30 May
2006
30 May
'06
4:43 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
around a fanatical gear-head. He/she just might have a
triangular hand scraper in their back pocket. Needless
to say it's it has a keen edge!
Computers aren't anything unique in this regard.
The oldest human weapon that wasn't simply a
thrown
object is probably
a sling. There's at least one nearly 3,000yr old one
that was found in
Egypt, but it's far too fragile to use or test - but
for trying it
out, it can be reconstructed:
Point taken, but computers don't fall into the same
category as rare ancient paraphernalia. Granted some
of the real old stuph should be preserved in as
original condition as possible, but half (or a much
higher ration!) of the thrill of having these things
around is the ability to fire them up. If there comes
a point where this can't be done other then by
substituting modern material, then I'm all for it.
After a while, when parts and consumables can no
longer be found or
fabricated, old computers, like, say, old motorbikes,
are going to
become purely museum pieces, that cannot actually be
*run*. They're
already no use - you wouldn't go to work on a 1905
Douglas and you
wouldn't run a PDP-8 to read your email. Doesn't mean
they're
valueless. Better to preserve them in their original
state in a museum
than to bodge together some hybrid of ancient and
modern kit.
Ehh I don't know. I would have to say it's a rare
instance where parts for machinery and whatnot can't
be reproduced. Regarding low-technologies, some have
gone as far as to build backyard cupola furnaces for
melting cast iron. Or natural draft units for melting
bronze/brass, ala Theophilus. Microchips are more
challenging granted. But I doubt the day is very far
off when fabricating something as intricate as a
microchip would be possible on your kitchen table.
To give people the experience of using them, write
and emulator & make
it perfect & faithful. That way,m the OS, the
software, the data
files, the *feel* of the machine can be kept alive
indefinitely.
One day, future computers won't run our >current
"modern" software. But
we can run the emulator on an emulator when that
happens!
I have nothing against emulators. But they're only
one side of this vintage groove - the software side.
And my hat goes off to those who have written
emulators for classic stuph. But the investigation,
maintenance, and when practical the reproduction of
classic hardware is engaging persuit in itself.
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