> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Noel > Chiappa > Sent: 25 April 2016 17:51 > To: cctalk@classiccmp.org > Cc: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu > Subject: Re: Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business? > > > From: Jules Richardson > > > I think my personal view is that I'll consider modern replacements to > > things when it's impossible to use the originals - but not simply for > > reasons of speed, cost, convenience. > > This sounds like it's not _that_ far from my position, which is that I am against > building modern equivalents for "stuff that is still available and perfectly > functional".
I perhaps take a slightly more permissive view. I am happy to use modern parts if they allow me to keep an old machine operational AND can be installed and removed in a non-destructive manner. For example my PC server 500 has an unreliable floppy. I intend to add a GoTek board so I can update the ADF files safely. > > >> running the disks ... risks damaging what are effectively museum > >> pieces. But if you don't run them then you might as well just display empty boxes... > > > There I'd just say run them until they break and can't be fixed, and > > then they can become static museum exhibits. > > The problem with that is that I feel that it conflicts with what I feel one of our > main goals ought to be, which is to preserve these machines in running form, > for history and the education of future generations. > > Yes, even powering them on risks a failure, but most failures are repairable. > A crashed head, if you don't have spares, is pretty much un-fixable (there's a > whole manufacturing complex needed to create them, which is now gone, > and one can't substitute an alternative part). So I'd run them as little as > possible - and a modern solid-state alternative really helps with that. > There used to be places that re-built drives after a head crash. Not sure if they still exist. > (BTW, there's a big debate in the museum world over this sort of topic: some > places won't do any cleaning and fixing of antique objects, retaining them > exactly as they were, and living with the degradation of plastics, etc; others > do restoration, but mark what was done, and make it reversible if possible; > others go all out and restore things to 'like new'. I'm kind of in camp II, > myself.) > > There's also a practical down-side to the 'run it as a matter of course till it fails > forever' approach; if one has packs for that drive which one wishes to read or > write, that's no longer possible once the drive is roached (although someone > else could do it for you, but that's not necessarily a desirable option). > > And of course, with the drive dead, the machine may not be runnable unless > one adds a modern alternative - and if one's willing to do that _after_ the > drive is fried, why not before? > > > > From: Swift Griggs > > > I might be laughed at for wanting a Fiero-Ferrari > > For a good time, Google 'Jerrari'! :-) > > Noel Dave
