21 Jan
2012
21 Jan
'12
1:41 p.m.
[..]
I am not involved with a museum. but I do try to preserve the computers
(and other objects) that I own. However, I do keep them operational, I do
run them from time to time The reason is essentially your '5.7' -- A
computer was designed to run programs, that's what makes it ineresting.
It is not a piece of fine art, to be used for its appearance.
5.7 Demonstrating an object in motion can add
immeasurably to our
understanding of its
purpose and significance; riding on a transport exhibit designed
to carry passengers not
only shows us how it was made and controlled, but demonstrates
conditions of life for
those who worked on it or used it. A visitor who has never seen
textile machinery at work
will have difficulty understanding a static loom, let alone the
working conditions of
Victorian mill-hands. Running an early computer gives an unique
insight into early
computing practices.
5.8 Operating an object may also actually contribute to its
preservation, eg through distributing
lubricants or varying stress points.
5.9 Operating an object may also help to preserve or rediscover
appropriate skills.
5.10 However, operating most mechanical objects will inevitably result
in their wearing out. At
the very least surfaces will be worn and information thus be
lost; at the worst the object
This depends o nthe object IMHO. Let's take an example I can see from
where I am sitting -- the HP9810 calculator. If I run the card reader in
that then the motor brushes will wear. But what is lost if that happens?
It is obvious to anyone whp/s ever seen a DC permanent magnet motor that
there should be brushes on the spring metal arms. OK, the lenght of the
brush that was there when I got the amchine is lost _but since I didn't
have the machjine from new, that's not the length of a new brush_. It's
the length of a brush after it's been used to read an unknown number of
cards. So I don't think that's particularly improtant.
Of course it's entirey reasonable to measure and record information
about the machine when you got it -- diameters of spindles, thickness of
motor brushes, resistance of a themral printhed (this increases as the
head wears). inductance of magnetic heads (which will drop as the head
gap wears), and so on.
will end up like the proverbial Grandfather's
Axe, with little or
nothing preserved from the
days before it entered the museum.
I think that's unliekly. In most machines, and certainly in computers,
there are parts that are not going to wear out or fail just becuase the
machine is used. For example, it's very unlikely a computer PCB would
ever be changed in a museum exhibit. The actual board will be the one
that was in the machine when you got it. Components _on_ the board
might be changed, but not the board itself. Similarly case parts are
lilely to remain original.
As I said I run my machines. I don't run them 25/7 of course, but I do
use them. And I would estimate I've changed mush less that 1% of the
components in any machine I own.
-tony