31 May
2006
31 May
'06
3:46 p.m.
There comes a time when it's no longer viable
to keep
old machines
running.
Like my pre-1902 Pratt & Whitney precision bench
lathe? I advise you NOT to utter that sort of language Point taken, but computers don't fall into the
same
category as rare ancient paraphernalia. Granted some
In an earlier message, old computers were compared to classic
cars/motorbikes. I can think of one very important difference here. A
motor vehicle, could, alas, be involved in a collision, which would
totally ruin it, both for use and as a museum exhibit. But it's rare for
a component failure in a computer to make it useless as a static exhibit.
An example. One day the BPC hybrid processor module in my 9825 is going
to fail. It's a custom part that I can't easily recreate, and can't
repair. When that happens, if I can't find a replacement, the machine is
no longer going to be useful as a computer. But it certainly can be used
as a static exhibit. And while it's still useable, I see no harm in
using it. If I never used it, the processor module could still fail, just
sitting on the shelf.
-tony