Using old disks drives

[Richard]

In article <e1d20d630712030817k180d6667od2a410b9cb7152f2 at mail.gmail.com>,
    "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at gmail.com>  writes:

> > To some, I daresay, using a modern display on a classic machine borders
> > on heresy, like using a converter and a modern disk instead of an RP03,
> 
> At some point, however, it starts to make sense. For these old 14"
> beasts, new/nice packs and heads are starting to get hard to find -
> some very hard. I have been looking for several types of IBM packs in
> new/nice condition for years now, with no luck. Same with the heads.

Not only that but when you do find packs/heads/etc. do you want to
wear them out by just tinkering around?

There will come a point where the only way you can make these older
machines work is to remanufacture parts for them.  Now there's enough
of a market for car enthusiasts that people service that demand, but I
don't know if there will ever be a market for all the oddball
technology in old computers to support such an aftermarket service.

Then there's the power needs.  An RL01 requires a helluva lot more
power to run on a regular basis than an RL01 emulator connected to a
PC and the MTBF is much, much higher with the emulator.
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