Tales of collecting 2

A few years ago, I was working for a local computer repair and network consulting firm in upstate New York (anyone from NY knows that upstate really is just 40 miles or more north of NYC and not really the upper part of the state.) This older gentleman comes in one day to have his old Pentium II computer worked on (modem fried due to lightning strike.) Being that he is an older gentleman, he is living on retirement and disability from a bad leg and back. So, being a nice fellow, I tell him that I’ll lug the computer in and out of the store and even secure it in his van for him, plus, I even gave him a break on the repairs. We later discuss what’s wrong, what it will take to fix, etc. He brings up old computers and we get to talking about them. To my surprise, I see him come in a week later for his machine and he tells me he has something for me in the back of his van.

I go out and take a look and guess what I see? A really complete and in decent condition SOL 20. I mean everything: external disk drives, cabling, monitor, boxes of manuals, diskettes, add-on boards, everything. It was a big pile of the computer and then a 1.5-ft. by 2-ft. by 1.5-ft. overflowing box full of stuff for the pile of computer. He even stated he had the receipt somewhere in there with it and had only powered it less times than fingers and then it just sat covered in his house.

Unfortunately (I’m still kicking myself about this), at the time, I had no idea what a SOL was or even had space for it at the time. So, I gave it to a friend to store at his storage unit and then I just up and gave it to him after some debate. After a few months, I figured out what it was and since, I’ve felt like a fool. From what I’ve found, that would have been one of the more complete SOL systems out there and I walked from it, not knowing (at the time, my interests were of the NeXt, Token Ring and DEC varieties.)

It goes to show, if someone offers you something, find out what it is before walking. It may end up being a diamond in the rough!

- John Boffemmyer IV