front panel display for a modern PC

[Josef Chessor]

On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 9:14 PM, Andrew Lynch <lynchaj at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  I'm curious why anyone would want a front panel with lights and
>  switches.  Except for some early IBM mainframe stuff, the number of
>  systems that I've worked with that had no front panel vastly
>  outnumber the ones that did.
>
>  Indeed, the front panel on the MITS 8800 seemed to be a waste of good
>  components and an anachronism at that.  Better to take the costs of
>  the panel and roll them into a good diagnostic ROM with loader.  The
>  S-100 followup machine that I used, an Integrand box, had only a
>  reset button on the front panel.  I never missed the switches.  After
>  the MITS box, I never owned another system with a blinkenlights-and-
>  switches front panel.
>
>  Just trying to understand.
>
>  Cheers,
>  Chuck

I never claimed my desire was reasonable, or even thought out.  It's
just one of those long standing desires, to interact with a machine as
directly as possible, without a terminal or anything except some
switches between me, the CPU, and the RAM.

Sometimes a desire is a thoughtful one.  Sometimes it predates
thought.  I've wanted a blinkenlighten machine since I was a very
young child.   I still want one enough that I'd gladly get rid of my
minicomputer, my VAXstation, and any number of my other equipment to
get one.


Josef

...whose minicomputer doesn't even have a front panel. :(

-- 
"I laugh because I dare not cry.  This is a crazy world
 and the only way to enjoy it is to treat it as a joke."
     -- Hilda "Sharpie" Burroughs,
        "The Number of the Beast" by Robert A. Heinlein