Fear of firing up (was Re: An unplugged computer is a sad thing

--- On Wed, 1/11/12, Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote: No, of course not. Schrodinger had that cat in like 1935. Cats don't live anywhere near that long. But, seriously, back on topic... I never saw a whole lot of point in collecting computers if you're not going to try to get them to work. Now, sure, some machines require precautions to be taken before powering them up for the first time in years (check power supplies first, etc), but nothing should prevent you from doing so. Now, I'll admit to having machines that I have never turned on, but that's due to lack of other things (three phase power, important peripherals, or time) - but not lack of willingness to do so. But, I'm afraid that some people that collect computers do so simply to say they have them, or to have a pretty box that lights up, and have no knowledge or interest in doing anything with them. I find that attitude rather boring. I collect *computers*. Their function is to compute. Most of the fun of the hobby is getting them to do so. If I wanted to collect things that don't do anything, I'd collect Hummels [1], they're lighter, and take up less space. -Ian [1] Hummels are porcelain figurines, usually of children. They're the sort of thing one collects, puts on the shelf, and then spends the next 20 years dusting.