24 Apr
1998
24 Apr
'98
2:36 p.m.
As far as commonality of old machines goes, most airports have
old machines. Public libraries do as well. The boston public
library just replaced some Vaxen with Alpha machines. I couldn't
get them to tell me what they did with the old stuff.
In general, I would say that the amount of old machines is greater
than a given reasonable estimate (ie there's always one more).
Also, I'm wondering how many simple cash registers will have to be
taken out of service.
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Hmmm... And Sam, you have an interesting thought. But I wonder actually
how
many old systems you refer to are actually are still in
use?
Anybody who's got a better handle on the present population of minis
and
mainframes still in service want to give an opinion on
this?
One drawback for me (maybe others here too): my wife will kill me if I
drag
home a second or third big-iron machine ;-) We just
moved into a new
house
and I can say for sure that we are only _half-moved_ at
the moment. The
other stuff yet to move is my collections, library, workshop, tools,
equipment, parts, stuff, etc, etc, etc.. I am tired and sore already.
Thank heaven the old and new house are only about a mile apart!
At 14:05 23-04-98 -0700, Kip wrote:
>At 09:27 4/23/98 -0700, Sam wrote:
>>I'm sure this is not even an original thought, but the Year 2000
presents
>>a special opportunity for collectors like us.
>
>See ANALYTICAL ENGINE Volume 1, Number 2, October 1993 ;-) If we
think
we've got a
space crisis NOW....
__________________________________________
Kip Crosby engine(a)chac.org
http://www.chac.org/index.html
Computer History Association of California
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/
24 Apr
24 Apr
7:28 p.m.
Max Eskin wrote:
In general, I would say that the amount of old
machines is greater
than a given reasonable estimate (ie there's always one more).
Also, I'm wondering how many simple cash registers will have to be
taken out of service.
The _simple_ cash registers will keep plugging along doing what they
do best. As far as I can tell, they're not particularly sensitive
to what century they're in. The complex fancy new-fangled registers
are a whole nother story -- anybody know what types of systems are
most used at the other end of the cables attached to the laser
bar-code readers? Not an industry I've dealt with much except as a
consumer. (I know damned well there are a few NCR registers still
in service from the 19th century -- they should make the transition
to the 21st without a hickup.)
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
11:59 p.m.
Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote:
Max Eskin wrote:
I just cleaned and overhauled a register that my grandfather used in his
shop from 1925 through 1987 when he died (retired I guess too) and it
hasn't a problem with what year it is since that's not even on there.
Pricing is all there is, like a 3 ton printing calculator. The puppy has
sides made of solid brass that are 3/8" thick and a base of iron 1"
thick. Anyone ever see a store video where a robber grabs one of those
and runs? Not likely.
I also worked over a Sharp countertop electronic register for a customer
- completely standalone machine. The date is inthe format of a two digit
year that can go from 00-99 so it won't be a problem either.
I was messing with a clone XT the other day and was curious about this.
I reset the date to 01-01-2000 and it was ok with it. The bios was an
AMD and it was dated 1984.
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In general, I would say that the amount of old
machines is greater
than a given reasonable estimate (ie there's always one more).
Also, I'm wondering how many simple cash registers will have to be
taken out of service.
The _simple_ cash registers will keep plugging along doing what they
do best. As far as I can tell, they're not particularly sensitive
to what century they're in. The complex fancy new-fangled registers
are a whole nother story -- anybody know what types of systems are
most used at the other end of the cables attached to the laser
bar-code readers? Not an industry I've dealt with much except as a
consumer. (I know damned well there are a few NCR registers still
in service from the 19th century -- they should make the transition
to the 21st without a hickup.) 
11:38 p.m.
I just cleaned and overhauled a register that my
grandfather used in his
shop from 1925 through 1987 when he died (retired I guess too) and it
hasn't a problem with what year it is since that's not even on there.
Pricing is all there is, like a 3 ton printing calculator. The puppy has
sides made of solid brass that are 3/8" thick and a base of iron 1"
thick.
Cool! There seem to be a lot of those nice old registers around, too... Or
maybe they just end up in use more than other old objects(or at least used
in the open... Or whatever.).
Anyone ever see a store video where a robber grabs one
of those
and runs? Not likely.
ROTFLOL! You never know... Stupider(??? Doesn't look
right, but I can't
think of anything else) things have happened... i remember seeing a video
on TV of some guys trying to take out a large safe by dragging it out with
a car... Or maybe it was an ATM. Or maybe it happens a lot and was both...
Speaking of cash registers, I see some that I would love to get my hands
on... And the scary part is that I just want the case! OK, I'll probably
use the display, too.. But those keyboards would probably go. What I want
to do is either put a laptop into one, put a packet terminal into it, or
maybe both(easy enough... with the laptop you can do packet and use the
computer!). Oh yeah, don't forget to put a radio in there! Or at least
connections for an external radio...
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