Bidding Against NASA

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Mon May 13 07:33:44 2002

At 07:52 AM 5/13/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>But among 8-inch floppy drives and other unspecified
>items, NASA is buying up all the 8086 microprocessors
>they can lay their hands on, specifically, to keep the
>Space Shuttle flying. Not the more common 8088, of
>course, but its 16-bit big brother.

And how many 8086s do they really need, and how many
have they found? I would guess "not too many" and "lots",
respectively. I think the article mentioned that their
booster testers used them. I doubt the process is
destructive to the 8086. So how many booster testers
do they have, and how many have failed in the CPU?

It's got to be minimal. Even if they tested a pair
of boosters for every launch and the 8086s were
destroyed, I'm sure they've found enough long ago.

I saw the article in this Sunday's paper, too. I didn't
get upset. It was just PR. When they're ready to cut
your funding, you run PR that shows what tightwads you are.
I'm sure they picked the 8086 example as one that even
a member of Congress could understand.

Towards the end of the article, it mentions spending $500
on some old I/O card - now that example made me wonder!

It reminded me of the time I bought some old multi-serial
card for a few bucks, and only got $40 or so on eBay, and
it sold to a local guy who'd previously paid $500 or so
for them, when he could find them.

Now, if you want to be subversive, go to the NASA surplus
auctions and buy up all the old stuff that has 8086s in it. :-)

- John
Received on Mon May 13 2002 - 07:33:44 BST

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