PDP-11/73 Booting DSM-11

  How did i get into PDP-11s?? Bought one at a thrift store in early 1990s at the time didnt know what it was except for some old neat looking big computer with a buncha RS-232 ports. Found that DM0 started the operating system, then wrote a brute force program i ran on 3 IBM XT computers trying to find the password. Did'nt find the password but the system crashed cause it ran out of disk space from logging all the failed logins. ^_^ Then i was able to look at the running program, some neat code in a language called MUMPS, the system was running Digital Standard Mumps or DSM-11. From the code i found a local tech support phone # which i called and talked to a very nice guy who thought my 'hobby was neat'. He told me i couldnt keep their software, and the medical records stored on the drive, but if i brought it in to them they'd put a fresh install of DSM-11 and give me some books to help me learn the language...

  The nice guy left... and around 1996, got a call from his former assistant who now had his job. The company was replacing all their pdp/vax with PCs and told me if i came and picked up everything in this one storage room I could have everything. In this way they wouldnt need to rent a trash bin, the head of the computer dept. wouldnt need to carry down a buncha old heavy computers and i'd get a bunch of neat stuff. Happy for everyone!
Went and looked in the storage room full of stuff, saw among the pdp-11/73 and 11/23 items there were several microvaxes and one pdp-11/74 which is very vax like, and agreed to take it all. I hired some delivery guys i knew to go pick it all up, when it arrived right away i noticed there wasnt a single vax item around! ;_; So I called the guy at the company and he said "Ohh, well im sorry, we learned the VAXs and parts still had some resell value and decided to keep them..." GRRRRRRRRRR!
I was very displeased! At the time PDP-11 parts were worthless, i had boxes and boxes full of cards, and complete systems in racks taking up space at my house. Over the years did various things with them, used a board to hold up a wobbly table, gave a box of boards and some other stuff to a Halloween themed attraction to use as props in a haunted house, sold some at flea markets, untill i had only a few items left that I've sold on ebay.
end of stupid story :)