first Classics (WAS Apollo DN systems)

Some years ago I was involved with the Bristol University student computer society (it was called 'BITS' [1] which was supposed to stand for 'Bristol IT Society' but never did :-)). Anyway, said society had a number of SIGs. And one such SIG was called 'Hardware and old systems SIG'. Those were grouped together not just because the chap running said SIG was yours truely and was interested in both aspects, but also because in the opinion of most people in said society if you want to run an old computer system (as opposed to running the software under emulation or whatever) you pretty much have to be somewhat interested in the hardware because you're going to have to do repairs and you can't generally find modules to swap out (even if that was the right thing to do ;-)). And if you're interested in messing about with hardware you'll often find an older machine to be better documented and easier to work on (slower bus speed, so you can use a cheaper 'scope and analyser). I guess what I am saying is that even if you're not a hardware hacker _now_, getting seriously into old computers will turn you partially into one. [1] Another proposed name was FOCC, officially standing for 'Friends Of the C Compiler'. Of course the double meaning was 'F*** Off Computer Centre' :-). -tony