Finding a PDP-11 or DG Nova/Eclipse

Hello,

Could anyone offer some advice on where I should look to acquire a (complete)
Unibus PDP-11, or a Data General System, such as the Nova or Eclipse. I've found a Nova 4 CPU unit for sale- no peripherals. Same with a PDP 11/34. It's always been a dream of mine to own a minicomputer system like that.

Any advice?

Thanks in Advance,

B. D.
liru@inbox.com

As you have already figured out, you have to have VERY deep pockets. I too keep looking at the PDP11 stuff and then I notice all the associated stuff you have to buy to get it going. Looks like you have noticed the same thing.

I think I've seen a few on ebay lately actually. Although I have no idea if they're complete (I've only heard and read about the pdp line never played with them).

The biggest problem I've seen was just the shipping costs. One was in a rack and had other peripherals with it also rack mounted which means a few hundred to ship and probably needing a loading dock. Although one cool one was in Dallas where I technically could have driven and picked it up but honestly I don't think I could ever get one to really work and I'm beyond the point that I can just take any computer that looks interesting into the home.

However I certainly have seen a few pdp machines on ebay recently.

- John

you just missed a 11/34 on Ebay, It was incomplete, but a good start for $50.

Actually, I was watching that 11/34, but without a power supply or card cage, It seemed like more work that it was worth. I've seen collecters who have many PDP-11 complete systems, I really wonder where they find them. Any ideas? There haven't seemed to be anything other than DEC boards for sale on ebay lately.

I would try to get one of the later, smaller units, like (is this right) 11/83 or 11/84.

They came in a single ba-350 (I think?) case, as they were later, and more LSI-based. I remember getting a few vaxen in that style case.

Still a bit heavy, but workable. Better than a huuuuge rackmount sustem!


Tony

I would imagine some of them come from schools or older companies which have them collecting dust in the basement. I know a company here in Austin which does Mainframe/Tape drive repair (they were working on the unsupported mainframe we had at a state agency I worked at) which commented on some bank or something in San Antonio which still had some huge server in the basement just because 1. The CEO remembers what they paid for it when it was new and couldn't just throw it out and 2. The quote for people to remove it for them was too high (at this point it was going to cost XX,XXX to remove the system). So this repair company was going to dispose of it for them (really I think they were going to gut it for parts).

Still.. I was thinking about that and a few other places that I used to hear that same complaint (a vintage computer shop who was closing complained about the rate of disposal companies) and they actually had their own dumpster to throw things away AND a contact who at the time took even non-working monitors to melt them for lead. Long story short I was friends with the owners and said "well.. if you want I could get about 5 pickups (friends and myself) down here in about 30 minutes and we'll do it for free." So we took what we found interesting, tossed what we didn't (lots of printers and bad monitors).

Ok so the summary was supposed to be "maybe schools or companies that are looking to dispose of them". I see a few MicroPDP-11's in the stores which aren't that bad of a price. One looks like it has a stack of software with it and they say it's working great.

- John

Well, I was never a huge fan of DEC stuff to begin with, but I figured out somewhere along the lines that "PDP" simply stood for Pretty Damn Pricey...

I would suggest a Nova system...I see them on occasion on ebay. Otherwise, a google search may turn up something interesting...

You probably want a Nova 3, or a Nova 830. A 1200 series would be a good choice as well. The Nova 4 series isn't going to have the "cool" lights and switches front panel. Earlier model Novas (Before they were at the height of their popularity) will be harder to support and the documentation will be scarce...

All said, though, they are pretty sturdy machines...I've seen situations where Nova 1200 series turnkey systems were running in supermarkets for 20 years or so...

They certainly don't make 'em like that anymore...

Hello,

Would either of these systems be a good starting point?
I've found for sale:
A "Micro" PDP-11/53
A DG Nova 4- though it runs on 240 Volts-
The PDP11/53 has a disk drive- but what drive would be needed for the Nova 4?

B. D.

Well, the Nova 4 was at the end of the line, so to speak...so from a performance and feature standpoint, it was the "top of the line". If you needed something more powerful at the time, you had to go to an Eclipse.

The Nova 4 supports all the standard DG peripherals (that is to say, the versions of RDOS that shipped with it supported these devices) and it had the most available software packages of any Nova system.

The downside (for me, anyway) is that you don't get the "cool" front panel. By the time the Nova 4 came out, 99% of them were shipped with a "turn-key" style front panel, without the address and data lights and switches on the front. If the "cool" factor is not what you're going for, I'd jump on the Nova 4. I'm not saying you couldn't find a front panel (I think they usually referred to it as a "Maintenance Panel"), but it probably won't come with one to begin with.

Actually, most of the Nova systems I've got have turn-key front panels, as they were sold by another company bundled with supermarket software. But we've got a couple of Nova 3s hanging around, in all their glory, and they are some of the sexiest computers every made...

Edited to say: Hey! This is post number 100 for me!

Acutally, I've just come across some real 'big iron'- A VAX 11/780- wish me luck!

Would that be the blue boy on eBay?
If so, good luck - I hope that thing works. I don't think
many 11/7xx's were spared by scrappers. Kinda' like an IBM 360 or 370 series machine. Not many survived.

Tony

Yep- that's the one- it's not too far away-. I agree with you- Not many seem to have survived.