28 Dec
2005
28 Dec
'05
2:26 p.m.
In article <43B30E61.4000004 at oldskool.org>,
Jim Leonard <trixter at oldskool.org> writes:
[Note to Jim: adopt a shorter line length for easier > quoting :-]
I think for things like C=64s which are nearly ubiquitous, it doesn't
hurt to have kids pounding on the keys. Things like DECwriter
printing terminals seem near indestructible. Once while transporting
them from high schools, which rented them for the academic year from
us, we dropped one down a flight of stairs. Aside from scratches on
the plastic housing, the thing was just fine.
For PDP-11s and other minicomputer systems, having a terminal, or even
a terminal program on a modern PC can get, you the same experience.
After all, my entire time spent using a PDP-11/70 was from a terminal
across town from the actual PDP. The main unit was housed in an
access controlled machine room to which we didn't have access.
I have talked
with another local collector about finding a suitable
location for storage/display of our collections.
The "display" part intrigues me. I've always wanted to put out a system
for my kids to learn about, like a C64 or PCjr or Apple or classic
Mac... but then I think of them getting their hands all over everything
and I retract the idea. :-) I would imagine many other collectors have a
"look but don't touch" mindset... maybe I'm just being paranoid.
I've gotten past that fear by making sure I have
duplicates of everything.
From what I've read about collecting, this is
important if you intend
to keep things working. You'll need at least one spare
unit for
parts, possibly more. I think a conservative estimate on older
equipment I read somewhere was to keep up to 3 units as spares,
depending on the rarity of the item and what tends to break.
There are lots of small museums around the country where its basically
a "look and see" experience -- you get to look at the collections of
19th century hand tools but you don't get to take the planer out and
try it on a 2x4. I suspect small computing history museums are no
different, but its not very exciting to look at a shrink-wrapped copy
of Word 1.0 in a case (albeit actually using Word 1.0 probably isn't
exciting either).
My friend has a large collection of arcade game machines. These
machines have already been through a fairly rough life in bars :-), so
there isn't much that kids can do to them while playing the games.
However, recently he has been making noises about selling his
collection off wholesale, so I don't know what's to become of that.
My plan is to amass a collection that focuses on the area of computer
graphics and elements originating in Utah (hardware and software) and
eventually create some sort of public display space. How long it will
take for that to occur is unknown to me at this point.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline"-- code samples, sample chapter, FAQ:
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/>
Pilgrimage: Utah's annual demoparty
<http://pilgrimage.scene.org>