What Happened to the Computer Reset Warehouse?
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Bob
I was able to visit a similar warehouse in central Florida twice in, I guess, mid-to-late 200x. It was at least the size of the Computer Reset's -actual warehouse, - maybe a bit larger, but was 100% DEC equipment from the late '60s through the '90s. I was in awe of the amount of hardware the owner had (he was a retired DEC Field Service Engineer) stuffed in there. My first visit was to pick up a birthday present my wife had surprised me with - a PDP-8/E, RK05, and a 6-foot rack for them. That was the first 110-pound -hard drive- unit that I ever lifted! He had warehouse shelving racks/units literally full of modules (i. e, boards) for the different DEC systems. -Tri-walls- (the large triple-thick cardboard boxes approximately 4x4x4-ft attached to pallets packed full of piles of cables (required to interconnect systems) and stuff I couldn't climb to were everywhere. If he hadn't been -3-hours away (one-way drive, I would have gone back many times to help him sort things out because at that point he really didn't know everything he had in there. A few years later he sold the warehouse contents and retired again, but I never found out what happened to everything because his email went silent after that. I think that PDP-8 and (primarily) PDP-11 & VAX users/collectors would be climbing over each other to crawl through the place now like it was when I saw it back then.
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I was able to visit a similar warehouse in central Florida twice in, I guess, mid-to-late 200x. It was at least the size of the Computer Reset's -actual warehouse, - maybe a bit larger, but was 100% DEC equipment from the late '60s through the '90s. I was in awe of the amount of hardware the owner had (he was a retired DEC Field Service Engineer) stuffed in there. My first visit was to pick up a birthday present my wife had surprised me with - a PDP-8/E, RK05, and a 6-foot rack for them. That was the first 110-pound -hard drive- unit that I ever lifted! He had warehouse shelving racks/units literally full of modules (i. e, boards) for the different DEC systems. -Tri-walls- (the large triple-thick cardboard boxes approximately 4x4x4-ft attached to pallets packed full of piles of cables (required to interconnect systems) and stuff I couldn't climb to were everywhere. If he hadn't been -3-hours away (one-way drive, I would have gone back many times to help him sort things out because at that point he really didn't know everything he had in there. A few years later he sold the warehouse contents and retired again, but I never found out what happened to everything because his email went silent after that. I think that PDP-8 and (primarily) PDP-11 & VAX users/collectors would be climbing over each other to crawl through the place now like it was when I saw it back then.
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RJT21
Sadly, being in electronics and data processing/compute/storage since 1980, I recognize so much of that gear it's mind boggling. As I was writing this comment I though it was all just PC related stuff, no business or -midrange- or pre 80's computer equipment, until I saw the IBM 5251 (it looked like a Model 5251-12 which had a modem and acted as a controller for other 5250 terminals at a remote site) and some other IBM gear like the 3197) terminal and other twinax 5250 terminals and that line printer which appears to be a 3262 or 5262 band printer, all used to connect to IBM System 36 (S/36) via twinaxial cable.
I used to repair all that 80's=90's IBM midrange hardware. S/34, S/36, S/38, AS/400, and still support IBM i (AS/400) on Power Systems and IBM storage. The OS has been going strong since 1987 and has a projected support at least through 2030.
P. S. I also installed and setup countless of your sponsor product, Shiva LanRover back in the day.
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Sadly, being in electronics and data processing/compute/storage since 1980, I recognize so much of that gear it's mind boggling. As I was writing this comment I though it was all just PC related stuff, no business or -midrange- or pre 80's computer equipment, until I saw the IBM 5251 (it looked like a Model 5251-12 which had a modem and acted as a controller for other 5250 terminals at a remote site) and some other IBM gear like the 3197) terminal and other twinax 5250 terminals and that line printer which appears to be a 3262 or 5262 band printer, all used to connect to IBM System 36 (S/36) via twinaxial cable.
I used to repair all that 80's=90's IBM midrange hardware. S/34, S/36, S/38, AS/400, and still support IBM i (AS/400) on Power Systems and IBM storage. The OS has been going strong since 1987 and has a projected support at least through 2030.
P. S. I also installed and setup countless of your sponsor product, Shiva LanRover back in the day.
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Tim
Wow, that place reminds me of how I got my start in computers at age 20. There was a small local computer repair shop & store called -Discount Computers- down the road from my house. The owner, Larry, would repair, repurpose, upgrade, and resell older (3-4 year old) company buyout computers at lower prices. He also had bins out of which he sold inexpensive used computer parts that were leftover after upgrading those old units. I used those old parts to upgrade and build my own small fleet of Frankenstein OEM computers. From that store, I climbed slowly from DOS thru to Windows XP, and from 486DX, Pentium 1, 2, & 3, Cyrix, up to Athlon K6-3 processor and mobo configurations. Though I didn't have a lot of money, I was able acquire what I needed to break into what was at the time still a very expensive world of computing. I really appreciate that little store. Hopefully, a lot of people will get a lot of good use out of all those parts from Computer Reset.
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Wow, that place reminds me of how I got my start in computers at age 20. There was a small local computer repair shop & store called -Discount Computers- down the road from my house. The owner, Larry, would repair, repurpose, upgrade, and resell older (3-4 year old) company buyout computers at lower prices. He also had bins out of which he sold inexpensive used computer parts that were leftover after upgrading those old units. I used those old parts to upgrade and build my own small fleet of Frankenstein OEM computers. From that store, I climbed slowly from DOS thru to Windows XP, and from 486DX, Pentium 1, 2, & 3, Cyrix, up to Athlon K6-3 processor and mobo configurations. Though I didn't have a lot of money, I was able acquire what I needed to break into what was at the time still a very expensive world of computing. I really appreciate that little store. Hopefully, a lot of people will get a lot of good use out of all those parts from Computer Reset.
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Moserfugger
Richard Byron (founder Computer Reset) seemed to be a really fascinating guy. they should name a museum or at least a street after him. yeah, he might have been a hoarder, but without his work most of those computer treasures would be lost forever.
it's pretty heart warming to see how people came together to save as much stuff as possible from this warehouse. but on the other hand it also makes me sad that a fascinating place like that has to disappear. it's probably unavoidable anyhow, because if it just was all left there, much of the computer stuff would have been unusable and ripe for the dumpster after a while. so it's good that people became active and emptied the warehouse out as much as they could. but yeah. still there's some naive part of me that just wishes a place like this could exist forever like some untouchable time capsule. -
greetings from germany: )
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Richard Byron (founder Computer Reset) seemed to be a really fascinating guy. they should name a museum or at least a street after him. yeah, he might have been a hoarder, but without his work most of those computer treasures would be lost forever.
it's pretty heart warming to see how people came together to save as much stuff as possible from this warehouse. but on the other hand it also makes me sad that a fascinating place like that has to disappear. it's probably unavoidable anyhow, because if it just was all left there, much of the computer stuff would have been unusable and ripe for the dumpster after a while. so it's good that people became active and emptied the warehouse out as much as they could. but yeah. still there's some naive part of me that just wishes a place like this could exist forever like some untouchable time capsule. -
greetings from germany: )
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Stephen
I live only about an hour away from this place. I have several early Tandy computers, and would like to get at least one model 4, and one model 16 working - preferably all of them to sell them on eBay. I also have a good amount of TRS-80 software and manuals. I am looking to divest myself of all of it, just keeping a 4 and a 16 and any programming-related software (COBOL, Assembly, etc.
After stumbling across your video of your first visit, I had some slim hope that they might have TRS-80 systems/parts I could use - but I saw no Tandy (non-PC) stuff in this more recent video. If you (or any other visitor) saw any unclaimed TRS-80 I/II/III/IV/16 parts/systems that didn't make this video, please tell me and I will make the drive.
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I live only about an hour away from this place. I have several early Tandy computers, and would like to get at least one model 4, and one model 16 working - preferably all of them to sell them on eBay. I also have a good amount of TRS-80 software and manuals. I am looking to divest myself of all of it, just keeping a 4 and a 16 and any programming-related software (COBOL, Assembly, etc.
After stumbling across your video of your first visit, I had some slim hope that they might have TRS-80 systems/parts I could use - but I saw no Tandy (non-PC) stuff in this more recent video. If you (or any other visitor) saw any unclaimed TRS-80 I/II/III/IV/16 parts/systems that didn't make this video, please tell me and I will make the drive.
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kingofcastlechaos
Have been watching this process closely. His family is so fortunate to have such dedicated friends and volunteers. My wife threatened me so I could not go myself, but what fun to see it on video. I especially love seeing the old IBM documentation boxes. My first suit was not bought for a wedding or other normal endeavor. NO SIR! Nope, I had to buy a friggin suit in order to go meet the salesperson at the IBM store. That was a different time and place for sure! Love the video, thank you!
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Have been watching this process closely. His family is so fortunate to have such dedicated friends and volunteers. My wife threatened me so I could not go myself, but what fun to see it on video. I especially love seeing the old IBM documentation boxes. My first suit was not bought for a wedding or other normal endeavor. NO SIR! Nope, I had to buy a friggin suit in order to go meet the salesperson at the IBM store. That was a different time and place for sure! Love the video, thank you!
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That
Interesting. There are still a few items of use. The old mechanical keyboards are still in demand, especially the IBM model M. The server rack could still be used to install modern hardware into. I doubt the spacing has changed. The monitors are basically useless, other than for a museum.
When the LCD monitors first came out I had no interest. They were small, expensive, had low refresh rates, and the back lights often failed. Monitors have come a loooooong way in the past 20 years.
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Interesting. There are still a few items of use. The old mechanical keyboards are still in demand, especially the IBM model M. The server rack could still be used to install modern hardware into. I doubt the spacing has changed. The monitors are basically useless, other than for a museum.
When the LCD monitors first came out I had no interest. They were small, expensive, had low refresh rates, and the back lights often failed. Monitors have come a loooooong way in the past 20 years.
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weismeister121
Hello there, I know this is a bit out of context for this video, but I was just wondering if you ever heard of a very specific old Compaq laptop, specifically: Compaq LTE 5280. Supposedly, this is the only laptop that can service the McLaren F1 supercars, from the 90s. And since these cars are very limite in number (64 from 106, you could imagine how ridiculously valuable this laptop becomes. Anyway, I thought about sharing this info. Have a nice day.
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Hello there, I know this is a bit out of context for this video, but I was just wondering if you ever heard of a very specific old Compaq laptop, specifically: Compaq LTE 5280. Supposedly, this is the only laptop that can service the McLaren F1 supercars, from the 90s. And since these cars are very limite in number (64 from 106, you could imagine how ridiculously valuable this laptop becomes. Anyway, I thought about sharing this info. Have a nice day.
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No
lol - the masks remember those things, this video is already retro.
I have to say though this whole situation makes my heart swell. In the beginning of the video you can see the original owner wrote in his newsletter something about being in a throwaway society and it is clear his goal was to reuse things and reduce waste. Everyone that has been involved with this project has made him proud and fulfilled his wishes which I think is awesome.
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lol - the masks remember those things, this video is already retro.
I have to say though this whole situation makes my heart swell. In the beginning of the video you can see the original owner wrote in his newsletter something about being in a throwaway society and it is clear his goal was to reuse things and reduce waste. Everyone that has been involved with this project has made him proud and fulfilled his wishes which I think is awesome.
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lazygamereviews
My wife would kill me if I went and brought more ancient computers home. Heh. I have a bunch of old stuff--Xerox 860 word processor (I used one in the navy in the late 80s, long after it was obsolete, Exidy Sorcerer, Sol, TI 99/4A, Commodore, etc. I need to sell off most of that stuff. but I'd love to dig through all that stuff and bring more home--just as well we don't live anywhere close by.
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My wife would kill me if I went and brought more ancient computers home. Heh. I have a bunch of old stuff--Xerox 860 word processor (I used one in the navy in the late 80s, long after it was obsolete, Exidy Sorcerer, Sol, TI 99/4A, Commodore, etc. I need to sell off most of that stuff. but I'd love to dig through all that stuff and bring more home--just as well we don't live anywhere close by.
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