Ernie SmithJun 28, 2023

I have waited three months to share this with y’all.

In the fall of 2022, literally thousands of computers flooded eBay, with a brand name few knew, at a rock-bottom price of $59.99 plus shipping. A YouTuber did a video about them and the machines—2,200 in all—went viral.

Where did they come from? Why were there so many? I spent the last few months determining this answer. And well, it’s a story.

For @Motherboard, the story of the NABU Network: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ak3k34/2200-forgotten-vintage-computers-are-being-liberated-from-a-barn-in-massachusetts

2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn in Massachusetts

The NABU Network was an obscure, forgotten part of Canadian tech history—until the day the internet noticed that thousands of NABU machines were being sold on eBay at rock-bottom prices.

Show threadErnie SmithJun 28, 2023

How many machines are we talking? Well, let me explain this via an anecdote:

The machines in this photo were sitting on the second floor of a barn. There were so many of them that, combined, they weighed the same as 11 full-size vehicles.

The barn started having structural issues. They had to be removed. It took five weeks. That’s when they appeared on eBay.

The picture below is not all of them.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ak3k34/2200-forgotten-vintage-computers-are-being-liberated-from-a-barn-in-massachusetts

2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn in Massachusetts

The NABU Network was an obscure, forgotten part of Canadian tech history—until the day the internet noticed that thousands of NABU machines were being sold on eBay at rock-bottom prices.

Show threadErnie SmithJun 28, 2023

I want to take a moment to point out the seller of these machines, James Pellegrini. He is an old-school embedded systems hacker, a guy who loves experimenting with hardware. He is an immensely cool dude who got into computers way back in the ’70s.

IMHO he deserves to be known for more than just holding onto these machines. Here’s his website: http://pellmill.com

PellMill, LCC

Show threadKristoffer Garshol
@ernie thanks for sharing this gem.
Jun 28, 2023 at 8:37pmWeb