> 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
