I will say this, a computer is nothing more than
a bunch of parts that
don't do interesting things without software. Whether that software
is a specific set of applications, an operating system, or a ROM with
some sort of interpreter or debugger in it, or some code you yourself
have to type in, there's not much a computer can do without code. All
it will do is sit there and take up space and, if turned on, consume
electricity and produce heat.
I've been trying to stay out of this, but I've just had an
epiphany regarding what the hobby/calling is for me.
I've heard this kind of statement a number of times,
and I can't really argue with the point that a computer
doesn't *do* much without software. But it's never
really had the "ring of truth" for me, and I finally figured
out why. It's the implication that if the computer isn't
*doing* something interesting it *isn't* interesting, and
that's where I differ from some. If one comes at the
I'm with you on this.
Of course I like to obtain at least the boot disk for a classic computer.
If I'm repairing it, I like to be able to boot it afterwards :-). But in
general I am not too interested in all the application software
(languages and utilites probably, but other stuff is not of much interest
_to me_).
But I find beauty (seriously) in the design of some of these classics.
For example, I find the PERQ CPU beautiful. It's beautiful even if I
don't haev POS boot disk. The Philips P850 us an interesting machine to
me, even if all I ever run is programs I've toggled in on the panel
switches. Ditto for the PDP8 and PDP11 actually.
[...]
part of why the cultural and business aspects of
computing
are of less interest to me than to some other folk.
Such aspects are of almost no interest to me either. If the machine came
from another planet, I'd still find it interesting
and beautiful (no more
an no less interesting or beautiful...)
I'm not saying it's wrong to be interesting in the cultural aspect of
classic computing, just that _I_ am not interested in it.
-tony