16 Nov
1997
16 Nov
'97
9:47 p.m.
What do we do with that example? Leave it packed
away? Fire it
up for the edification of the locals (worldwide)? This is a knotty
question, and one that harks somewhat to the same question asked by
those who restore, and fly, antique aircraft. If we fly it, there's
always the possibility that we might have a failure and the example
(artifact) may be destroyed - if we don't, we're ignoring the essential
beauty and function of the design.
There has been a holy war about this in the warbird (antique military
aircraft) field since day one. Of course, for computers the threat of
disaster is much less, with the exception of disk drives.
In any case...
For those that take historic technology seriously, several rules stand out
amongst all others. One is that the care and condition of the
artifacts comes first in any decision. This means that artifacts should
never be placed in a position where they can be damaged. Storage is the
main concern for this point - in the case of the LINC-8 in question,
leaving it sealed in the crate leaves too many variables as unknowns.
Perhaps something is living in the crate, maybe moisture is leaking in,
or some plastic wrap is decaying the paint. Standard museum practice
for something of this size and importance would be to open the crate and
remove the computer. The crate, of course, would be saved (or at least
documented). Packaging is often not made for long term storage, and can
often hurt the contents within.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net