What is a vintage 1976 'decpack' disk cartridge worth?

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I am seeking advice regarding the value of a vintage 1976 DECpack disk cartridge that belonged to my late husband.
The cartridge has been carefully stored in its original box with foam insert and appears to be in excellent condition. The label reads:
“RSTS/E System Library + Reliability”
V06A-02
04/29/1976
My husband worked with computers from that era, and before I decide whether to sell, donate, or preserve the cartridge, I would like to understand whether it or its contents may have any historical significance.
I am particularly interested in hearing from DEC, PDP-11, or RSTS/E enthusiasts, collectors, museums, or preservation groups who may be able to provide information or advice. My preference is that it ultimately goes to someone who appreciates and preserves this piece of computing history.
Thank you for any guidance.

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2

Hi there,
We dont provide public valuations of objects. However the issue with the value of these items is that only museums generally have the hardware to read them. The decpack you have seems to be part of a system installer set.

3

Thank you for your reply.

I appreciate that ACMS doesn’t provide valuations. When you mentioned that the DECpack appears to be part of a system installer set, do you think it may be of historical interest to a museum or software preservation project?

4

I can’t speak on behalf of the ACMS. But I will provide you with my own experience regarding DECpacks.

I have approximately 32 packs and over the last few months I have been archiving the data of them. The discs I have are generally not in great condition; they’ve had a lot of use.

Approximately half were in good visual condition. Four were in dubious but possibly readable condition. The remainder, approximately 11, were in such poor condition that I was not willing to risk reading them. A bad disc can damage the heads that read the disc.

One of the biggest problems with reading your pack is alignment. The machine that originally wrote the data to that disc pack may have a different alignment from the machine you wish to read the data with. If this proves to be a problem, you have to realign the heads of the reader relative to the disc pack. I have never done this personally, I don’t believe it’s difficult, but it is not trivial either.

Is the software worth saving:
Yes, I think so. Doing a look online, I was not able to find a copy of RSTS/E V06A-02 but I did find two people who are probably interested in obtaining a copy:

  1. Installing RSTS V6 (V06C) from tape
  2. GitHub - agn453/RSTS-E: Updates, Information and Software for the PDP-11 RSTS/E V10.1 Operating System · GitHub

If you have more disc packs, that would make the exercise much more worthwhile.

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I will say, depending where you are located, we have contacts in US, AU and NZ to help archive the disk