EEVblog #1112 - Vintage Computer Warehouse Diving

[EEVblog]

The Australian Computer Museum Societies' warehouse has to shut down next week, so Dave goes warehouse diving.
If you know of someone willing to donate warehouse space in Sydney, please let me know.

#1111 will be coming soon!
Be sure to subscribe to EEVblog2 in order to see some of the teardowns: https://www.youtube.com/eevblog2

[bsfeechannel]

Dave, I can't believe you missed the Olivetti Programma 101, at 2:40 min, the first desktop computer evva! Released in 1965.


Source: Wikipedia.

Man, I'd give an arm and a leg to have the chance to be in front of one of those landmarks of computing.

[jonovid]

Dave start your own EEVblog Museum
maybe crowdfunding can help pay for it,
modern era, recent history is somewhat undervalued,in the neverending rush for new technology. 

[chickenHeadKnob]

Dave start your own EEVblog Museum
maybe crowdfunding can help pay for it,
modern era, recent history is somewhat undervalued,in the neverending rush for new technology. 

Except Dave's idea of "curating" is to dremel or otherwise dismantle the items and then leave the bits in a box, or dumpster. Kind of like letting a pervert run a kindergarten.

I don't understand this computer nostalgia thing anyway. I come from the very last generation of programmers forced to use punched cards and  FORTRAN IV in high school and then witched to dumb terminals hanging off of a mainframe in University. Good riddance to that whole steaming pile!

[barbeque]

How bad is the battery on that Amiga 2000 going to be? Hopefully it didn't leak into the RAM considering it was on its side.

[Jr460]

Wow at 5:15.   Last time I touched one of those was in the spring of 1981.   An Olivetti P6060.

[Brumby]

My attention was caught at the very beginning.  The TRS80 Model II.  I actually helped someone choose and finance the purchase of one of those and a printer for around $6K.  On key factor was that the 8" floppy could store 1MB.

I provided them with half a dozen old IBM mainframe floppies that I'd punched for compatibility with the TRS80.

[bsfeechannel]

Except Dave's idea of "curating" is to dremel or otherwise dismantle the items and then leave the bits in a box, or dumpster. Kind of like letting a pervert run a kindergarten.

Well, museums do not only preserve things, they also study them. Sometimes it is necessary to take an original item apart to do that. Be it a dinosaur bone, a pharaoh mummy or a Commodore Amiga. The accumulated knowledge resulting from the study is also part of the preservation.

I don't understand this computer nostalgia thing anyway. I come from the very last generation of programmers forced to use punched cards and  FORTRAN IV in high school and then witched to dumb terminals hanging off of a mainframe in University. Good riddance to that whole steaming pile!

That's pretty much the story of my life too, but it's one thing to feel nostalgic (I don't want to go back to punching cards and dumb terminals), it's another thing to be passionate about preserving an authentic piece of history.

[EEVblog]

Man, I'd give an arm and a leg to have the chance to be in front of one of those landmarks of computing.

I want your first born too.

[Halcyon]

Dave, I spoke to John from ACMS today. I've offered them my garage. I would hate to see this stuff scrapped. I haven't watched your video yet, but was there much left to move? He mentioned he has an IBM 1401 in there still.

[Retromat]

OMG!!!!!!
Tell me you saved the Amiga 2000!!!
If you need any backinfos on it then pls contact us, we dedicated our lives especially to the Amiga 2000 Series the past years!

Depending how good they took care of it you might need todo what we had done :

[BravoV]

The 1st thing came out of my mind when at beginning of the video, must be plenty of IBM M keyboards in there. 

[dexters_lab]

what a cool place, would love to spend some hours looking through all that

i hope they can get most/all of it stored somewhere and keep it from the recyclers and all that documentation could be so useful to someone brave enough to restore one of those old machines

[Fungus]

Awesome! You never know what's in those old buildings you drive past.

But ... mostly worthless junk, I suspect the good stuff already found a 'home'.

(Do they make people sign a receipt for the stuff they take or will it all end up on eBay?)

The 1st thing came out of my mind when at beginning of the video, must be plenty of IBM M keyboards in there. 

Yeah, I'd have been looking for nice keyboards, too.

[PinheadBE]

I wish i was able to help.

I think that all those technical documentation should be saved.  Once scanned and put online it could be invaluable, and will take no more (physical) space for storage.

(PDP-11 schematics.... OMG ! )

[Fungus]

I think that all those technical documentation should be saved.  Once scanned and put online it could be invaluable, and will take no more (physical) space for storage.

(PDP-11 schematics.... OMG ! )

I was thinking that, too, but ... it's already been done: https://www.google.com/search?q=pdp+11+schematic

[EEVblog]

Dave, I spoke to John from ACMS today. I've offered them my garage. I would hate to see this stuff scrapped. I haven't watched your video yet, but was there much left to move? He mentioned he has an IBM 1401 in there still.

Yes, tons more stuff, practically the same as yesterday. There was a shipping container there today and more shipping containers on the way until it's all gone. Another video coming shortly.

[EEVblog]

(Do they make people sign a receipt for the stuff they take or will it all end up on eBay?)

Nope, people just walked out with stuff.
I suspect a fair bit will end up on ebay.

The 1st thing came out of my mind when at beginning of the video, must be plenty of IBM M keyboards in there. 

I just saw some older IBM ones.

[EEVblog]

[Fungus]

I just saw some older IBM ones.

Maybe they've already been snarfed.

[DrGeoff]

The Concurrent Computer Mainframes and Kennedy tape drives behind them brought back memories of the 1980's.

[madires]

As a former owner of several Amigas including a 2000 I remember the "Reference Manuals". Back then I've paid about DM260 (bargain) for the complete set at an Amiga fair. Another cult computer was the SparcStation series from Sun. We used lot's of them as servers in the early days of commercial ISPs.

[Fungus]

As a former owner of several Amigas including a 2000 I remember the "Reference Manuals".

Back in the 80s I used to know the Amiga hardware reference manual by heart. Been there, programmed that.

[bsfeechannel]

Man, I'd give an arm and a leg to have the chance to be in front of one of those landmarks of computing.

I want your first born too.

That can be arranged.

Meanwhile, since I need to swim two oceans to get to Sydney, it would be nice if some of the old mechanical and electromechanic calculators ended up in the possession of John Wolff's and his amazing web museum of calculating machines. He's based in Melbourne, which is a little nearer than where I live. I've already contacted him, in case he hasn't been yet.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

If they do end up scrapping the stoof, there's a fortune in gold in them thar hills.
Gold reclamation from boards that put it on thick in those days.