Tony, try this ;>) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

29 Aug 2001

Dick Erlacher wrote:

...
  > Winding a transformer is not a way to save money
if you value your time at
...
  > 50-cents per hour.  I offered to ship him a
complete S-100 mainframe for $5 +

Tony Duell replied:

...
  You've made this sort of comment before, and I
still can't understand it...
...

 For many of us on this list, classic computers are a hobby. We work with 
 them because we enjoy them. Not because we make money with them (at least 
...
  not all the time).

 And IMHO it is wrong to value time spend on a hobby at anything other 
 than $0 per hour. You spend that time because you enjoy it. Not to make 
 money or save money. If you weren't working on classic computers, what 
 else would you be doing? 
Most of us are working stiffs, Tony.  Our free time is limited.  I figure
it this way: an hour of my free time is worth at least twice as much as I
earn per hour, since I have fewer of those "free" hours (supply and
demand).  If I chased down the parts and rolled-my-own transformer, it
could easily consume $1000 of my free time.  If I want to use or revive an
old computer it's "cheaper" for me to buy off-the-shelf components because
this doesn't burn up a lot of time I could be spending actually *using*
said computer.  Same thing applies to swapping out a serial board vs.
replacing the UART: boards are cheap and plentiful, swapping the UART is
time-consuming.

If I just "loved" winding transformers my viewpoint might be different, but
I don't ;>)

...
  I can assure you I wouldn't do it if I could find
a suitable transformer 
 or transformers in the catalogues. But I would do it if it was the only 
 way to keep a machine running.  
Sure, because a no-longer-available item is, literally, priceless -- it
cannot be bought for any price, so a big expenditure of free time is
justified if the item in question can be recreated.

I hope some of this makes sense to you.

Glen
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