LCM has successfully restored and is running multiple large vintage systems. Not easy, but doable.
Lee C. On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 7:55 AM Jim Manley via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Evan said it was in service until a couple of months ago, so it should > power up OK, if it could all be electrically and mechanically stitched back > together carefully. The question is probably, could they afford the power > bill? We have a bunch of Crays and CDCs at the Computer History Museum, > and if they were operational, we'd probably have to take up a special > very-large-hat-passing collection just to pay the power bill for the > multiple,- multi-ton refrigeration units (at least one was about a > seven-ton unit, IIRC)! Then, there's the problem of replacement parts for > when, not if, things fail, not to mention the labor expertise and > availability. It's one thing to replace discrete transistors in our IBM > 1401, but, it's quite another to desolder and yank various little black > rectangles off extremely dense circuit boards without destroying anything > else ... and then solder in a replacement, if you can find one not already > firmly attached to another board with another kind of failure. That > assumes that problems can even be isolated, although at least more modern > systems tend to have self-diagnostic capabilities, at least above a certain > level of functionality, or lack thereof. > > On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 3:26 AM Pontus Pihlgren via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > That is a behemoth!! > > > > Did you ger that huge powerforming thingy that goes > > with it? > > > > Are you crazy enough to atempt a power-up? > > > > /P > > > > On Wed, Nov 07, 2018 at 09:55:07PM -0500, Evan Koblentz via cctalk wrote: > > > The VCF museum took delivery of a VAX 9440 today. > > > > > > It arrived in two 28-foot trailers. Here's our forklift driver > > > beginning to unload the first truck: > > > > > > > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E-Q5xrsYXyjrZEZh92xIBhlStvvNUcRV/view?usp=sharing > > > > > > Here's a teaser picture of the main cabinet: > > > > > > > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bEpSMzBEeOvuDnzPQ9Npc7iYmDhjZq8c/view?usp=sharing > > > > > > The full system is 30-40 feet long when it's all set up! It is in > > > pristine condition and was in service at a defense contractor until > > > a couple of months ago. > > > > > > Rumor has it that we arranged for another one to land in Dave > > > McGuire's Large Scale Systems Museum collection, and a third to be > > > with Bob Roswell's System Source collection. :) Perhaps they'll > > > post updates too! > > > -- Lee Courtney +1-650-704-3934 cell
