22 Jun
1997
22 Jun
'97
9:37 p.m.
Well, to get more specific, I have the (perhaps wrong)
feeling that:
a) You are against collectors who collect for the historical importance
onyl and are not really worried if the item works or not (as long as all
the parts are in there and the thing can be made to work if and when
required). I have been ridiculized when I suggested this one way to go
about collecting.
I am not against any collectors. The fact that different people have
different views on how to collect classic computers is to be expected
IMHO.
You mentioned in a previous message that you collected for 'historical
importance and design' (or words to that effect). Now, to look at the
design properly _requires_ that the machine is working IMHO. Otherwise you
may as well just collect the schematics and technical manuals - although I
have a large-ish collection of those (11 bookcases + a filing cabinet + a
few piles), I'd not claim they were as nice as the machines they go with.
But a non-working machine and its schematic give you essentially the same
information.
b) You are against collectors who want ot take out bits and pieces from
the systems in order to show them separately (but retaining and perhaps
even ehibiting the "crippled" item). I have been refused help in thsi
respect when it became apparent I was going to do this.
Hmmm... Well, I _am_ 'against' people who strip rare machines for their
parts. But I have no objections to dismantling (reversably) a classic
computer - when I demonstrate one of my machines I _always_ open the cover
and pull boards. At the HPCC conference last year I demonstrated my 9100B,
and then flipped the cover, pulled out the timing, flip-flop and core
boards, removed the keyboard and card reader and flipped over the main
control store assembly. I then passed the bits round the audience. Yes, it
did work afterwards!
So, if you to exhibit a machine and one of its PCBs separately, go ahead.
But I'd be happier if I knew it could all go back together again sometime.
c) You are against helping "foreigners" (and therefore "different")
collectors to export "your" stuff perhaps in the wrong perception that
Eh? last time I checked this was an international list. I've never found
_any_ anti-a-particular-country messages here, and never want to do so.
But classic computers _are_ difficult to ship. They're heavy, delicate,
and impossible to replace. Insurance is no use at all, and shipping
companies are not that careful. I know plenty of people in the States who
I'd quite happily allow to use machines in my collection (they'd know how
to care for them, etc), but I'd never ship the machines to them, simply
because I could not be sure they'd not get lost or damaged in shipping.
Thank you for your interest
enrico
--
-tony
ard12(a)eng.cam.ac.uk
The gates in my computer are AND,OR and NOT, not Bill