15 Jan
2010
15 Jan
'10
9:17 p.m.
On Jan 13, 2010, at 1:57 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
While I'd not agree with "major", I'd agree otherwise. I'm not
I did say 'irreplacable classic computer' :-). I am not going to risk
major injury for something like a C64, or even a VAXstation (which are
not that rate), but for soemthing like a PDP10 or a PDP12, I probably
would. Of course I would take all the precautions I could, I wouldn't try
to move the machine in one piece, I'd check it over very carefgully
before connecting mains, and so on. But in the end, I would consider such
a machine to be valuable enoguh to risk injury to save.
lucky, he
only lost one arm. It is better to see a nice piece of
equipment smashed than be smashed under it which is something I
always
try to remember.
I am not at all convincced about that. People have a wonderful
self-repair system, classic computers tend not to. I'd rather suffer a
major injory than loose an irreplaceable classic computer... about to sacrifice a limb, but I don't mind
bruises, muscle strain,
or even fairly major cuts, to protect the equipment. I'd not
Minor cuts/bruises/strains/burns are, alas, something that happens all
too frequenctly. (particuarly the cuts and burns...) I try to avoid them,
of course, but they happen.
complain about broken bones for any IBM 360-family
machine. I will
heal...the equipment won't! I don't mind making sacrifices for the
stuff that is personally important to me.
One thing I've never been able to wrap my brain around is some of
the psychological aspects of this gang. Many people here scream so
loudly about how "crazy" it is when things are worth real money,
Actually, I wish the mecahnes _weren't_ worth 'real money'. I never
intend to sell any of my collection, so the increase in value hasn't
helped me there. It's just made it more difficult for me to obtain more
interresting devices.
about how unimportant this stuff is, calling it a
"hobby" like it's a
purely recreational activity, etc. Do you guys REALLY think the
preservation and study of the stuff that has literally changed every
aspect of human life is such a bad thing to take seriously?
To me it is a hobby (meaning something I do in my spere time and not for
finanical gain). I am an amateur (meaning somebody who does it because I
love it -- check the latin origins of the word), but an amateur can be
knowedgable and skilled (I am not claiming to be either...). But this
doesn't mean I don't take it seriously.
After typing that, it occurred to me that there are
actually
people here who only do this for recreational purposes, and there are
actually people here who had never seen or used (say) a PDP-11 when
Actually, I fit both of those. I do it because I enjoy it, and the first
PDP11 I really saw was the 11/45 I own. I knew what a PDP11 was long
before that, of course, and wanted one. But there have been many machines
that I didn't even know existed before I obtained one.
-tony