Hardware Hobbyists vs. Emulator Enthusiasts vs Replica Recreators

[Ray Arachelian]

Tony Duell wrote:
>>
>> I've been trying to stay out of this, but I've just had an
>> epiphany regarding what the hobby/calling is for me.
>> I've heard this kind of statement a number of times,
>> and I can't really argue with the point that a computer
>> doesn't *do* much without software.  But it's never
>> really had the "ring of truth" for me, and I finally figured
>> out why.  It's the implication that if the computer isn't
>> *doing* something interesting it *isn't* interesting, and
>> that's where I differ from some.  If one comes at the
>>     
>
> I'm with you on this. 
>
> Of course I like to obtain at least the boot disk for a classic computer. 
> If I'm repairing it, I like to be able to boot it afterwards :-). But in 
> general I am not too interested in all the application software 
> (languages and utilites probably, but other stuff is not of much interest 
> _to me_).
>
> But I find beauty (seriously) in the design of some of these classics. 
> For example, I find the PERQ CPU beautiful. It's beautiful even if I 
> don't haev POS boot disk. The Philips P850 us an interesting machine to 
> me, even if all I ever run is programs I've toggled in on the panel 
> switches. Ditto for the PDP8 and PDP11 actually.
>   

They're beautiful in the same sense as a statue is beautiful, but you
can't really interact with them without any software other than take
them apart and put them back together again.
It's the difference between driving a classic race car and just looking
at one which is cordoned off in a museum exhibit.  Sure it's pretty and
quite neat, but the only excitement will be in our imagination.  It's a
completely different experience.

And okay, granted, to stretch the analogy further, an emulator is like
driving a video game version of a race car instead of the actual one.