24 May
2010
24 May
'10
1:04 p.m.
Well I investigated TNMoC...
I read through the web site and looked at the pictures. The text was a lot
of waffle about how wonderful the forty good people are and please send us
more money so we can talk more about ourselves. I'm sure their heating bills
are very low as there's plenty of hot air already available!
Three so called galleries...
The first gallery held three large systems claimed to be operational.
No sign of the operators they should have had to run them so assumed not
working.
I think that's a little unfair. I would claim an 'operational classic
computer' is one that will work as the manufactuer intended if tured on,
given the approparite toggling/button pressing to boot it, etc.
The second held a mixture of very common consumer type
systems from the 70's
& 80's. The working ones appear to have been dumped in the middle and the
rest scattered around the walls on racks. At least group by manufacturer and
age FGS!
All I can say is it was like that when I voluteered at BP. With a couple
of twists. Firstly, there were no spare parts (not even common things
like fuses) kept in stock. And secondly there was no budget to go and
buy such parts. So if you wanted a part you took it from the nearest
machine (!). Secondly, the policy, as docmented in some of the
explanitory texts, was that when a machine was donated it was plugged in
and turend on to see if it worked. I think you know my views on that.
It's one thing for a non-knowledgable e-bya seller to turn on an old
machine to he can sell it as working (if it does) and get a higher price.
But a muesum should take rather more care than that!
Letting people just play with restored systems is as
bad as not restoring
them at all. The "forty good and true people" should be demonstrating what
That is one of my reservations about the VCF. It would applear that if a
private collector taks a machine along, the public are going to be able
to try to use it.
Now, it's one thing to allow a fellow enthusiast to play with a classic
machine. They will know how to treat it. Not to hit the keyboard hard.
Not to stick things in the cooling slots. And so on. But I for one do not
want a totally non-knowledgable user typing on one of my machines.
A related point is that (for me anyeay) seeing inside the machine is
intersting. Now everyone here knos not to stick their fingers inside a
powered-up computer unless they know exactly what they are doing. But the
public don't. What if Joe Bloggs sticks his finger on a live part? The
obvious thing is to prevent machines being run in such a state, which
masively reduces the educational value of the VCF, and indeed a computer
museum in general.
the systems could do. (From behind a suitable barrier
of course) And if
heaven forbid! They can't, well rambling is a good hobby.
And the last one contains a Colossus rebuild (for BPT I assume)
Talk, waffle and hype will never make up for a lack of basic knowledge.
And while I do not claim to be especially knowledgable, I feel I know a
little about some classic computers. And alientating such people (it's
not just me, I've got a number of freinds who feel likewise) is not
generally a good idea.
-tony