On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, R. D. Davis wrote:
>
> On Wed, 11 Oct 2000, Sellam Ismail wrote:
> > Is this an act, or are you really such a jack-ass?
>
> Having once met a donkey, I can say that I found it to be a much more
> affable, and well mannered, creature than you appear to be; hence, I
> don't take that as an insult as you apparently intended it to be. To
> answer your question, however, I don't have four feet, have no long
> ears, and no tail, so, it's not at all difficult to deduce that the
> answer to your question is no.
>
> > What about the VCF makes you think it will "cause damage to hamfests and
> > deplete them of the few remaining 'vintage' computers"? The VCF *is* a
> > place to go find old computers. Do you actually think people would go to
> > hamfests and scour them for all the old computer crap they can find just
> > to bring it to the VCF and hawk it for eBay prices? You fool!
>
> The VCF is also a place to draw the attention of non-hackers to
> computer collecting; while the prices of older equipment at VCF may
> not be terribly high, in terms of e-bay pricing or affordability for
> most of us here, I recon that they're still far higher than they were
> at hamfests several years ago.
>
> > Are you therefore meaning to imply that the VCF is in fact detrimental to
> > the hobby of collecting and perserving computers and their history? You
> > idiot!
>
> No, I neither said nor implied that. Now, who is the idiot? Perhaps
> you'll learn to wait for answers before jumping to conclusions. Yes
> Sellam, evolution is possible for all creatures, even you. :-) What I
> was implying is that it's harmful for those of us who like to collect
> and hack interesting finds that we pick up for a few dollars -
> treasures that were someone else's trash, you might say. In years
> past, before computer, and other vintage electronics, collecting
> became fashionable, some of us were able to spend less than US$100 and
> fill up a large station wagon with all sorts of computers, plus a few
> bits of Heathkit equipment, various electronic components, some audio
> stuff with tubes (valves), and then come home to find lots more
> interesing old computer finds lurking for-sale on Usenet, often for
> the cost of shipping.
There are still 'bargains' to be had, but they are certainly getting
fewer, although I did pick up a Canon Cat last Saturday for only $5.
But certainly the vast supplies of S-100 pieces and most 8-bit stuff
has almost completely disappeared. Off to the Elephant's Graveyard, I
guess.
- don
> We didn't collect just for the sake of collecting or squirreling away
> equipment, for future profit, to complete a "collection," etc. We
> collected to have more fun toys to take apart, examine, repair,
> restore and hack.
>
> I sense that this group is composed of two different groups of people,
> who still have something in common - a desire to obtain and preserve
> older equipment. We just have differnt ideas as to how we go about
> it, the "serious collectors" and shelf-liners who are more interested
> in history and unmodified equipment verses the hackers who preserve
> equipment through curiosity, tinkering and reverse engineering and are
> responsible for the actual preservation of working systems. The
> former go around thinking "what's it worth" the later "neat, a new toy
> to hack!" I could expand upon this further, but I haven't the time
> tonight, alas.
>
> Perhaps we can have a discussion here about this without it turning
> into a flamefest.
>
> > Is there a LART big enough to shut you up once and for all? I'm looking
> > for it.
>
> Good luck! By the way Sellam, something tells me that you're having a
> truly interesting month, one that will grow all the more "interesting"
> experiences as it progresses, that you may even learn something from
> by a strange twist of karma. Having fun yet?
>
> > YOU COMPLETE MORON!
>
> Oh stop looking into the mirror and muttering your thoughts to this
> group as you do so, before you risk further embarassment. ;-)
>
> All that said, I think that there's still probably much more that we
> agree about regarding older computers than we disagree about, and,
> while I don't like some things about VCF, I think that in some ways
> it's been quite beneficial to computer preservation, particularly from
> a historical perspective, as it helps to draw people together with a
> common interest who can share their knowledge of various machines, so,
> you see that I have mixed feelings about VCF, not all good, not all bad.
>
> I see and understand your perspective; can you see and understand
> mine?
>
> Have a good night, and, I do wish you good luck with collecting and
> preserving, and with having fun with these activities.
>
> --
> Copyright (C) 2000 R. D. Davis "The best way to gain a true understanding of
> All Rights Reserved Wile E. Coyote on the Roadrunner cartoons is to
> rdd_at_perqlogic.com 410-744-4900 fly, head-first, off a horse into something like
> http://www.perqlogic.com/rdd a fence or a tree; trust me, this works." --RDD
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Thu Oct 12 2000 - 16:27:10 BST