Hello! I'm looking for a PDP-12, a computer built by Digital Equipment Corporation some thirty years ago, to purchase and restore.

The PDP-12s were built as laboratory instruments back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. About the size of refrigerators, they come in a cabinet about 6 feet tall, have one or two clunky-looking old-style magnetic tape drives on the front, and have an operator's console with several dozen impressive-looking lights and rocker switches.

It's a small piece of computer history, and I'm hoping to find one that can be restored to its original condition.

Do you have one that's not getting any use any more, or know of one sitting idle in a hospital storeroom somewhere? If so, I'd love to buy it from you. I'm hoping to find one that's in reasonably-restorable shape, and if by chance there's software and/or documentation as well that would be a great bonus. It'll be given a good home, it will get use again, and there's a restored DEC PDP-8/I (an older brother of the PDP-12) here to keep it company. If you want to stay in touch with it, visitation rights can certainly be arranged. :)

I'd like to keep the price in the $2,000 - $2,500 range, depending on condition; if it's in good condition, has its original documentation and software intact, or is in or near Seattle so shipping costs aren't an issue, going higher would also be reasonable. If it does have to be shipped, I'll happily arrange and pay for the shipping as well.

If you have a PDP-12 for sale, or know of one which is available, please send me an e-mail at ohh@drizzle.com. We can talk about its condition and location, and then I'll happily make you an offer.

...1960s-vintage machines are getting harder to find, of course, since a number of them have been scrapped over the years, so in hopes of finding this one to restore I'm also asking for help. I'll give a $100 reward to whoever first introduces me to the PDP-12 I end up buying, as a reward for lending me your eyes to help look for it. It's an unusual offer, and I certainly can't afford to make a habit of it; but I know I'll likely need help finding one, so it's worth it. If you know of a PDP-12 that's available for a reasonable price, please e-mail me and we'll take it from there.

(That's not a bad finder's fee for a computer, especially one with a slower CPU and less memory than an Apple II.)