23 Oct
2009
23 Oct
'09
2:51 p.m.
On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Ian King <IanK at vulcan.com> wrote:
Silly? ?Is it any sillier than having a 700lb.
computer in one's basement, and doing most of one's work on a laptop on the dining
room table? ?(That's me, by the way: my VAX 6660 is a beast. ?And it's not alone
in that basement....)
Are you using your laptop as a terminal emulator? Then, yes, that's silly ;-)
I don't happen to have a 6600, but I know someone (who used to
subscribe to the list; not sure if he still does) a mile from me that
has a 6xxx in his basement (my largest physical machine would be
either an 11/70 or an 11/750, especially if you include expansion
cabinets and disk/tape units).
Would I pay that kind of money for a Sinclair ZX80?
?Uh, no. ?But I *have* paid that kind of money for other items that are equally as
"useless" as computing devices (at least compared to my PowerBook or my dual G4
desktops).
The most expensive computing devices I've purchased over the years
were a 32K PET (new in 1978), an Amiga 3000/16 (new in 1991), a
VAX-11/725 (used in 1988), and a PDP-8/S (venerable by the time I got
it). A few items, like my Amiga 1000 or my first SPARCstation, were
under $1000 to originally buy, but were expanded multiple times at a
few hundred bucks per notch, so became somewhat expensive to keep
current.
The only "frivolous" one from that list would be the PDP-8/S. The
others were current or semi-current when I got them, and were each in
daily use for years.
OTOH, the bulk of my DEC machines were free (or nearly free) to me,
but if I wanted to replace them these days, the total cost would be
prohibitive. Starting over 25 years ago, I was lucky enough to be in
the right place at the right time (over and over ;-) to save PDP-8s,
PDP-11s and VAXen from the crusher.
Hello, my name is Ian, and I'm a collector. ?:-)
*in unison* Hi, Ian!
-ethan