Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine: Free to a Good Home [Updated]

[This article also appears on my tech blog, Global Nerdy.]

Update

I’m giving the machine to HacklabTO, who were the first to contact me about it. Congrats, guys!

It’s been sitting in my basement long enough, and it’s time that it found a good home. By “it”, I’m referring to my deadbeat ex-housemate’s Symbolics XL1200 Lisp Machine (pictured on the right), a big hulking piece of computer industry history. If you want it and can either pick it up from me (I’m in the High Park area of Accordion City) or can make arrangements to have it shipped to you, it’s yours, FREE. And yes, by free, I mean “free as in beer”. Zero dollars. Gratis.

The full story of how I came to possess this machine is written up in a blog entry of mine from January 2007. As stated in that story, the machine, when last turned on, displayed the message “Hardware Error” and wouldn’t boot any further. As I wrote nearly two years ago:

The fact that it displays a diagnostic message suggests that all is not lost; if someone were willing to go over its numerous circuit boards with a logic probe, he or she may be able to diagnose and fix the problem. Alternately, someone out there who already owns an XL1200 could use it as a source for replacement parts.

It sat safely in a closet in my old house for three years and it’s been sitting in the storage locker of my condo for the past 18 months. It is in good condition, and aside from being put into the storage locker when I moved to the condo, it hasn’t been touched.

If you’re a hardware hacker, computer historian or just really, really, really like the Lisp programming language and want serious Lisp bragging rights, this machine can be yours for free if you can take it off my hands. Interested parties should contact me at joey@joeydevilla.com.

Links

• My article about the Lisp Machine’s being for sale from January 2007. Remember, it’s no longer for sale; I’m giving it away!
• Symbolics site. “Symbolics.com” is widely regarded to be the first .com domain name.
• Symbolics Lisp Machine Documents. If you get the machine, you might want these.
• Wikipedia entry for Symbolics. Thanks to their kerfuffle with Richard Stallman, the article credits Symbolics with playing “a key, if adversarial role” in started the Free Software Movement.
• Symbolics Museum. An online collection of pictures and stories about Symbolics.
• Symbolics Lisp Machine Museum. Another collection of pictures and stories about Symbolics Lisp Machines.
• Lisp Machine Information and Supplies. Peter Paine’s repository of Lisp Machine infromation.
•   Wikipedia entry for the Lisp Programming language.