Advice for tape drive repair / maintenance

[Tony Duell]

>     A VAX isn't useful today. This is a toy. I'll not even think about using 

Well, there are plenty that would disagree with you there!.

Firstly, being 'a toy' is useful. It gives the owner pleasure. And 
there's nothing wrong with that.

And secondly, if you have some application (hardware or software) that 
runs on a particular machine, then it may well take significant time 
and/or money to move it to a more modern machine even if that modern 
machine rnss faster. It may well be worth keeping the old machine running 
as long as possible. There's a lot more to computing than processor speed!

An example : I've recently been working on some HP9000/200 series 
machines. I don't dispute that a modern PC will run a lot faster than the 
8MHz 68000 in the HP. But the HP has a truely wonderful range of I/O 
cards available (I wish I had more of them), it has IEEE-488 as standard, 
and runs a powerful BASIC that can use all these I/O facilities. If I'd 
got some kind of automated test set-up ssing one of those machines, it 
would coast a lot of time and money to move it to a PC, even if similar 
I/O cards were available. It would almost certainly be cheaper to keep 
the the HP running.

> a 11/750 to run a payroll or calculating some numbers. There are better, 
> faster, cheaper options today. But we can talk about my loved HP4Plus. This 
> printer serves me perfectly. There is no feature I need that this printer

That is exactly how I feel about my old computers. They do all that I 
want. I don't need graphics, or a faster processor, or... Why should I 
upgrade?

>     PS: Philips? So let me tell you a history: Since my childhood I wanted 
> to have the Trendset 20" tv set with RGB input. This is the most beautiful 
> TV Philips made, and I still wanted to have one! So I got TWO (20CT6555 and 

I'd still love to find one of the Philips G11-chassis sets from the mid 
1970s with the Prestel unit underneath. Yes, an 'internet TV' long before 
there was an internet :-). No idea where I'd put it, though..

It's also amazing how many people don't realise that Philips made 
computers. Or eduactional kits (electronics and mechanics). 

-tony