19 Dec
2005
19 Dec
'05
5:36 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 12/19/2005 at 2:53 PM Jules Richardson wrote:
Hmmm, not sure. Quite possibly :)
[1] Someone told me of one museum with an old
machine where the core
memory had been torn out and replaced with modern DRAM, but I can't recall
what
machine or where - to me though it's
non-original at that point because
it's not a restoration faithful to the original hardware.
Would that be the IBM 1620 at CHM? That's 1960 or thereabouts; not particularly old.
Reasonable age, though, considering how few machines prior to it are still (I
expect) maintained in operational condition. Although see previous post - I
wouldn't consider it original once a substantial element of the machine has
been replaced with a modern part.
IIRC, the core was degraded beyond reclamation.
Hopefully there's a plan to rebuild it in the longer term though, using bits
from a sacrificial core. Not a job I'd fancy, but
doubtless possible (I've
seen some unbelievably small cores!). It even seems
like one of those oddball
projects that IBM would be up for sponsoring...
Hopefully if it's also maintained in "running condition" there's a clear
sign
for the public that it's not completely original!
cheers
Jules