Inventory :: One geek's dream

Some people covet the latest technology, whether it's the latest computer driven by an Intel or AMD chip, screaming HOT video card, or mega-RAM capable motheboard. Not me. I've been strangely afflicted with a desire to explore some of the antiques of technology. It probably first started years ago when I first happened across the Espressigo, an espresso machine built inside a SGI Indigo. I ended up checking out the SGI Indy and it looked like an intriguing machine.

For a couple of years I had heard about a mysterious computer sale that went on at my local university. I'd heard of some incredible deals, but never managed to get more information out of people other than the sale existed. Thankfully "glenn" from kwlug posted information about the University of Waterloo Surplus Sale. The first time I went there were a few *NIX machines, mostly Sun IPC's and IPX's. I managed to grab one of the Sun IPC's, but someone else swooped in and took the whole lot of other Sun-based machines. The IPC ended up going to my brother. The machine powered on, but likely had a dead NVRAM chip, which meant he probably would have had to really work at it to get an OS on it.

Many visits later I picked up a HP 700/RX Terminal. This baby had a big 19" monitor. I paid way too much for it. Again, it went to my younger brother who managed to dispose of it at a garage sale.

Many more visits and I finally spotted a SGI Indy R3000! Unfortunately, the only thing left of the Indy was the backplane and the basic graphics board, there was no processor, no hard drive, not even a power supply. I gutted the machine and it now serves as a stand for one of my speakers. I still intend on putting a Pentium II inside this box, so it may see life yet.

Having gone through the snatch and grab circus that occurs at these sales, I knew that if you want something at these sales, you have to grab it when you can. Even if you have some doubts about using the box, grab it and worry about putting it down after you have your hands on it first. So it was with my Sun Sparcstation 5. I bought 3 Sparcstation 5's at the sale, all non-functional. Two had hard drives, but both drives had holes physically drilled through them. Over time I acquired enough parts to slap together one Sparcstation 5 I've dubbed heller. Though the name is derived from L. Ron Hubbard's, no I am not a scientologist, science fiction deckology Mission Earth, it seems quite appropriate for this machine which has been hell putting together.

The last machine I picked up at the surplus sale was another terminal, a Thin Client actually. I had my hands on both of the available NCD ThinStar 400's when I heard a groan from behind me. I actually wasn't going for the ThinStar's, but I couldn't get someone ahead of me to move out of the way so I could grab the only Sparcstation 20. The person who did grab the Sparc is someone I've seen at the sale often, and I know they have quite a collection of Sun boxes, having collected just about every Sun box that shows up. I decided not to be like this person and handed the second ThinStar to the guy behind me that had groaned. Amid the drone of the crowd I could hear the person explaining in an excited voice to someone else how they had managed to get the ThinStar, it felt good.

My last acquisition was not from the University surplus sale, but from a garage sale that local French school had put on. Though I'll probably never boot this machine, it's very close to the first computer I ever really wanted (a Timex Sinclair). The baby I bought is a TI-99, which went for a whopping $1.00.

I have other machines, ones that actually work, but the above machines are my darling Frankenstein boxes that, someday, will breathe life!