1000+ old computer in Canada, for sale

[r.stricklin]

On Jun 12, 2007, at 2:47 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:

> Speaking of rescues, was there any word or resolution on that  
> warehouse full
> of stuff up here (Vancouver/Burnaby, B.C.) from a couple of weeks ago?

Derek Peschel and I went up on Memorial Day. We spent about two hours  
there, turning over rocks. Rawn was a pleasant host, but the  
collection was about as I'd feared it would be: a vast bulk of highly  
disorganized e-waste. 50% or more of the collection was made up of  
Apple //e and //gs machines scavenged from public schools. If you add  
in fishtank Macs (almost all Plusses and Classics) that number goes  
up to maybe 65% or so.

Of what's left, maybe 20% forms a small core of moderately  
interesting stuff, primarily of the "rounding out a collection"  
nature---possibly somewhat desireable, though nothing earth- 
shattering---and one relatively modern PDP-11 in a half-rack which  
was too buried to get more than a glance at (it might've been an / 
83). The quantity of dross is so great, in my opinion, that it  
overwhelms any real value which may be extracted. A rough estimate  
puts the count at 350 //es, 200 //gses, 85 Plusses, and another 80 or  
so Classics. Contrast that with the single (one) ][plus I saw. I  
counted 15 or so C=64 machines, and maybe five power supplies. The // 
gses mostly have monitors, but there was a visible shortage of  
keyboards, mice, and disk drives. This theme repeated itself over,  
and over.

I'm working on crunching some solid figures in terms of time, energy,  
bulk, potential return on investment, storage, waste disposal  
options, and what the Customs people are likely to do to me. Rawn has  
expressed disinterest in allowing cherry-picking; in fact he went so  
far as to mention plans to donate the lot to Bill Gates should he not  
find a worthy buyer.

What it's boiling down to, is that I will probably make him an offer  
on it, but it's not likely to one he'll be excited about. I'm  
prepared to live with the consequences.

ok
bear