Cataloguing in a museum setting [was Re: nonsense...]

[Tony Duell]

> > individual PCBs/modules? How would you handle the case of taking 2
> > effectively identical machines acquired at differnet times and using
> > parts from bvth to make one working example, or would a museum never do
> > that? (If the latter, then I consider the policy to be broken!).
> 
> If it were run by college administrators, then the policy would be to cut
> up the rarer one to use as parts for the common one.  Such as filching
> keys from a console terminal to repair an IBM Selectric B.

:-(

I was of course thinking of the more sensible situation of either taking 
parts from a more common (even if still quite rare) device to fix up a 
very rare one, or taking 2 examples of a rare machine, both not working, 
and making a working one from them.

It's an interesting question whether you should use new parts (from 
RS/Farnell/Digikey/wherever) or parts taken from contemorary machines to 
fix up a classic computer, if both are available. Personally, I use new 
parts if I can, simply becuae they are likely to be more reliable. I am 
not sure what a museum would do, though. I would guess consider each case 
separately?

-tony