To all with interest in IBM 7090

One big differnece. PC sound systems have volume controls and can be turned off totally (e.g. by unplugging the speakcers). The incidental noises from real hardware cannont be so controleld. You have ot put up with them. And there';s another differnece. If you make a mess running a simulator, you drop the virtual card deck, or you mis-configure soemthing, format the systmne disk pack (even, if the simualtor ever gets to that level, you drop a screwdriver int oa running machine and short the maisns to a bus line), you can restoe the simualtor files from a backup nad try again. Do that on the real hardware and you might have a long day ahead of you. That _is_ part of the xperience of running such a macbhine, though, It has been suggested that the fact that if you are 'killed' in a video game you can restart and have another go has led certain classes ot people to not treat human life as seriously as they should. You can't 'reboot' if you've just been shot by a real gun. -tony