On 2017-Jan-17, at 9:13 AM, william degnan wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 12:09 PM, Chuck Guzis <ccl...@sydex.com> wrote:
>
>> I find it curious that what seems to be collected in the minicomputer
>> area seems to be gear of major brands.
>>
>> Does anyone collect Varian minis?
>> Or General Automation?
>> Or any one of the many non-DEC, HP, etc. minis? Heck, I don't read much
>> about DG minis on this list--and they were a major force.
>>
>> --Chuck
>>
>>
> I think it's simply an availability thing ...I have manuals for a lot of
> the non DEC minis, have to settle for simH, where am I going to get a
> Varian?
Right here (satire):
www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-VARIAN-DATA-MACHINES-620-L-100-COMPUTER-620L100-620-L100-/311466122329
I'd love to collect also-ran minis, I find the variety and architectural
variations and forgotten history interesting.
But as you say: availability. And then the peripherals and software to make
complete systems are even rarer.
And documentation.
And on the rare occasions when they do show up, nowadays you get silly prices
like this one.
That unit has been on ebay for many months, maybe near or over a year now.
I think it started out at 10,000 or some such.
