On 3/17/22 17:27, P Gebhardt wrote:
> Ok, it hit $1200, we're out of the running. I hope these systems go
to a good home, and don't disappear into the black hole of a private
collection.
I think that next time, you should consider to rephrase this in a more
considerate way. There are public museums on both sides of the great pond where
stuff is stored in the basements for preservation and does not become
accessible for years and years, even if one asks for it. And I am not only
meaning hardware or software, I also mean documentation (this is based on
personal experience). In my point of view, black holes exist in private as well
as public museums, regardless of the different reasons for this. Some do a
great job in making their collection accessible in public either for real or
online via a website, and some don't. It just depends from case to case and
generalising here doesn't seem appropriate.
You are correct, and I will try harder. LSSM does, like most
museums, have things in storage that are not always on exhibit. Most
museums have more exhibits than they have space to show off at any one
time. We rotate them every other year or so, but still, there are
things even at LSSM that aren't readily visible. (of course you can
always request a visit to the storage building around the corner.. ;))
As I've said privately today to three people who have emailed me
off-list about this, since starting the LSSM project about ten years
ago, I've seen many, probably 25, situations in which widows have junked
their dead spouse's prized computer hardware. We've all heard of those
situations, but as we've been actively looking for hardware, we see it a
lot more, and even I was shocked about just how common this actually is.
This is a fate that seems to befall most private collections.
That, combined with rodent infestations, rust, etc resulting from the
typical garage/barn/shed/basement storage that we've seen over and over,
has impacted my opinion of private collections.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
