22 Feb
2002
22 Feb
'02
12:59 p.m.
Quothe Tony Duell, from writings of Thu, Feb 21, 2002 at 08:19:11PM +0000:
I don't much care for PCs either, but the FAQ
specifically mentions them
While I don't like them much either, I paid a lot for my IBM-PC XT
when it was new, and I plan to keep it working as long as possible to
get my money's worth from it. :-)
I think that for anybody on this list, there's
stuff that's certainly
related to 10-year-old+ computers that doesn't interest them. C64s and
Apple ][s don't interest me much. The home micro collectors probably have
little interest in PDP8s and PDP11s. I really don't think we should further
restrict the range of machines covered to suit the interests of one (or a
few) people
I agree.
OK, can we come up with an exact definition of
'computer'. then?
If this question pertains to digital electronic computers: A user
programmable electronic device capable of at least performing the same
mathematical functions that people can perform with the assistance of
their fingers and toes, and typically faster.
Let's think about digital machines for the moment
(I'll happilly accept
that analogue machines are very much on-topic as well, of course).
I agree.
Does it have to be user-programmable? Out of the box?
(in which case the
One could argue that one can program one's fingers and toes for use in
binary, hexadecimal, octal or decimal mode. :-)
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.