16 Aug
2012
16 Aug
'12
1:28 p.m.
On Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:23:24 +0100 (BST), ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony
Duell) wrote:
Now, goign back to classic computing, most people can
run the emulators
at home if they so wish. And the emulators do, undoubtedly, provide
soemthign for hte 'feel' of the real machine. But if you go to the museum
you should get soemthign rather more, something you can't get at home.
And that probably means the msueum should run the real hardware.
I completely
agree. Seeing and hearing a Spitfire flying around above
you adds a whole new dimension to seeing a stationary Spitfire in a
museum. Recently I went with two of my sons to see the exhibition "Three
tons of minicomputers - 40 years with computers in the service of
Uppsala University". Both of them are very good programmers and
interested in computing, and they found the exhibition very interesting.
However, if the exhibits had been running, and they could have heard a
line printer or an ASR-33 printing, seen and heard a disk pack seeking,
seen the blinkenlights etc, it would have given them a much better idea
of what computing was like 40 years ago. That wasn't possible as the
exhibition was only a temporary one, but had it been permanent, I
definitely agree that they should have been shown running.
/Jonas