11 Jun
2013
11 Jun
'13
11:48 a.m.
On Jun 11, 2013, at 12:07 PM, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On 06/11/2013 09:47 AM, Tothwolf wrote:
That, and there's a valley of about 10-20 years where old computers
are just "junk" (often rightfully so), especially if they were common.
I don't really care to save my old PCs; maybe in 10 years I'll regret
having not saved some old original Athlon stuff, but I'm not counting
on it.
My father used to have a Quadra 660AV. After it "died" (causes
unknown, at least at the time, since I wasn't proficient at diagnosing
these things then), I parted out what I could (mostly the RAM and full
68040) and tossed the rest. I'm kicking myself now, obviously. But
in the year 2000, a 7-year old Mac with a busted power supply just
didn't seem like it made sense to save. Most of the old machines I
have were saved by virtue of being forgotten about until recently.
- Dave
In that regard, I can't help but wonder what
has become of all those
machines, which depending on the computer lab, were pretty much
everything from original II up through the IIe platinum and IIgs.
Most of them were likely tossed or passed up by people looking for old
machines, because they were "everywhere" and "easy to get".
Much like what happened to most PDP-8, PDP-10, and PDP-11 systems a
decade prior.
If cheapness is a hallmark of this hobby, short-sightedness is
another, as ironic as that may seem.