19 Oct
2010
19 Oct
'10
10:52 a.m.
Yep. The
purpose of a computer is to 'compute' (whatever that may mean).
I try to get all my machines operationa, but I keep them as origianl as I
can. What I mean by that is that I replace the smallest part I can (chip
rather than PCN, for example), but I don't worry too much if the
rpelacement is not exactly the same as the original part (I'll replace a
74xx with a 74LSxx if it'll work and I can't get the former). Of course I
keep =A0record of what I've done.
Good point. My problem is that I know very little about the details
of hardware. I am a software guy, through and through, and while I Indeed. Whike
I generally keep the casaings on my machines (at least when
I am not usinfg them :-), _I_ am not very interested in the styling. Some
people woould want an HP2623 terminal for the rather odd styling, I'm
interested in it because of the little state machine to draw lines. And
thus my inteest comes from the intnerals, and they have to work to be
interesting.
Same here. Styling is interesting (my kid was fascinated by the keyboard on my QX-10 because of the special function
keys; he wondered
why newer machines didn't have those things).
Err, don't they? What are the 'F1' to 'F12' keys on this PC keyboard,
then? The 'Insert', 'Delete', 'Home', etc keys. The
Windows-specific keys
(which the keyboard driver here does nothing with, but they're still on
this cheap keyboard)?
If you mean very special and specific keys, I guess they rather limit the
sort of software you can run, or at least which will make sensible use of
the keyboard.
-tony