[HECnet] LSSM/MACT update

[Dave McGuire]

  Hey folks, slightly OT, but there's PDP-11 stuff in here. :)  For
those of you who aren't on (blech) Facebook, here's my post of a few
minutes ago.

           -Dave

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Hi folks!  We have a great update for you today.  Our fundraiser was
successful, and we've just finished executing a successful four-stop
road trip in a 26-foot rental truck.

The first stop was local; we went to the University of Pittsburgh's
CompSci building in downtown Pittsburgh.  Pitt was kind enough to donate
a large volume of DEC hardware to LSSM/MACT, constituting the bulk of
their internal CompSci Department computer museum.  There are several
PDP-11s, but the centerpiece is an absolutely stunning PDP-11/t55 system
with a large complement of peripherals including several RK05 and RK07
drives, two TU56+TC11 subsystems, a TU16 9-track tape drive, a Three
Rivers Computer Unibus monitor...the list goes on and on.  Lots of
parts, documentation, RK05 and RK07 disk packs, etc etc.  A big thanks
to Dr. Bob Hoffman and the University of Pittsburgh for this fantastic
donation!  We'll have that PDP-11/t55 up and running soon.  This
equipment almost completely filled the truck, so we went back to the
museum after that to unload.

Next, we hit the road with an empty truck for Minneapolis, Minnesota, to
pick up an HP-3000 series 39 system, complete with a 7978 9-track tape
drive, a 7935 disk drive, and two 7914 disk/tape subsystems.  Sadly
there were no terminals, but the system is otherwise complete and in
very good condition considering its age.  It was donated by the family
of Mr. Terry Stolp in his memory, and it will have a good home here.

Next, we visited the positively huge IBM facility in Rochester,
Minnesota where we picked up a model 3774 RJE terminal with a 3501 card
reader, a 3521 card punch with controller, and a 3784 line printer.  We
thank IBM for this fantastic donation, and we appreciate their
dedication to the preservation of their (large) part of history.

Last but not least, we visited the amazing Steppenwolf Theatre in
Chicago, where we picked up a beautiful and very rare Singer/Friden
System Ten computer system, complete with two large disk drives, a line
printer, two terminals, and documentation.  Thanks to Chad Hain of
Steppenwolf for this very unusual donation.  The photo attached to this
post is the System Ten's CPU.

So now we're back and unloaded, and the truck is returned.  When we are
all recovered from this rather exhausting trip, we'll take some pictures
and post them here for your viewing pleasure, over the next few days.
Thank you all for your donations, which made this pickup run possible!


-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA