Preserving history. Was: Re: IBM 1130

At 07:14 28-09-98 +0000, Joe &lt;rigdonj(a)intellistar.net&gt; wrote: Joe and I had passed a private msg or two regarding the IBM 1130, hence his checking with an IBM friend as to 1130 locations. This latest msg Joe posted through the list which is a good thing he did. It brings up a point I probably have spoken about previously here. It is to try to find and preserve history of any obsolete, and in this case possibly extinct, computers or related objects. The fellow Joe contacted is probably not an "old timer" IBM salesman and probably would not know about machines that could have even predated his graduation from high school! Joe could maybe confirm this. There are retired or still-working old timers out there who can be a wellspring of important historical information. This connects to the point of this message. The point is that if we know of, work with, have in the family, run into on the street, share a jail cell with or any other way discover an old time computer industry person who could have some 'lost' history to offer, make an attempt to let them know you are interested in the history of computing and would like them to help you preserve what he/she knows or otherwise owns about the long obsolete hardware/software that that person had a hand in. If you are shy about approaching that person maybe another fellow collector could help you break the ice. Or, simply screw up the gumption and introduce yourself and hope for the best. Quite often when a person sees you are sincere about learning what he/she has once had been working with and hears your request to learn what he/she has to offer as far as preserving the history of something they once had a hand in they will be open to you. Try not to leave out the machines that are only 10 years old or even younger in spite of concentrating on real 'antiques' (35 years old like the IBM 1130 for example). And there should be no regard to whether they are just good ol' home-use machines like the Ataris, Commodores, Sinclairs or big iron antiques like S/360's or S/370's, etc. You see, now is the time to learn and archive as much detail as possible. In 10, 20, 50 years, the folks who designed, built, serviced or sold these machines will be gone. Ourselves, if we're still alive, and future collectors will have a rich collection of information to draw from whenever we find an Atari 400 or something in a garage sale in 2038. In the antique radio collecting hobby for example, as it is with other such interests, a lot of needed technical information or simply interesting anecdotal information and artifacts have been lost forever because they were never kept or recorded. Computer collecting is a rather recent technical collecting hobby and we have a chance to 'do it right' by capturing all information and artifacts possible before they are permanently lost. There were recent discussions in the list regarding source code to some games and/or applications that were discarded because the author did not think anybody would be interested. Last week there was a discussion regarding one of the list members being able to rescue a prototype computer else was lost lately? Sam's VCF has been performing a really beneficial function in historical preservation by having pioneer speakers and displays on old computer technology at the Festival. Good start, Sam. Maybe next year I could come to it. <Soapbox Mode Off now> Sorry for the somewhat rambling statements, but this has been something that has been in my interest for years now as some of you know. Maybe it will be a timely reminder for us to continue to go out and find and preserve the history of our hobby(ies) for others to share now and in the distant future. --Chris -- -- Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian Jamestown, NY USA Member of Antique Wireless Association URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/