> If I've got anything you might be able to use, don't hesitate to contact > me. Even if it's only a reference card. <G>
Check that CE bag! Go to the back of the bottom drawer! Clearly, OLD software is of prime importance - ask the Computer History Museum (CHM) about that. An amazing amount of important software is lost. Then there are maintenance docs for old systems. Once again, CHM. For all the S/360s and S/370s that IBM churned out, the Big Blue Binders have vaporized for most of the different models. Then, of course, are pieces of old hardware. I would hope that most people on this list (especially after all my ranting in the past few years) would recognize that after hardware passes the junk stage in it life (ten years or so), it starts to become important again, and should get a chance of a new life in a museum or collection. Large amounts, especially early disks, are just about gone. And then - for the stuff that really can live in the old CE bag or back of the bottom drawer - some parts are always on the wanted lists: - The rectangular colored plastic buttons for machine checks, Reset, Program Load, etc. - even the weird ones. Maybe especially the weird ones! - The plug in lights from the S/360 and S/370 era - the blinkenlights. Guys like me are even taking burnt out ones and rebulbing them. - Machine tags - the square or rectangular aluminum tags with the model numbers that everyone pried off when the machines were rolled away to be scrapped. The glue on those is also notorious for drying up after all these years, and often just fall off and are lost. - Control panel knobs, like that standard hex knob, because IBM chose a plastic that would season and eventually split. - CE jigs, like the tools used to align disk heads, card feeders, tape handlers, etc.. These are very valuable when getting a machine running. - Disk packs. For some reason, the IBM packs all went away, but the DEC packs (CDC, Memorex, etc.) can still be found in quantity. Annoying. And, of course, anything else... -- Will ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
