At 01:39 PM 11/16/97 -0500, you wrote:
>OK, I am probably going to get yelled at...
>
>> Okay.... recently, there's been lots of "off-topic" stuff going on here
>> about computers... but I think that it's not "off-topic."
>
>In my opinion it is. There are lots of good, smart people on this list
>that can help everyone with modern(ish) equipment, but there are also lots
>of them on other lists and USENET.
I agree. I even think that there are better sources of info on the
day-to-day operation of things like an Atari ST or Falcon (which I have)
than here. If you want to know how to copy disks under CP/M, you'll be
better off in comp.os.cpm. Which is not to say that such a question would
necessarily be unwelcome, just not as well answered. Better might be
"Where/who should I ask about formatting CP/M disks?"
Mind you, I've answered PC questions posed to a Land Rover list (and
suffered through discussions of florists in Oregon and which guitars are the
best (I like Fenders, if I could afford one) on the same list.)
>> if you remember, in the "welcome" message, it
>> said that it was hard to state the definiton of a classic... but 10
>> years or older would do.
Well, 10 years is kinda arbitrary (and probably rather recent at this
point.) Still, gotta do it somehow. My personal guideline is
non-mainstream stuff (non-pc and non-mac) unless it's something really weird
(like the Outbound laptop or the IBM PC Radio.) Still, that keeps it to
>10yrs for almost everything except the occasional oddity.
I wouldn't, fer instance, bother mentioning the Sharp PC-7100's or Compaq
lunchbox here, even though they're probably 10yrs+ (Sharps for sure.)
(Except, of course, as part of a larger discussion on the history of
portable computers.)
In any case, as with any such list, the decision and definition really
belongs only to the list owner (Bill Whitson in this case) no matter how
much he might solicit or be affected by input from list members. (And, of
course, we all have the option of setting up our own DOS-PC-Collectors or
whatever list if we want.)
Personally, I'm not all that into DEC stuff (though a PDP 11/70 was my first
and I thought it was great) so I wouldn't mind seeing less VAXstationery
this or DECwindowshades that messages, but I wouldn't think of suggesting
that others not post them. I just delete them (sometimes even without
reading them -- Sorry!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
sinasohn_at_ricochet.net that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California
http://www.crl.com/~sinasohn/
Received on Mon Nov 17 1997 - 15:41:00 GMT