21 Jul
1999
21 Jul
'99
7:49 a.m.
OK . . . I admit it . . . I'm off topic getting into attitudes, etc. I
agree that there are times when it's certainly better to fix something than
to buy a new one. With the classic computers, that's not an option, and for
TONY, the hobbyist, it's not an option either because it's what he loves to
do. The question originated about how a guy who has an ostensibly
functional fixed-frequency monitor too heavy to ship without going into
debt, could possibly squeeze a bit of usefulness out of it, and I felt that
since this isn't a fix but rather a hack that's called for, the simplest and
lowest cost hack would probably serve the purpose the best. I know how long
it takes to work through someone else's object code trying to figure out how
an undocumented LSI works. It just seemed to me that rather than spending
kilobucks' worth of time, since that's not what the originator of the
question defined as "fun," primarily, it would be easier to buy a second
hand board, already capable of doing what he needs done, use it with the A/B
switch he indicated he wanted to use in order to put a normal vga monitor in
use when the scan rate was wrong.
What I proposed was simply what I perceived to be the shortest path to the
solution sought after in this particular case.
The last time I mentioned something like this, i.e. application of a SUN
monitor to a PC, someone jumped me for suggesting a way to do that,
insisting that the only REAL way to do justice to the monitor was to get
some SUN equipment to use with it. I thought that was a bit off the mark
too.
It confuses me when people complain on one hand about the COST of a given
solution, yet are perfectly willing to spend hundreds of hours which, if
spent shining shoes, would solve the problem a dozen times over. I
understand that there are people who are happy when something breaks, so
they can fix it. I am not one of them, however.
Please accept my apologies for presenting my position in a narrow way, but,
in the spirit of looking at the "big picture" it's wise to keep in mind
that
some people want to tinker while others merely want to play.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Yakowenko <yakowenk(a)cs.unc.edu>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, July 21, 1999 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: Sun Monitor (UK) (2)
From: yakowenk(a)csx.unxc.edu (remove x's)
On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, "Richard Erlacher" wrote:
] Well, if it's an industry, it's not a hoby to everyone, and the state
it's
] gotten into is PROFITABLE, which means it will be
around a while longer.
] ...
] I guess if you only want to do what people did 20 years
] ago, then fixing stuff isn't a priority, since it will be much more of an
] antique once you get it fixed. I always figured it's good to know what
is
] happening out there now. That's particularly
true since that's how I
intend
] to continue making my living.
]
] What the computer industry is about is MAKING MONEY. It's good that
there
] are some people working in the industry who realize
that it's about
GETTING
] PAID, and not so much about having fun.
I think maybe you have a little case of tunnel-vision here. The goal
is not just "get a working monitor". And "$MAKE MONEY FAST$" is not
even vaguely a part of the equation. The bottom line is that he wants
to fix it, and there definitely are benefits to doing that. The financial
bottom line may not show them, but they are there. Those dollar signs
on the bottom line don't show the whole quality-of-life picture, just
one aspect of it.
Zoom out and look at the whole picture. Having dollars in your pocket
are certainly a good thing. But having toxic waste buried everywhere
is not. Having megacorporations trampling civil rights is not. Having
bored geeks is not. Having people who don't understand the world they
live in, but vote about it anyway, is not. These things may not all
be connected to Tony's monitor, but they are all results of seeing only
the financial bottom line. Somebody makes a big profit in causing each
of those things. Money in their pocket; crap for the rest of the world.
Keep that in mind, and think about everything that is affected by the
decision of repair vs. buy new: where the physical material goes, where
the money goes, whose mental states are changed and in what ways, etc..
Then, repairing an old monitor instead of buying a new cheap one makes
a lot more sense. You don't enjoy it yourself, fine, for you the
holistic bottom line is still a no-go. For others it can go positive.
So lets not have any more "your hobby is a waste of time" talk, OK?
Especially when that hobby is the raison-d'etre for this list.
Okay, end of rant.
Bill.