On 2016-Sep-11, at 11:09 AM, Paul Koning wrote:
>> On Sep 11, 2016, at 1:25 PM, Noel Chiappa <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> ...
>> I don't think anyone looks down on the more obscure machines, in fact I
>> personally (and many others, I suspect) are very happy to see people paying
>> attention to them, and my respects to the people who are working to save
>> them.
>
> One of the problems with "obscure European machinery" is that documentation
> is not available. No Siemens computers, for example. And the only trace I
> have found of the Philips PR8000 is a one line mention in a list of
> computers, just enough to confirm that's the machine I once used whose model
> number I had forgotten.
>
> It's not clear why this is so. Fewer collectors? Not much commercial
> success for some or many of those machines?
But it's not just European machines falling to obscurity, it's the range of
minis in general. There were dozens and dozens
of now-forgotten minicomputer models in the US in the late-60s/early-70s, both
from small-time manufacturers and lesser-known
models from well-known companies.
bitsaver's has a list that gives an idea of the scope:
ftp://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/topic/minicomputer/ComputerDesign_Apr71.pdf
I'd love to see or (be able to) build a museum/collection displaying that range
but how much of that hardware will one run across nowadays?
