Tony and museums (was Xerox Alto..)

I am happy to accept that clueful museum people exist. The problem is that I have met far too few of them. This may vary by country, because of what's expected of a museum in various places (over here, I believe it has to be 'accessible to all'. This doesn't just mean the reasonable thing that everybody, including, say, those in wheelchairs, have to be able to get round it. It also means, essentially, it has to be terminally dumbed down). Since classic computers are difficult to transport (large, heavy, delicate, etc) _if_ I was going to leave any part of my collection to a meuseum, it would have to be one that's fairly local. And I can't think of one that I regard as suitable (I would love to be proved wrong...) [...] Oh no... I can be as rude as you want :-) [...] Well, then it's high time I aught you how to do component level repair :-) You know, even with a modern PC, I doubt I'd be a real board-swapper, Oh, I'd probably end up replacing a board, becuae there's not a lot you can do when all the logic is in a couple of BGA-packaged ASICs. But I would make darn sure I knew what was really wrong first. Quantum physics? Surely you jest. I may have a bit of paper that gives me a qaualficiation in aprticle physics, but I can assure you the work I did involved things like transputers, FAST, ECL, occam, microcode, etc and not things like quarks and leptons. COnsdierign I have never learnt to drive a car, you are certainly right here. Yep right again. Well, assuming 'homebrewing' means making beer [1] and not homebrewing computer hardware. In the latter case, I think it's debatable if you know more than me :-) [1] Actually, I don't much care for beer [2] [2] Notice I am expressing a personal opinion here. I am not saying that those who do like to drink beer are idiots or not worth bothering with, or... I am not suggesting that pubs should be closed down. Why on earth would I be offended by that? I can name a dozen -- no more than that -- subjects that I know next-to-nothing about. And I'll bet that for at least some of them there are people here who have considerable knowledge. So what? Heck, I can think of plenty of classic computers where others here know a lot more than me. My problem is not with people who have limited knowledge in a particular area and realise that. They may well not need or want to know any more about that subject,, or they may want to learn about it. Either way, no problem. No, what I have a problem with is people who have a limited knowledge but end up doing a job that requires said knowledge, to the detriment of others (or in this case, to the detriment of computer preservation) [...] Also remember that while _I_ don't own a scanner, this doesn't mean that things I produce can never be scanned. It's happeend many times in the past, and it will happen in the future (I hope). I try to reply to _every_ personal e-mail on a subject that I might reasonably be expected to have some information (clasisc computing, electronics, etc). The reply may well be 'Oh, I am not the person to ask about that, you might want to contact $expert'. Or Imight suggest what book or manual to look in. Or whatever. But I will try and reply. There is one point though. If the answer requires a significant amount of work on my part (e.g. I have to dig out a machine, dismantle it, set it up, make masurements, etc), I will still probalby do it _sometime_, but it's when I feel like it. If you want a next-day consultancy service, you can darn well pay for it :-). One minor point. The term 'HP community' apparently has a specific meaning, it's a group of people that I am told I am not, and never will be, a mamber of. This doesn't stop me fixing old HP machines and sharing information on how to do so. [...] Thank you... Be warned, ig you ask me to help you diagnose a hardware fault, even if I am pretty sure I know what component is causing the problem, i will almost certainly get you to make measurements to prove it. That way, you (hopefully) get to learn how to trace faults yourself next time. Not because I don't want to be bothered, but because I would like this knowledge to be preserved. Often the 'high beams' are known as 'main beams' over here. As opposed to 'dipped beams/headlights'. The swtich to select between them is the 'dipper switch' or 'dip swtich'. The original (trade?) name for a twin filamanet headlight bulb was a 'double dipper'. Incidentally, what word would you generally used for 'dazzled'? All I can remember is that when I joined you had to send an e-mail giving the reasons why you wanted to be on the list, your interests, etc. -tony