Free computers!

[pfy]

I 'm clearing out as much stuff as possible, because it looks like I'll need to move house soon. This means the following workstations and PC bits are all free to a good home:

• Asus A7A133 motherboard with 1GHz Duron processor (with heatsink and fan). I can also give you a couple of PC133 memory sticks for this if you like.
• 1.7GHz Celeron processor and motherboard. Needs a CMOS battery and a CPU fan, and is therefore untested. Has onboard sound and Ethernet. Comes in a mini tower case.
• Matched pair of 1.7GHz Xeon processors (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27262). They're in a motherboard and tower case, but since it's some weird Dell server I'm not sure how much use it is.
• About 50 floppies, with and without various bits of software on them. Relive the baffling mid-90s obsession with installing poorly-drawn novelty icons for your desktop.
• Internal SCSI CD-ROM drive.
• SGI Indy with 17" monitor. Needs a standard PS/2 keyboard and mouse, which I can probably supply if necessary. Currently running some old version of Debian Linux, I think.
• Two DEC 3000 workstations. Half a gig of RAM each (which was jaw-droppingly impressive for 1993). No monitor, but will work fine with a serial console. Will run NetBSD fine, but Linux hadn't been ported to these things last time I checked. One has some sort of tape drive, the other has a caddy-style CD-ROM drive. I can provide tray-style CD-ROM drives that should work with these. I also have a PDF manual for them somewhere.
• VT420 terminal. White phosphor. Could be a nice retro interface for one of the above DEC workstations! Has a cable to connect it to a standard 9-pin serial port.
• External 5.25" floppy drive with SCSI connector.
• External SCSI CD-ROM drive (untested).

All of them worked when last powered up, unless otherwise stated. Please offer them a home!

Comments

[sci_starborne]

Might be interested in the Xeon machine. Might be useful for image processing.

[pfy]

Want to come have a look? I think you saw it when you last came to my house, but that was a while back.

[sci_starborne]

If I remember right the problem was it was missing RAM, wasn't it?

[pfy]

Yes, that was what stopped me testing it - it takes RIMMs, which nothing else I own does.

I've had a further look, and it's a Dell Precision 530 WHL. The motherboard has onboard IDE, LVD SCSI, sound, ethernet, USB, and Firewire. There's an AGP Pro slot, 3 32-bit PCI slots, and 2 64-bit PCI slots. If you can find RAM, a video card, and disks, it should be good to go.

[sci_starborne]

I've managed to grab a pair of RIMMs and some terminator cards, so should have the bits to test it! Only 256Mb, but enough to get it to turn over if it does.

It was a pretty big case IIRC. Will have to see about getting a lift over I think.

[pfy]

Awesome. And yes, it's pretty heavy, so something with wheels would certainly be very helpful when it comes to shifting it. Let me know when you can make it.

[auntsarentgents]

Moving> let me know if you want a hand box shifting.

[pfy]

That would be much appreciated :)

(I don't yet know where I'm going or when - will post more when I figure those bits out)

[morwen]

I would like the VT420!

[pfy]

OK! It's not heavy, but a bit unwieldy to bring to the pub, so you can either pick it up from mine any time, or I could maybe bring it to a Wednesday thing.

[morwen]

Could I come and grab it sometime today?

[pfy]

Yes, that would be great!

[morwen]

Cool. I'll head out in a bit.

[verazea]

I'd maybe take one of the DEC 3000s but suspect this might be Deeply Unpopular and I really Do Not Have The Space :/

[pfy]

But you could put it under something else, or sit on it...