New subject: Excercising vintage items - was: Commodore 8010 IEEE-488

20 Oct 2004

...
 That's unfortunate but not surprising... it's
not a common thing.  If
I had one, I'm not even sure I could find a use for it. 
I have to admit - I do not have a burning desire to connect to anything
at 300 bps --- But I do have a burning desire to see it work.

These are a questions that seems to have different answers from different
collectors:
 - To use or not to use
 - To fix or not to fix
 - To power-up or not to power-up

I spend plenty of hours fixing things that I know I'll never really
use --- I like to know that the items in my collection actually work,
and will continue to work as long as I can maintain them. I guess my
idea of preserving this material means preserving it in working
condition. I also LIKE fixing this stuff... I like the challenge of
tracing a problem, and the insight that comes from figuring out how
a particular design works.

I know collectors who rake all the stuff up into a big pile and never
even try it - just "having" is enough.

I know collectors who check that it works, and then never turn it on
again, because "it might stop working".

I know collectors who focus on a very small area, and actually use the
equipment on a daily basis.

Personally, I cycle through the things in my collection frequently - I
try and run everything at least once or twice a year (usually several
times a year). I enjoy fooling with the different machines. I also
demonstrate them working at every opportunity - I've taken vintage machines
to local schools to let kids experience some of "how we got here", I
take them out to local clubs and meets, and I show them to anyone who
wants to drop by and see them. I often loan them out, although I do want
to satisfy myself that they will be reasonably well taken care of first.

Whats the point of storing all this stuff unless people can actually
experience it - otherwise, why not just keep a pile of pictures.

If a machine breaks - I fix it. IMHO, a machine that you can't use because
"it might break" is no more useful than a machine that doesn't work in the
first place.

So - most anything that comes in here I try and get working.

In this case, I think it would be "cool" to be able to demonstrate a PET
connected through the 8010 IEEE modem to my Hayes S-100 modem (also a 103 type)
in an Altair running a BBS system - This would show how it really worked!
- but I don't expect anyone to actually want to use such a setup for any
  other purpose.

Curious to know what others do with the vintage equipment you have stashed
away in basement/garage etc.

Regards,

Dave-- 
dave04a (at)    Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot)  Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com             Vintage computing equipment collector.
                http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

Excercising vintage items - was: Commodore 8010 IEEE-488 Acoustic Modem ?