Quarter classics (was: Big Iron Was:RE: Backwate

From: Hans Franke <franke_at_sbs.de>
Date: Mon Jun 22 08:13:36 1998

>>> It can't be as bad as the Science Museum in London, surely. I was there
>>> earlier this week, and what a _joke_!!!

>> I never been there - hmm maybe I should tak a weekend - is
>> there a Website to get the opening hours ?

> Well, IMHO, it's worth the admission charge (\pounds 6.50 (!)) if you're
> interested in things other than classic computers. But it's not worth it
> for the computers alone.

> I've been interested in clocks for about 25 years or more, so seeing a
> Synchronome working (even if the description wasn't that good) was worth
> it. Ditto for a lot of the other clocks (going back many centuries) -
> most of them are ticking away...

> Alas they've added some of those 'interactive' experiments. While a good
> idea in theory, I'm not sure they should be combined with collections of
> historical scientific instruments, etc. The groups of people interested
> in the two displays would have virtually no intersection IMHO.

Hmm. The Deutsches Museum is a 'hands-on'/'interactive') museum
since the first years, and the combination of historic displays
and learning works fine - at least for me.

>> Ok, the 2002 wouldn't be exactly the machine for continous
>> display in action, but even if it is just as static display,

> No, but fire it up from time to time to show it in operation. Even just 1
> or 2 days a year. Announce the days in advance and the hackers can come
> along and see a real machine in operation

>> this one time running test ist the best verification that the
>> static display is _complete_.
>> (In fact, the critical part of the 2002 is the storage drum -
>> even back in time when it was new, every power up and down
>> had to be guarded by tecnicans - hmm but even here, since
>> the drum is a closed device, one could replace it (invisible)
>> by a modern electronic emulation... just thinking)

> Oh, back the heads off the drum and replace it with a set of RAMs and
> counters :-). Keep the drum turning, and demonstrate the machine with
> more modern memory (at least for day-to-day operation).

Exactly my idea of a display ...

Gruss
H.

--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
Received on Mon Jun 22 1998 - 08:13:36 BST

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