generally, if something is too difficult or too expensive to replace, i will opt to replace it with something more modern. PDP11 memory is quite expensive, for instance, so if the 4MB in my 11/83 fails i will be forced to emulate it with the qbone i have serving my disks- those are also quite spendy and tempermental these days. i store all of my failed parts for a day when i am a bit more competent in the realm of hardware troubleshooting and repair, but being a software guy it’s certainly not something i can do right now.
that being said i typically prefer to have original parts in my systems whenever possible, but i also have to accept that sometimes it just isn’t possible. it does sadden me to think about sometimes, but that is where my optimism for the CPU fabrication i mentioned comes in. the chips we (hopefully) get some day may not be the exact same, but if they are real deal physical chips, and as long as they are indistinguishable in every aspect besides date of manufacture i don’t think i’ll really mind. i can only speak for myself, though. — .hush Got interesting stuff to sell? Let me know! Looking for DEC, IBM, CDC, SGI, Data General, and more! > On Monday, Jan 23, 2023 at 4:18 PM, js--- via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org > (mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org)> wrote: > > > On 1/23/2023 2:28 PM, Chris via cctalk wrote: @ Mike Stein > > > > Not everything is criticism. I only corrected a rather obtuse notion about > > people replacing mechanical drives with solid state ones. Everyone would > > love to use their original equipment if it was practical. I for 1 have NO > > luck with floppy disks. Is it my part of the country? Could be. > > > Would a few people here be willing to share their approaches to their > collection? > > I'll start. I've collected a variety of mainly DEC, HP, and Apple > machines, and have restored or repaired them slowly over time. However, > as they fail from now on, I will *not* be doing modern upgrades or > repairs. As they die, so shall they be retired or given away. > > For me, it's the experience of the original sights, sounds, feels, and > yes, emotions of the original hardware that's the inspiration. So, > floppy and tape drives all the way for me, as well as original hard > drives (Mike, I'm right there with you on the IMIs :). Emulators > just don't provide what I'm looking for. > > - John > Frederick, Maryland > >
