25 Oct
2005
25 Oct
'05
9:49 a.m.
Subject: Re: help requested in Arkansas rescue
From: "Teo Zenios" <teoz at neo.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:21:16 -0400
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Allison" <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: help requested in Arkansas rescue
None of the above though those are possible. It's more like I have a
collection of systems and boards that are actively if only intermittently
used. The key is functional and usable. the latter requires some space
and local storage.
One good reason is that someday resources will
appear to fully utilize it.
That can also be read as keeping it from the scrap heap until such time.
The other which is ugly is people storing and loosing to financial
disaster or other physical disaster(weather, flood or fire) large amounts
of hardware that end up as scrap.
I've had to pass on gathering some hardware for lack of long term
supportable
space and in other cases where I've collected
more than I could sold off
excess
so it would not be lost to the trash. I've
also had hardware that I did
trash
as likley of little to no value historically or
as $$$ (mostly PCs of the
late
XT clone and AT clones and the 386s). To me long
term supportable space
for
systems and board is stuff that can be accessed
fairly easily and allows
actual
test, repair and use.
Allison
Do you mean you save items at your own expense because someday some museum
might want it, or you intend to hit the lottery and move the machine to a
facility setup for it and other gems? Personally anything with real historical value should
be in a museum where
others can see it and learn about it. Most items that end up in a personal
collection that are not mainstream collectable just end up getting trashed
when that person dies or if lucky some other collector gets to hide it in
their warehouse away from view until they too die (or lose funding for the
storage).
My evenual demise is provided for. As to historical, I have stuff I've used
some since day one (Altair 8800 sn200 that no ware hear original) and some
I've built. Most of the real history is lost just looking at it. It's
what I did, why and how the equipment and I were invoved with various things.
Same for the library of documentation tt's there to allow me to research,
repair and occasionally relax with.
I have about all the machines I can setup and run
without tripping over them
or using living space for their storage, although I need to rethink my
magazine and software storage methods.
I'm at saturation. Occasionally I reorganize or mod a closet and get
some space.
I guess the reason I replied to begin with is that
while a Cray system does
sound cool in the geek sense (I picture circuit boards immersed in
fleuro-inert when I hear the name) I just don't see the average collector
having the time and resources to get it running and actually do something
with it. Once the cool factor wears out what are you getting out of having
the thing in storage?
Thats a personal question I suspect. But with some machines its preserving
the last known or one of the very few. PDP12s were never common and few
are operable that do exist. Whos got a complete IBM360?? The Cray was only
a few in existance and fewer remain. If your lucky enough to snag one and
store it.. there's something special about the last one.
Allison