vintage computers and lead poisoning?

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat Jun 5 17:39:51 2004

>
> On Fri, 4 Jun 2004, Teo Zenios wrote:
>
> > I can't think of any electronic devices made today that are repairable.
> > Personally the way electronics evolve I would rather buy a new DVD player
> > every 3 years for $60 then buy one for $500 and keep it even when its
> > obsolete. Its all about the money.
>
> To say nothing of the evolution of new (sometimes cool or useful)
> features...

I really can't agree with you.

If we froget the environmental reason (it's clearly better to repair than
replace something), and we forget the moral reason that I object to
owning something I can't fix (and so far this has _not_ happened -- I'll
fix anything I own or am likely to own!), there's another more important
point...

Are you sure you can get a new DVD player in 3 years time (OK, in 10
years time, but that's only 3-new-players in the future)? If not, what
are you going to play your DVDs on?

There are 2 sides to this : Things you've recorded yourself and
commercial recordings.

Suppose you'd made a number of significant, irreproduceable recordings on
Elcassettes? What would you do now, assuming you couldn't fix your
Elcassette machine? Suppose you'd been sensible 20 years ago anf bought a
V2000 VCR (which was by far the best home format. What would you play the
tapes on? Or 8 track audio cartridges...

In the case of DVDs, I believe they are often copy-protected. So you may
not be able to copy them onto whatever new format exists in 10 years
time. Are you really happy to buy all your films again? I certainly am
not. I accept that if I buy a cinema ticket, then I can watch that film
once in the cinema. If I rent a video tape or DVD from the local video
shop then I can watch in as many times as I like but only during the time
I've rented it for (and I cna't copy it, or anything like that). But if I
buy a video tape or DVD then I don't believe I am buying a time-limited
license, and I should be able to watch it as far in the future as I wish.
I certainly wouldn't want to buy the same film again just because some
new recording format had come out!

Most of the older recording devices can still be repaired because many of
the electronic compoenents weren't custom, the mechanical bits can often
be made in a good home workshop, and proper component-level service
manuals exist.

Oh, and don't give me that crap about always copying to the latest
format. It plain doesn't happen.

To turn this back to classic computing, suppose somebody has a 386
machine with an ST506 drive connected to a controller in an ISA slot. Now
suppose some simple, TTL, chip on the motherboard fails. Do you really
believe that telling them to buy a new motherboard, processor, case/PSU
(the new systme will be ATX, presumably the old one was an AT-clone),
maybe monitor, hard disk, and find some way of transferring their data
over (modern machines don't seem to have ISA slots) is a good idea? Or
would it be simpler, quicker, and cheaper to fix the darn thing properly.

-tony
Received on Sat Jun 05 2004 - 17:39:51 BST