On Fri, 10 Sep 2004, Hans B PUFAL wrote:
> I am thinking of Sellams PDP-1 replica in Tokyo, by all accounts they
> tried but could not secure an original, so they did the next best thing.
Oh yes, they tried. They went to amazing lengths in fact.
> In any case had they succeeded in getting an original it would not have
> been able to run any software so in some sense the replica could be
> considered "better". I would sincerely hope that do not represent
> Sellams work as an original PDP-1, there again it is original in the
> other sense of the word ;-)
They clearly mark it as a replica on the accompanying plaque (and give me
credit to boot :) I would agree here that it was "better" than the real
thing since the users could actually see it working in a reasonable
facsimilation (I made up that word).
> I think that, properly represented, replicas do have a place in a
> museum. They allow the demonstration of working machines where the
> originals are too far gone to continue functioning.
I totally agree. In most cases it's entirely impractible to have the
actual machines working. Too bad all the museums in the world don't have
their own Tony (or at least appreciate him when they do have him).
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Fri Sep 10 2004 - 04:43:50 BST