1966 Mag: Build NE-2 Neon Bulb Computer - scan available

[Tony Duell]

> > "Oh, so *that's* what it's supposed to look like"
> > (I'm never too bothered if my tools are a little battered, providing I keep
> > the raw function in good shape)
> 
> My tools haven't much over the years.
> I was thinking a little more of that "household appliances" - blenders,
> waffle irons, toasters, etc.

We still use a handheld vacuum cleaner here that's over 70 years old. In 
that time I've replaced the carbon brushes in the motor and the mains 
cable, that's it...

Other things are not quite as old, but certainly not what you'd call 
'new' :-)

> 
> I never had any trouble with toasters with fold down sides, not even the
> new-fangled electric ones.  But ever since I replaced mine with ones with
> slots that "pop-up", I've never had good control of toasting, nor

At one times toasters had elements wound with a non-constnnt pitch, the 
turns further apart at the top. The idea was that since hot air rises, 
doing that would give a more even heat distribution and more even 
toasting. Alas, since they were more expensive to make, they don't do 
that any more :-(

> Yes, I was VERY unimpressed with the early Macintosh credo
> of "a computer should be as easy to use as a toaster".
> (and the first day that I had one, I put a "panic" button on a piece of
> drill stock for disk ejection)

I objected to the entire Macintosh philosopy. Any company that thinks it 
knows what I want, and has the arogoance to tell me I don't need to (and 
can't) do things any other way is plain WRONG!

Nearly always when I buy someting it is with the intention of modifying 
it. Companies I like to deal with appreciate this and design their 
products to be modified, to have bits added on, and so on...

> Sometimes I think that modern product engineering just doesn't have
> somebody like me in mind.

Nor me... They stopped having me in mind when they stopped putting 
schematics in the user manual, when cars stopped coming with _useful_ 
handbooks (at the very least I expect a wiring diagram and torque 
settings for the important engine bolts) and so on.

-tony