewen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Thu, 20 Apr 2023, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw. b
On 4/20/23 22:57, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw.
That machine is in the warehouse in NJ, as far as I'm aware. (the Series 1, not the 6000) -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
IF it's not doing anything at Infoage, we should move it to your place. I donated it and it was a complete working system then with a full documentation set (a dozen or two manuals). Would be shame. The only thing that was missing was the terminal. b On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 10:59 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/20/23 22:57, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw.
That machine is in the warehouse in NJ, as far as I'm aware. (the Series 1, not the 6000)
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
I'm not opposed. I think we have a 4900-series terminal over there. -Dave On 4/20/23 23:06, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
IF it's not doing anything at Infoage, we should move it to your place. I donated it and it was a complete working system then with a full documentation set (a dozen or two manuals). Would be shame. The only thing that was missing was the terminal. b
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 10:59 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/20/23 22:57, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw.
That machine is in the warehouse in NJ, as far as I'm aware. (the Series 1, not the 6000)
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
I thought it was yours anyway. wasnt it two full height racks of components and cables. it was all cabled up and ready to use. On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 11:08 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I'm not opposed. I think we have a 4900-series terminal over there.
-Dave
On 4/20/23 23:06, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
IF it's not doing anything at Infoage, we should move it to your place. I donated it and it was a complete working system then with a full documentation set (a dozen or two manuals). Would be shame. The only thing that was missing was the terminal. b
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 10:59 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/20/23 22:57, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw.
That machine is in the warehouse in NJ, as far as I'm aware. (the Series 1, not the 6000)
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
It was, but I didn't pick it up quickly enough, and it was declared forfeit by (ahem) someone who used to be involved in the organization. I don't recall the particulars. It feels like forever ago. (covid time distortion..) -Dave On 4/20/23 23:13, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I thought it was yours anyway. wasnt it two full height racks of components and cables. it was all cabled up and ready to use.
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 11:08 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I'm not opposed. I think we have a 4900-series terminal over there.
-Dave
On 4/20/23 23:06, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
IF it's not doing anything at Infoage, we should move it to your place. I donated it and it was a complete working system then with a full documentation set (a dozen or two manuals). Would be shame. The only thing that was missing was the terminal. b
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 10:59 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/20/23 22:57, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> I also rescued the Flexowriter currently at VCFed warehouse, and the Series > 1 that I believe is now at the LSSM (?). Hopefully it still works, I IPLed > it many years ago. I originally hauled that sucker from Roy Soltoff (of > LDOS fame) from his house in Maryland.
By a roundabout route, I acquired a Tandy 6000 that belonged to Roy Soltoff. It is now on display at the LSSM.
Kelly Levitt was the person who set me up with the IBM Series 1 btw.
That machine is in the warehouse in NJ, as far as I'm aware. (the Series 1, not the 6000)
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
We had to use two forklifts to get the UNIVAC stuff out of the facility on time.
It's good to know people with bigger forklifts! https://i.imgur.com/54YHazn.jpg We had to call in an emergency favor at one of the local big truck shops for that monster when we discovered the rental place sent us a forklift that *weighed* 8,000 LBS, not one that could pick up 8,000 LBS. When the guy driving it first tried to lift one of those pick-and-place machines, he stalled the big forklift pictured. Not strictly vintage computers, but powered by them, and in a past life those pick-and-place machines assembled stuff that's now becoming vintage! Thanks, Jonathan
Here I thought I had a little challenge with a sun 3/470…. I have been out classed by orders of magnitude… Thanks Ryan Sent from my iPad
The time in 2009 that I hauled two Chevy Blazer fulls of estate originated Commodore gear that were simply given to me. Two trips, completely full each time with the rear seats down for the extra space. Jeff Salzman On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:05 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
You heavy haulers, the hobby is indebted to you all for your dedication to bravely do difficult rescues- or that stuff would have been lost for all time. On 4/20/2023 1:09 PM, Jeff Salzman via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
The time in 2009 that I hauled two Chevy Blazer fulls of estate originated Commodore gear that were simply given to me. Two trips, completely full each time with the rear seats down for the extra space.
Jeff Salzman
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:05 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Two rescue candidates via (full) box truck, not sure which one is larger 1) 2x PDP-11/70, racks of Fuji Super Eagles, random peripherals including an 026 card punch 2) mega-DEC-haul w/11/44, 11/34, various racked peripherals (DECtape, RK05...) terminals... or the 5 van loads of PDP-11 and VAX gear (and the raised flooring) I bought from my employer when they closed in 1993. Fortunately none of this is in rental storage. No worries about rent hikes, locker auctions, etc... But I could use 500-1000 blank sq ft to really set this stuff up so it can be gotten to from front and back. It's been pretty dry for big DEC rescues for 20 years but 1985-2000 was great for it. -ethan
Up until recently it was a few towers, but now I have a about 10 CRTs a few towers a bunch of Apollo Mag tapes and a 800lb AC unit in one trip. Rented a van for all that. Maybe one day I’ll get to the high class of moving mainframes. But this modest load will have to do! -Ian L. On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 13:23 Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Two rescue candidates via (full) box truck, not sure which one is larger
1) 2x PDP-11/70, racks of Fuji Super Eagles, random peripherals including an 026 card punch
2) mega-DEC-haul w/11/44, 11/34, various racked peripherals (DECtape, RK05...) terminals...
or the 5 van loads of PDP-11 and VAX gear (and the raised flooring) I bought from my employer when they closed in 1993.
Fortunately none of this is in rental storage. No worries about rent hikes, locker auctions, etc... But I could use 500-1000 blank sq ft to really set this stuff up so it can be gotten to from front and back.
It's been pretty dry for big DEC rescues for 20 years but 1985-2000 was great for it.
-ethan
Three rescues for VCF that absolutely filled my van; twice on one of those occasion. Horder situations in every case :-( On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:31 PM Ian Litchfield via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Up until recently it was a few towers, but now I have a about 10 CRTs a few towers a bunch of Apollo Mag tapes and a 800lb AC unit in one trip. Rented a van for all that. Maybe one day I’ll get to the high class of moving mainframes. But this modest load will have to do!
-Ian L.
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 13:23 Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Two rescue candidates via (full) box truck, not sure which one is larger
1) 2x PDP-11/70, racks of Fuji Super Eagles, random peripherals including an 026 card punch
2) mega-DEC-haul w/11/44, 11/34, various racked peripherals (DECtape, RK05...) terminals...
or the 5 van loads of PDP-11 and VAX gear (and the raised flooring) I bought from my employer when they closed in 1993.
Fortunately none of this is in rental storage. No worries about rent hikes, locker auctions, etc... But I could use 500-1000 blank sq ft to really set this stuff up so it can be gotten to from front and back.
It's been pretty dry for big DEC rescues for 20 years but 1985-2000 was great for it.
-ethan
Why not broker a deal with VCF for space? Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Apr 20, 2023, at 1:23 PM, Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Two rescue candidates via (full) box truck, not sure which one is larger
1) 2x PDP-11/70, racks of Fuji Super Eagles, random peripherals including an 026 card punch
2) mega-DEC-haul w/11/44, 11/34, various racked peripherals (DECtape, RK05...) terminals...
or the 5 van loads of PDP-11 and VAX gear (and the raised flooring) I bought from my employer when they closed in 1993.
Fortunately none of this is in rental storage. No worries about rent hikes, locker auctions, etc... But I could use 500-1000 blank sq ft to really set this stuff up so it can be gotten to from front and back.
It's been pretty dry for big DEC rescues for 20 years but 1985-2000 was great for it.
-ethan
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 1:42 PM Sentrytv <sentrytv@yahoo.com> wrote:
On Apr 20, 2023, at 1:23 PM, Ethan Dicks via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: I could use 500-1000 blank sq ft to really set this stuff up so it can be gotten to from front and back.
Why not broker a deal with VCF for space?
Me? I'm in Ohio, 9-10 hours away, and I have a 30'x50' building on my land. -ethan
Single heaviest load from a place that consisted entirely of vintage computer stuff? Probably the equipment from Jackson Type: https://i.imgur.com/At4TtIf.jpg 24-foot box truck nearly but not quite full. Either the CDC 9766 pack drives or the AN/UYK-1 (TRW-130, Fairchild 2300) were the heaviest single units in that load. I don't know if they count as vintage computers and I didn't drive the truck, but the current set of pick-and-place machines in the shop were upgraded from OS/2 VME computers to a VME Pentium 3 running Windows 2000 and weigh 6000 LBS each. There are three of them, plus other stuff, including a stencil printer that runs MS-DOS 6.22. The load in which they were delivered filled an entire 53-foot semi trailer. Thanks, Jonathan ------- Original Message ------- On Thursday, April 20th, 2023 at 13:05, Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
The heaviest haul that I’ve been involved with was probably the 2020 rescue of former Tandy Engineer Frank Durda IV’s estate. That was a truckload that took four of us a good portion of the day to remove from the house and load. So many significant rare historical items came from that one which we are still sifting through and disseminating. https://imgur.com/a/bWnRINX Imgur imgur.com
I rented the truck and drove the entire UNIVAC 1219-II haul from its undisclosed Washington DC area location On Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
I rented the truck and drove the entire UNIVAC 1219-II haul from its undisclosed Washington DC area location
I was about to “tag” you and ask if the UNIVAC was one of the biggest you did, but you beat me to it!! The biggest move I ever did was moving the UNIVAC components from the warehouse to the museum! :-) (that and condensing the VAX 9000 into one section of the warehouse!) Tony Bogan
My first computer. Also my last. I was modding a 1219 program last night to work with the Kleinschmidt printer in the museum. When I heard that they planned to restore it to operation, I thought it was a pipe-dream. On 4/20/2023 3:57 PM, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I rented the truck and drove the entire UNIVAC 1219-II haul from its undisclosed Washington DC area location
On Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 1:06 PM Ethan O'Toole via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Okay VCFers, what was your one largest single vintage computer haul?
Mine is easily ~2001 time frame. Four Cray J932SE systems in one 18' dock height truck. It almost flipped on it's side. Probably 12000+ pounds of 'puter. That was the mountaintop of vintage system collecting for me then.
https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image53.jpg https://users.757.org/~ethan/pics/office/cray/Image58.jpg
ipad is probably faster and battery powered.
Your turn!
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
participants (16)
-
Bill Degnan -
Dave McGuire -
Dave Shevett -
Dean Notarnicola -
Douglas Crawford -
Duane Craps -
Ethan Dicks -
Ethan O'Toole -
Ian Litchfield -
Jeff Salzman -
Jonathan Chapman -
Mike Loewen -
Peter Cetinski -
Ryan Stapleton -
Sentrytv -
Tony Bogan