Tony, try this ;>)

From: Glen Goodwin <acme_ent_at_bellsouth.net>
Date: Wed Aug 29 23:25:12 2001

Dick Erlacher wrote:

> > Winding a transformer is not a way to save money if you value your time
at
> > 50-cents per hour. I offered to ship him a complete S-100 mainframe
for $5 +

Tony Duell replied:

> You've made this sort of comment before, and I still can't understand
it...
>
> For many of us on this list, classic computers are a hobby. We work with
> them because we enjoy them. Not because we make money with them (at least

> not all the time).
>
> And IMHO it is wrong to value time spend on a hobby at anything other
> than $0 per hour. You spend that time because you enjoy it. Not to make
> money or save money. If you weren't working on classic computers, what
> else would you be doing?

Most of us are working stiffs, Tony. Our free time is limited. I figure
it this way: an hour of my free time is worth at least twice as much as I
earn per hour, since I have fewer of those "free" hours (supply and
demand). If I chased down the parts and rolled-my-own transformer, it
could easily consume $1000 of my free time. If I want to use or revive an
old computer it's "cheaper" for me to buy off-the-shelf components because
this doesn't burn up a lot of time I could be spending actually *using*
said computer. Same thing applies to swapping out a serial board vs.
replacing the UART: boards are cheap and plentiful, swapping the UART is
time-consuming.
 
If I just "loved" winding transformers my viewpoint might be different, but
I don't ;>)

> I can assure you I wouldn't do it if I could find a suitable transformer
> or transformers in the catalogues. But I would do it if it was the only
> way to keep a machine running.
 
Sure, because a no-longer-available item is, literally, priceless -- it
cannot be bought for any price, so a big expenditure of free time is
justified if the item in question can be recreated.

I hope some of this makes sense to you.

Glen
0/0
Received on Wed Aug 29 2001 - 23:25:12 BST