13 Aug
2012
13 Aug
'12
11:28 a.m.
(I don't know why I am adding to this thread which
looks destined to go
on and on and achieve little except to demonstrate that different people
have different ideas on how things should be preserved and that most are
not going to change their minds.)
I think that most people here regard a computer as something that runs
particualr software, how it runs it is irrelevant. It's the software that
htey care about, how the OS wa used, ans so on.
I take (as you might expect) a different view. A computer is a complex
digital [1] circuit. The fact that it runs softare is aan interesting
property, but not the main reason I am interested in it. The cirucitry is
what fascinates me. For that reason a simulator is not going to 'do it'
for me.
[1] Yes, I know there are analogue computers. They are interesting too.
But lets not have another tangent... However the analogue parts of a
digital computer -- the power supplies, CRT driver circuits, disk drive
servos, etc are also certainly of great interest to me.
-tony