| Rarer than Roman Artefacts? [message #397978] |
Sat, 15 August 2020 10:13  |
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Originally posted by: gareth evans
Were any of us to have an ENIAC, EDSAC, COLOSSUS or Z3 in our
collections there's no way that we'd dispose of them as rubbish.
And yet who is still in possession of early Pentium computers
(at least, those after the mathematical Bugium was resolved);
computers whose raw processing power is several milliards that
of the proto computers mentioned above?
Even I am guilty thereto, having once been in possession
of 5 Commodore Pets together with printers and diskdrives
which I got for only £20 when the local hospital upgraded
their laboratory equipment.
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| Re: Rarer than Roman Artefacts? [message #397980 is a reply to message #397978] |
Sat, 15 August 2020 10:57  |
Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Sat, 15 Aug 2020 15:13:39 +0100, gareth evans wrote:
>
> Were any of us to have an ENIAC, EDSAC, COLOSSUS or Z3 in our
> collections there's no way that we'd dispose of them as rubbish.
>
> And yet who is still in possession of early Pentium computers
> (at least, those after the mathematical Bugium was resolved);
> computers whose raw processing power is several milliards that
> of the proto computers mentioned above?
Those are IBM clones in my opinion. The first Compaq as clone might still
be a milestone, being the first or second IBM clone ever. Every x86 based
computer i boring in my opinion.
> Even I am guilty thereto, having once been in possession
> of 5 Commodore Pets together with printers and diskdrives
> which I got for only £20 when the local hospital upgraded
> their laboratory equipment.
Why feeling guilty? The PET was one of the three ("1977 Trinity") kicking
off the microcomputer revolution
< https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-home-comp uter.html>.
--
Andreas
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| Re: Rarer than Roman Artefacts? [message #397996 is a reply to message #397978] |
Sat, 15 August 2020 16:09 |
Mike Spencer
Messages: 997
Registered: January 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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gareth evans <headstone255@yahoo.com> writes:
> Were any of us to have an ENIAC, EDSAC, COLOSSUS or Z3 in our
> collections there's no way that we'd dispose of them as rubbish.
>
> And yet who is still in possession of early Pentium computers
> (at least, those after the mathematical Bugium was resolved);
> computers whose raw processing power is several milliards that
> of the proto computers mentioned above?
>
> Even I am guilty thereto, having once been in possession
> of 5 Commodore Pets together with printers and diskdrives
> which I got for only £20 when the local hospital upgraded
> their laboratory equipment.
My wife wrote her master's thesis on an Osborne I in 1993. Her friend
did same on another. I was the proud owner of 7 Osborne Is, 5
operational, when, in 2005, I filled our little 2-door with them, a
stray Kaypro, printers, cables, fans, books & 8-bit miscellany and
donated them to a computer museum in Annapolis Royal, NS. Alas, the
museum proprietor has lost interest (or perhaps needed a more
profitable way to make a living) and the museum is gone. I have no
idea where the Osbornes have ended up.
But then, many of the sculptural ironwork pieces I've made and of
which I'm most proud, went to people, some of them minor celebrities,
now deceased. I can only wonder if they've been put out in the yard
sale with the old Venetian blinds and the mismatched flatware. The
world moves on.
(I do still have a Pentium I somewhere. The HD has died and I gave
away the 5-1/4" floppy drive to a guy clinging even more tenaciously
than I to the trailing edge of technology.)
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
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