30 Jun
1999
30 Jun
'99
2:32 p.m.
Sincere question: is this also the case with the
larger machines which are
being collected/restored? Has anyone figured out how to connect (for
example) a Snappy to a PERQ? No disrespect intended, as I have nothing but
admiration for folks who take the huge amount of time & trouble to revive a
PDP-8 or 370, but it appears to me (and I'm new here, so don't clobber me too
badly) that "big" classic computer collectors take pride in returning a
machine to its original condition, whereas the ZX81 crowd is by and large
more interested in "how can I make this thing act more like a 'real'
computer."
I think it has to do with the philosophies of the machines, and the
people that use(d) them. Micros could be tinkered with very easily - my
father purchased the ZX81 kit for that very reason (worst instruction
manual in the world). Atari joystick ports were subjected to all sorts of
interface hacking. The list goes on and on, and in fact continues today
in the PeeCee world. Nothing really depends on the computers operation.
With big machines, tinkering was generally frowned upon, especially with
the hardware. The only big machines that did get tinkered with were some
of those in academia. A grad student could hack with a PDP-11 in the
middle of the night and nobody might care (as long as the machine would
work later on!). On the other hand, a PDP-8 doing embedded control at a
factory or telephone switch was basically off limits - they ran all of
the time, and some geek building a OS/8 doorbell ring counter could cost the
company real money in downtime. Fooling around on an S/370 would lead to an
execution at dawn. Anyway, channels are not exactly easily tinkerable things.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org