Rod Smallwood wrote:
So I can come along sit down and start knocking out
some code then?
That might cause a crowd to collect. Then something dynamic.
Line printers thumping away, Paper tape reader on a long loop.
Tape punch doing a Woody Woodpecker. IBM 029 doing verify.
Two security guys dragging me out of the building.
The visitors would love that!!
Heh :-)
Being as hands-on as possible is still one of our primary goals - although
there's always going to be caveats on what's left running, or what level of
supervision any given system has of course, but for the majority of machines
we actively encourage people to sit down and have a play.
The best will in the world probably isn't going to keep this stuff operational
much beyond a few decades, and I'm not sure if anyone really knows what's
going to happen to the plastics a few more decades beyond that; whilst we have
a duty to store inactive systems for future generations, it also seems wise to
let people extract maximum enjoyment out of these systems now whilst they
still can...
cheers
Jules