"Real Computers" (was Re: Trivia Question)

On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Tony Duell wrote: OK, I have to take issue here. If I pop a piston on my lawn mower, I'm not about to bust off a lathe and a mill and turn a new piston and hand-fitted rod. I go buy one at Sears. This makes me really an oddball, because most owners of a $125 mower would put it out by the curb and buy a new one. I just like a machine that I "built". Even so, if Sears can't get the piston on a timely basis, or if the cost is equal to a new mower, *I* will put the old one by the curb. OTOH, my '83 BMW R65 needs a new set of carbs. They've both started cracking from poor design, vibration, and rough handling. I could buy new aftermarket carburetors that would probably enhance the performance, definitely last longer and be cheaper easier to tune than the originals, and be here next Friday. Lawn mower = Tool, worth care but not personal involvement R65 = Love object, useful, but personally valued FAR beyond its function They're both internal combustion machines at heart, they both serve legitimate functions. Yet the criteria that govern how I treat them, how I maintain them, and at what point they are scrap are first entirely different, and second, entirely personal and subjective. Most importantly, those criteraia are absolutely arbitrary. I'm sure you catch my drift. My mower is no less useful or valid by virtue of being disposable. And the fact that I would have custom carbs built for the Beemer before I'd put Japanese knovkoffs on it doesn't mean that the japanese carbs have no value OR that I should treat my mower the same way. Within hand's reach I have a Mac IIci, a new-to-me PDP-11/83 CPU, an Indigo2, an Altos 580, a DEC3000/300x, an HP 9000/715, a Sun E250 and an Athlon PC. OK, I gotta stretch to put my hand on the Altos and the Sparc. I love the Alpha and the Mac, am glad I had the chance to try the Altos, and am fixing to go blaze through my yardwork so I can install this 11/83 board. All of them have *legitimate* value, and they are all computers. The PC I use. A lot. But when it blows a board-level chip, it's going to the curb. The fact that I don't love it doesn't lessen its legitimacy. Doc