slick bits in computers (WAS: VAXen Rule!)

[Tony Duell]

> 
> >   It's almost criminal that the suits have taken over HP and ruined it.
> >  They came up with SO much amazing stuff over the years.
> 
> Amazing and cool yes, but a really foolish way to do things from just
> about any engineering standpoint. Back in the 1700s they actually

You seem to think (based on other messages) that it's all about profit. I 
don't. And we'll never agree on this. Suffice it to say I'd rather pay a 
few hundred pounds (dollars, whatever) more to get a good, relaible 
device. 

> invented something called the "switch", and often made it into a shape
> that could be pressed, so one bit of metal touches another. Works
> amazingly well. Cheap and reliable, too.

Cheap yes. Reliable, I beg to differ. Or perhaps you've never had a dodgy 
switch contact, a key that doesn't always work, that sort of thing. 

I assume you also think the Keytronics capacitive keyboard is a daft 
design. I don't think many will agree with you.

If you want a cheap, standard, design, go and get a PC. One of the things 
I like about classic computers is the ingenious, odd, bits of design you 
find in them. If you don't, I have to wonder why you bother with this list.


> 
> Of course, back then HP (and Tek, and just about everyone else) could
> get away with over the top wet dream engineering, with all that Cold
> War era military business. These days, those same keyboard engineers
> would be flipping burgers after a week of such nonsense.

Which is why I won't buy a modern keyboard, I keep on with the old ones...

> 
> But then, I must admit that often I like the silly, backwards,
> all-to-clever designs that make their way into vintage electronics.
> Makes all those 68Ks and PDP-11s look boring...

Have you ever looked at the design of a PDP11? Try analysing the 11/45 at 
gate level sometime...

-tony