4 Jul
1997
4 Jul
'97
1:07 p.m.
[...]
As a broad collector it is difficult to use all of
your machines. Just
collecting a wide range of machines sucks up huge amounts of time. Some
people are a little more focused and actually collect partly to use
the machines.
I collect machines for a lot of different reasons :
a) I want to use them (for whatever purpose). The PDP's, PERQ, and some of the
CP/M machines come in here. They have interesting features, and are plain fun
to program (elegant instruction set, nice bus for homebrew hardware, etc).
b) I got them because they're historically important. I may not care for the
Apple ][ hardware design, but it is an extremely important computer
historically. I don't tend to use this class of machine too much.
c) I got them because if I hadn't they'd have been lost for ever. Either
"We're
throwing out this <whatever>, do you want it" or buying a machine that would
otherwise have gone as scrap metal. These machines get restored, and (often)
then end up in group (a)!
Not everything everyone does is to make money. Some
of us do things
because they are fun, help others, kill time, impress women (or men), etc.
Quite a lot of people need something to occupy their mind in their spare time.
Some people do crossword puzzles. I prefer to figure out how some strange
machine really operates. It's probably about as useful :-) (NO FLAMES!).
Seriously, while solving crossword puzzles must improve your vocabulary,
battling through a schematic or ROM source does improve your computer and
electronics knowledge - something that is useful to me.
And it's fun :-)
--pec