Hardware vs Simh

I don't have anything like a PDP-11. The oldest machine I have is probably a BBC Micro and the biggest, noisiest machine I have is an Alphaserver 2100. I've been known to mess about with trying (not very successfully) to get a sound card to produce a 400Hz background whirr that comes and goes as I move around the room. The sound of fans and disks does help create the right mood as long as it is not loud enough to be irritating. Not a problem in winter (except for the effect on system reliability). More of a difficulty in summer. Not necessarily. I've paid at most nominal amounts for most if not all of my older equipment although I have sometimes had to invest a little more for the parts and peripherals I occasionally need. I am not part of the crowd that collects old equipment hoping for it to increase in value. There would be an incremental cost to the world and the environment if I was to purchase hardware and software from companies producing the latest equipment and running the latest bugware. If it's fast enough, I am not bothered by how much faster it could be. Same. Same. I am fairly disorganised. Less disk space gives me an incentive to keep things tidy and get rid of clutter. I am slightly more worried about reliability of old disk hardware. However, I've managed to keep ahead of the disks that have died on me so far. I like the touch and feel of the original software as well as the hardware. If the hardware I want is not available and a good emulator is, I'll use the emulator to experience the software. I'll still use something pretty old to run the emulator on though. Regards, Peter Coghlan.