30 Dec
1999
30 Dec
'99
8:27 a.m.
Upon the date 07:23 AM 12/30/99 -0600, Paul Braun said something like:
I've been following the list for about a year and a
half now and I'm
curious -- you guys (both genders) that have the room and the
know-how to run the big stuff -- what do you do with them? I guess
I'm not that familiar with non-business apps for minis and I'm just
curious what someone using a PDP at home would do with it?
I'm still wondering that myself ;-) "Have the room . . ."? What's
that?! :-)
Do you just write code for the sheer challenge of
writing code?
Have you written real-world apps? Is it just nostalgia? Or do you
keep them running purely for historical reasons and don't have any
practical day-to-day use for them?
Yes.
It just fascinates me that there are so many of you who run these
beasts and I'd just like to know why.
Well, to begin answering your question, merely change the wording of your
questions in your second paragraph above so they read as statements. Most
of us feel that way in one or more of those ways. Well, real-world
applications are a stretch nowadays, but the rest and perhaps more still
apply. Fixing and tinkering with the hardware is a biggie for some too.
There are folks who ask me the same thing regarding my large collection of
early radios and early televisions, some large and heavy. Same answers.
I guess it follows even for folks collecting beer cans, comic books,
automobiles, Louis IV furniture, first edition books, War of the Rebellion
(US Civil War) armament, stamps and coins, Barbie dolls, Rosewood China,
Depression and Carnival glassware, Victorian era clothing, etc., etc.,
etc., etc. . . .
Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/