Question for the list

[Roger Holmes]

On 14 Jun, 2006, at 05:17, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote:

>
> Billy Pettit wrote:
>> But let's ask the list:  is there anybody else out there or that  
>> you know
>> who buys a product only if it has repair documentation available?

Yes, in 1992 I ordered a new (1993 model year) Jaguar XJ6 3.2 on the  
condition
that a printed workshop manual be supplied as well. Jaguar accepted  
the order
through the local main dealer and I was the first person to get a  
copy of the five
volume set, one whole volume of which was circuit schematics.

>
> Since I have 0% electronics repair skills, no.
>
>> And as a corollary, do you only buy products you want to run 20  
>> years?

Yes, on my desk in regular use is a Sharp eLSI mate four function  
calculator
with LED display, which was the best of my 21st birthday presents in  
1974.

I collect classic cars, I have cars built in 1964,66,69,72,87 and 93.  
I bought the
87 and 93 ones new, and my father bought the 69 Daimler in 1970.


>> Or
>> can you accept a product as being expendable?  How long should a  
>> computer
>> part last?

Sometimes, if they are really cheap or will be rarely used, but  
tools, cars, houses and other
fairly slow moving technologies I expect to last a long time.

The point with most computers is that the technology moves forwards  
so fast that I can
move ALL my old data onto a new machine with plenty of room to spare  
every one or
two years, and also get a faster machine with more RAM etc. What I  
lose out on is
things like my collection of old games which were written for the  
Motorola 68000 which
would run on my PowerPC but I can no longer dabble in on my Intel  
based MacBook Pro.
I also find some old word processing and drawing documents which are  
in proprietry
format become unreadable, which is why I now store all long term text  
document as
plain ASCII, which I think will continue to be readable for a few  
years yet even though
Unicode may sometime replace it.

Roger Holmes.