On Thu, 1 Feb 2024 at 10:08, Paul Koning <paulkon...@comcast.net> wrote:
> > > > On Feb 1, 2024, at 9:52 AM, Henry Bent via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > > > On Thu, 1 Feb 2024 at 09:37, Paul Koning via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> > > wrote: > > > >> > >> > >>> On Jan 31, 2024, at 7:16 PM, Bill Degnan via cctalk < > >> cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >>> > >>> The Enter museum in Switzerland has a nice library of docs. I found > that > >>> museum to be chock full of interesting German and other computers. > Worth > >>> the trip. > >>> Bill > >> > >> Is any of that online? > >> > >> One frustrating thing about various museums is that they have stuff, but > >> you can't access it. For example, I know a museum with a collection of > >> 1950s software on punched tape, but they refuse access to it for reading > >> it. > >> > > > > Generally I have found that access to special collections is conditional > on > > having credentials that the museum is willing to accept. In that case I > > can imagine that the museum might be willing to allow inspection, perhaps > > supervised, but that they would not be willing to allow their media to be > > run through a punched tape reader because they were concerned about the > > possibility for damage. Did you talk to them about the possibility of > some > > sort of optical scanning? > > Yes, a standard optical paper tape reader. And the proposal was to have > their staff supervise or operate, with us supplying the equipment and > delivering the results. > There's a term for that, I think it's called "hoarding." It's very unfortunate that museums run the range from institutions dedicated to preservation to, well, just a large collection that someone has decided to charge access for. -Henry
