XPost: comp.sys.cbm   
   From: et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA   
      
   The Questarian (J.bielak@REMOVEMETOSEND.Questarian.com) writes:   
   > The other day I was looking at an old PET 8032 and a Model III and I   
   > thought, "Hmmm, you know they'd make pretty cool retro PC cases." Now,   
   > before anyone yells at me about ruining a classic machine, please know   
   > that I'd never gut a functional classic computer just to turn in into   
   > some generic PC... but it did raise something some interesting   
   > preservationist questions in my mind, and I wondered what the people in   
   > the community might have to say:   
   >   
   Things get bought and used and modified and thrown out.  If they didn't,   
   they'd have no purpose in the first place.  They are plentiful, and sometime   
   after their initial introduction, they become cheap because nobody wants   
   them.  Their purpose has passed.  They sit in the top shelf of the   
   closet, or they are sold off, or tossed out.   
      
   But then at some point down the road, that useage etc means only a   
   relative few exist. The price and demand goes up.  Obviously if   
   there are a relative few remaining, those who want one have to fight   
   over those that remain, driving prices up.  And often when it gets   
   to the point where they have become scarce, the people who had   
   them originally, or wanted them, start getting nostalgic for them,   
   having tossed them out or given them away decades before.  The scarcity   
   doesn't cause this interest, it's just enough time has passed so   
   they desire them again.   
      
   If you anticipate things being valuable, they usually aren't.  Look   
   at all the kids in recent decades who go off to the comic store and   
   buy the latest "graphic novels" and then put them in plastic, because   
   they think they will have value in the future.  It's not even clear   
   if they actually read them.  Useage winnows out the stock, but hoarding   
   means the stock remains, eternally.   
      
   That said, at some point things start tipping in a different direction.   
   I can remember in the early seventies being able to get all kinds of   
   tube radio equipment for nothing, because nobody wanted it at the time,   
   it was obsolete and there was better stuff.  Nowadays, the same stuff   
   is desired by people collecting it.  And some of those people would   
   be the ones who tossed them out or gave them away decades ago, and   
   now want to revisit the past.  Others couldn't afford the stuff, and   
   merely drooled over the ads, and now they have money, so they want the   
   stuff.   
      
   And some grumble about "the mess made in the old days with modifications",   
   which is indeed a valid point when you are looking back.  Because those   
   modifications made the equipment non-standard, and may even have   
   done damage.  But, at the time they were modified, it was to get some   
   more use out of the unit (real or perceived) and nobody was thinking   
   of the future (and they shouldn't have).  It's only in retrospect   
   that people can grumble about the stuff not being kept in pristine   
   condition.   
      
   The issue becomes more important the further into the future you move.   
   Antique radio collectors (as opposed to collectors of mere tube radios)   
   are farther in the future, and many when doing repairs will not use   
   non-standard parts.  If they really are unable to get similar parts,   
   they'll do things like embed new capacitors in the wrappers of the original   
   capacitors.  They've long past the stage where the radios were in   
   everyday use (where keeping things running might have meant just   
   using anything), to the point where "keeping things original" is often   
   important.  Some will simply not use the radios, because that will   
   put stress on the parts, and if the parts go they want only original   
   replacements.   
      
   Home computers are a relatively recent thing, though on the other hand,   
   unlike old table radios, their useful life ran out decades ago.  A tube   
   radio could still receive radio, even if a solid state one had instant   
   on and used less power and was cooler and whatever.  But my KIM-1 became   
   obsolete when I could afford an OSI Superboard II three years later, and   
   that became obsolete when I got my Radio Shack Color Computer 3 years   
   after that, and so on.  I kept getting better computers because they   
   did more, and up to a certain point, the computers were not capable   
   of a certain level of capability.  I couldn't use that KIM-1 for text   
   editing, not without adding a lot of external circuitry, that OSI could   
   barely be used for the task and really still needed extra circuitry.   
      
   I can't imagine anyone is really using an old home computer (say 25   
   years old or more) as a main computer.  They were too limited, and   
   far in the past, plus, you can get all kinds of better computers for   
   nothing nowadays.  Hence, they are either being kept for historical   
   reasons, or being run on occasion to run an specific older program   
   that is part of the experience of running an old computer.   
      
   Thus "keeping things running" is not about continuing to use a computer   
   to maximize the return on the money you spent on it originally.  If   
   I was still using my Mac LC (I did use it up till mid-2001 and two   
   computers ago), I would not hesitate to modify it if needed, because   
   it was my main computer up till that point, and it was a different   
   game.  But now that it's out of operation, the only reason for keeping   
   it, at least when I finally clear out the hard drive, is for historical   
   purposes.  And historical means keeping things intact.   
      
   Talk to the antique radio collectors, and they will talk about making   
   do, but they will also talk about ensuring it doesn't mess with the   
   original.  So, the equivalent for computers would be that if the   
   CRT dies, and a replacement is either too expensive or impossible   
   to get, then you figure out a means of connecting an external monitor,   
   and do it in a fashion that is reversible.  Thus if/when a CRT appears,   
   the unit can be put back to it's original state.   
      
   Some might get solid-state replacements for harder to get tubes, and   
   then keep the original tubes taped inside the cabinet or something like   
   that.  The computer equivalent might be to put in easy to get 3.5"   
   drives (and just having the software treat them like 35 or 40 track   
   drives that the 5.25" were), and then carefully storing the 5.25" drives.   
   Thus, the computer can still be used, but without putting more wear   
   on the mechanical drives that may not be available for replacement.   
   And even if the 5.25" drives fail, a collector might keep them, because   
   even when the computer has died and there is no hope, the original   
   drives will keep it cosmetically intact, so distant descendants can say   
   "this is what computers looked like in great grandpa's day".   
      
   The field of antique radios is what old computers will be down the line.   
   Whatever should be done now, one can at least see a bit of the future   
   by examining the area of antique radios.   
      
     Michael   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)