response 76 of 126:

Apr 9 14:43 UTC 1998

At http://www.virtual.com/tech_support/sunmgrs/sun_pricelist you'll find a
Sun parts price list dating from October 1994.  In case you are wondering
what Grex's current 4/670 system would have cost in 1994 prices, here's
what I've got:

    1   501-2055           OMB SS600MP CPU FRU             $12600.00
    1   370-1388           SM100 SPARC MBUS MODULE         $12500.00
   32   501-1739           4MB,1MBITX9BIT SIMM,SUN4/40      $8800.00
    1   370-1416?          5.0GBYTE 8MM TAPE DRIVE          $4000.00
    1   370-1347?          644MB CD-ROM,HALF HEIGHT          $595.00
    3   370-1412           2.1GB DISK DRIVE, SEAGATE        $8700.00
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           $47195.00

This doesn't include the chassis or power supply.  But basically the
Sun 4/670 system we are now running would have been something like a
$50,000 system in 1994.

What we are shopping for in spare parts is:

   501-2055                 OMB SS600MP CPU FRU             $12600.00
   370-1388                 SM100 SPARC MBUS MODULE         $12500.00
  -------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            $25100.00

We expect to be able to buy these parts for around $600.  So, if you give
us $10, then we will use it to buy about $420 worth of computer (at least
in 1994 terms).  What a deal!  

response 78 of 126:

Apr 9 22:53 UTC 1998

How about a mail wrapper not asking people to become members, but asking
anyone using grex to give a small one-time donation for spare parts?

I almost never read the motd.  Does anyone?

How much would spare parts cost if we wait one more month?  Wow, do computers
get old fast!  (MY $2000 system in 1985 might fetch $25 today).

response 80 of 126:

Apr 10 02:25 UTC 1998

I've sent inquiries for current prices of Sun 4/670 parts to five different
venders, but have only got one reply back so far.  They want $675 for the
motherboard and $450 for the SM100 module.  A year ago Rob Argy bought the
motherboard for less than $600 and the SM100 for $40.  Rob is a shopping god,
a skill I totally lack.  But finding good deals on this stuff is hard.  That's
way we want to buy them *before* we need them.  If we have to buy them in a
hurry it could get very expensive.  Neither of these parts are amazingly
common, so it will take some looking to find good deals on them, and they
could actually start getting more expensive, simply because they are rare.

response 82 of 126:

Apr 10 13:13 UTC 1998

Right.  The $450 price for an SM100 module is absurd and makes me think that
this particular vender is off the deep end as far as prices go.  However, they
seem to be the only one who actually comes back when you ask them for a quote.

response 84 of 126:

Apr 11 17:27 UTC 1998

It would annoy me (if it applied to me), a little.  Most people have
scrollback buffers and are skipping past the MOTD because it's a large,
motley, mismanaged bunch of items - mostly irrelevant to *them* - which
they've seen before, anyway.

Of course there are good reasons for some of the things to be in the MOTD,
and for them to stay around a while, but it's still an incitement to breeze
past it.

response 86 of 126:

Apr 11 22:49 UTC 1998

re #83: (...or if I could figure out how to do it for myself [I use the
         "bbs" shell]. so far, my two workarounds consist of 1] reading
         /etc/motd manually, which leaves out the birthdays, and 2]
         logging in via BackTalk.)

         (I don't know if the MOTD is "erased" by other shells; it doesn't
         seem to be for tcsh, dunno about menu.)

response 88 of 126:

Apr 13 15:11 UTC 1998

The command

         motd | more

in the .profile should do it. You'll see the motd twice, but
the second time it will pause at the end of each screen.
(Normally the motd should be significantly shorter than the
standard screen length of 24 lines, though.)

response 90 of 126:

Apr 20 06:34 UTC 1998

I'm happy to say that I got another pledge of $50 through e-mail.  That brings
the total to $659.

response 92 of 126:

Apr 20 21:24 UTC 1998

We'd need 29 pledges of $10 to reach our goal.

Please thank tao for sending in her pledge money.  Thanks!  If you made a
pledge, please send in the money as soon as you get a chance; I know the staff
would like to get the spare parts ASAP.

response 94 of 126:

Apr 21 04:00 UTC 1998

I'd like to hear that the 501(c)3 application is getting close to being
done before I send in my pledge. What's the planned schedule for that?

response 96 of 126:

Apr 21 17:03 UTC 1998

I should have done this a while ago, but I've been so busy...
I'll pledge $40.