[COFF] Typical Fate of Older Hardware

[Paul Winalski]

On 7/29/23, segaloco via COFF <coff at tuhs.org> wrote:
>
> Were machines typically offloaded for money to smaller ops, or was it more
> common to simply dispose of/recycle components? As a more pointed example,
> if you worked in a shop that had IBM S/3x0, PDPs, larger 3B hardware, when
> those fell out of use, what was the protocol for getting rid of it? Were
> most machines "disposed of" in a complete way, or was it very typical to
> parts it out first, meaning most machines that reached EOL simply don't
> exist anymore, they weren't moved as a unit, rather, they're any number of
> independent parts floating around anywhere from individual collections to
> slowly decaying in a landfill somewhere.

In the 1970s there was an active market for used IBM gear.  Those
shops still running second generation computers such as the IBM 1400
and 9000 series were often willing to buy CPUs to cannibalize them for
spare parts to keep their own systems running. Otherwise there wasn't
much call for second-hand CPUs.  Aside from them being much slower,
one year's electricity needed to power a second generation CPU could
probably pay for a third generation CPU.

Peripherals had more of a second hand market.  Older card readers,
card punches, printers, and tape drives still worked perfectly well
with newer hardware.  This was especially true of the IBM 1403
printer.  This was arguably the best line printer ever made.  When
System/370 came along, IBM had a newer line printer (the 3203) for it,
but nearly everyone (including myself) considered it inferior to the
older 1403.  I know of one shop that sold off its 1400 system, which
had a1401 CPU, 1402 card read/punch, and 1403 printer.  The used
computer dealer offered them $18,000 for the whole system, or $15,000
just for the 1403 printer.

Maintenance and support are, I think, the two main roadblocks to an
aftermarket for used computers.  By the time a shop decides to upgrade
and get rid of its old hardware, it will already be difficult to find
a support specialist trained on the gear and to find spare parts.
That's why used computers, especially the CPUs, tenddc to become spare
parts themselves.

-Paul W.