Computer Listing

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Tue Mar 18 14:38:32 1997

On Tue, 18 Mar 1997 HamiJohn_at_aol.com wrote:

> In the few days this group has been going, I have been taken down memory lane
> over and over again!

Yeah, this is a lot of fun, and I'm surprised with the amount of traffic.

> I would like to propose that we begin documenting all the great classic
> computers of the past. I suggest it be a SIMPLE compilation such as:
>
> Name/Model
> Manufacturer
> Date released/stopped
> RAM/ROM included
> Languages included
> Ports included
> Peripherals offerred
> etc.

Actually, I started something like this on my own two or three years ago,
using a format I found in an old Computing Now! magazine from 1983 that
had a (VERY basic) roundup of ... 40 systems or so? (I can't verify this
as I'm sitting at a terminal in the university, not at home with all my
stuff.) I started collecting info on any machine I could get info about,
and I was putting it all into an AmigaGuide document. It was sorted by
company and sometimes by series as well. Unfortunately, there was tons
of unverifiable data in this list and I never got around to entering a
lot of the stuff I *could* verify. I also wanted to collect pictures of
the systems and link them in, but I don't have a scanner and its hard to
find pictures of a lot of these things.

I haven't touched that list in ages. I'm not even sure where I stored it
now. :) I ran out of time for this kind of thing, and after a while I
realized that I could get a lot of the info I was typing in off the net
(for the more common systems) and basically gave up.

If I were doing it now, I think I'd just grab peoples' web pages and link
them together into a huge local document. Probably eat up a good portion
of a zip disk.

I was typing up reviews from magazines, too.

I tried to list my sources so that I could go back later to see where the
wrong info came from. :)

I had to read between the lines a lot.

> Of course the exact categories need to be decided by discussion on this mail
> list.
> And somebody would need to tabulate the info (then publish the list monthly).
> Finally, an "expert" committee for those items "in dispute"!
>
> Well ... what do you think?

I think it's a damn fine idea. It would be great to have a resource like
that available, and it would be fun to construct it.

> John Hamilton
> hamijohn_at_aol.com
> "Old computers never die, they just fade away bit by bit!"

Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
Received on Tue Mar 18 1997 - 14:38:32 GMT