"William Donzelli" <aw288@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:Pine.SUN.4.20.0604131759280.1888-100000@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> I just threw out the 3380 and 3390 books.
>
> I have not climbed on my soapbox lately, but now seems like a good time.
Want to second everything William said and add some quick points about the
Computer History Museum (CHM - www.computerhsitory.org):
1. Have a mainframe system, hardware, manual, software, ephemera
(t-shirts,
toys, swag, etc) you are tossing? Take a look at
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/donateArtifact/.
Anyone have
an
extra glass door for a 3420 tape drive to replace one damaged in transit?
2. Don't assume because the item is too old, too new, too big, is software
with too many licensing hassles, the Museum will not be interested. We've
implemented some solutions to meet the needs of all parties involved,
including meeting IP and licensing restrictions.
3. Worried about licensing issues? We've handled such issues many times
before, have worked with vendors and corporations to meet the needs of all
parties. Museums and Library Collections have well established protocols
for
restricting access to sensitive material such as personal papers and IP.
Again never hurts to ask.
4. You'd (might be) surprised to see what systems are still tucked away. I
deinstalled an *operational* 1968 SDS Sigma-5 mainframe in 2001. See
http://www.computerhistory.org/events/special_projects/restorations.shtml
for info on special projects including IBM 1401 restoration.
5. If CHM can't accept a donation, we work with many other Museums and
organizations that may be able to accept an item.
6. I agree with William that there seems to be cut-off around 1975 for
what
qualifies as a "historic" mainframe system. Have something after that
time?
Drop us an email. We have been accepting donations of fairly recent items
we
think reflect important developments or will be important in the future.
7. IBM is a great corporate supporter and friend of the Museum. However,
we'd love to cultivate ties and build up the collection of non-IBM
mainframe
artifacts. Unfortunately we have few if any artifacts representing the
Seven
Dwarfs/BUNCH - Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, Honeywell. Would love
to build up the collection of hardware/software/other artifacts for these
and others such as GE, RCA, SDS/XDS and others.
8. In the last couple of years we have been putting extra effort into
historic software artifacts and proactively collecting examples we think
are
important and in danger of being lost. See our "Hit List" at
http://www.computerhistory.org/cgi-bin/wishlist.cgi.
Have some very good
results with FORTRAN, Augment/NLS, and getting traction with APL, Multics,
LISP, and CDC software, as well as addressing the sticky issues around
copyright, licensing, etc.
9. Try the Museum web page first, but if you have a question or comment
feel
free to send me an email directly - courtney@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
be sure to take a look at the Museum's web site, especially the
Special
Project page (http://www.computerhistory.org/events/special_projects/),
and
visit if you're in the San Jose-San Francisco area.
Thanks!
Lee Courtney
courtney@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Volunteer 1997-present
"William Donzelli" <aw288@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:<Pine.SUN.4.20.0604131759280.1888-100000@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
> > I just threw out the 3380 and 3390 books.
>
> I have not climbed on my soapbox lately, but now seems like a good time.
>
> One of the more interesting aspects of history that has popped up
quickly
> like a mushroom is that of computers and data processing. 10 or 15 years
> ago, there were only a few individuals interested in saving old hardware
> and software, and a handful of museums with an interest. Relatively
> recently, however, people have come to realize that some of these old
> machines, documents, and software should be preserved. These days, there
> is a very active community of amateur collectors and historians, as well
> as some top class museums, all interested in the old iron. This is great
-
> we can show people it was not always Apple/Windows/Intel/Unix.
>
> I think most people on this list and elsewhere would recognize the value
> of some 1401 documents or some S/360 era hardware. Every so often some
of
> this stuff surfaces, and more times than not, it gets saved, perhaps for
a
> restoration project. Excellent, I say.
>
> The problem I see is that this early mainframe stuff - lets call it
> pre-1975 - tends to get the lion's share of interest. The post-1975
> mainframe stuff tends to get ignored, and I think this is a shame. Let's
> face it - the hardware is just about gone. Is anyone still running a
3033?
> 3081? 3090? Just how many 3380s are still spinning? For that matter, are
> there any 3033s even left? I doubt it. 3081s or 3090s? Slim chance. The
> last of the 9021s are starting to go, and I know of just one that has
been
> saved.
>
> The same holds true for the documentation and software, although by its
> nature tends to hang around longer. Some day we will find that all those
> 1401 manuals we saved outnumber the 3081 manuals by a very wide margin.
>
> This mainframe "near history" is just as important as the stuff from the
> punch card days. So this is the point of this soapbox rant - a request
to
> you people in the industry, some that used these systems. If you have
> items from the mid-1970s and 80s, even early 1990s - from manuals to 1
ton
> chunks of hardware - please ask before disposing it. I know there are a
> few of us on this list that would be interested. The museums may also be
> interested, such as the excellent Computer History Museum in the Bay
Area.
> You may be surprised to know that much of this stuff is wanted.
>
> Thank you for listening to me...
>
> William Donzelli
> aw288@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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