15 Apr
2005
15 Apr
'05
7:01 a.m.
From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf at siconic.com>
Just to prove my point that you can find anything
anywhere, I ducked into
a used book store in Key West, Florida, when I was there the week before
last and found some great old computer books, including Volumes 2 and 3 of
The Handbook on Artificial Intelligence by Ed Feigenbaum (Volume 1 seems
to be particualr scarce since I always seem to find copies of 2&3 together
but hardly ever 1) and A History of Engineering & Science in the
Bell System: Transmission Technology (1925-1975). Good stuff.
[ more examples]
The thing is you can find anything anywhere if you
just put the time and
effort into looking. And I don't mean just once. The 4th dimension
(time) comes into play as well. If you make the rounds enough times,
something very cool will eventually show up. You also have to do
intelligent research, for instance, hunting down all the old hams in your
area as at least one of them is bound to have an Altair or some other
seminal S-100 computer.
Technically, you have shown evidence you can find *something* anywhere. And
I believe that. However, I'm not convinced you can find *anything*
anywhere, except in the "anything's possible" sense.
Finding (for example) a Posibus peripheral backplane, in any of those venues
seems improbable, to the point that I wouldn't even try. (Omnibus stuff is
easier to find, but I think it would still be a waste of time.)
Which is related to my point about different venues and different prices.
There are places you can buy Posibus peripherals and parts. But they aren't
cheap, and there aren't many). There are places like eBay where you have a
fair chance to find them, they are cheaper, and places where your chances to
find them are slimmer, and the prices are cheaper yet.
Which makes economic sense to me. I can spend my time and money searching,
or spend it at the higher priced venue. I was, in part, arguing that the
premium for having it "already found" should be part of our view of
"market
price". (Same as we do for "already working".)
Vince