[SIGCIS-Members] Restoraing computers....

[Evan Koblentz]

> New piece today by the BBC on computer restorations, including the Computer History Museum’s IBM 1401 (1959).
>
> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30546592
>
> I’d be interested in hearing from SIGCIS members about their perception of the value of doing these kinds of things…
>
> Dag

Everyone knows my perspective, but I'll state it anyway:

1. Restorations are very important. Historic computers are machines, not 
fine art. We need them running in order to truly understand them.

2. It's not enough to just restore these machines and have occasional 
demonstrations. The public should have regular access to them. It's 
fantastic that CHM restored the 1401 and the PDP-1 (I had the pleasure 
of playing Spacewar on it, against the guys who programmed that game at 
MIT), but what about restoring and making available the computers that 
regular people actually used?

3. The answer to #2 is: that's why my group here in NJ and Paul Allen's 
LCM both exist. It is also why we have events such as the Vintage 
Computer Festival series. Exotic mainframes are great (and we do those, 
too), but the public identifies more with a Commodore 64.

3A. Non-commercial plug for #3. :)  The next VCF East is April 17-19 
here at the InfoAge Science Center in New Jersey. vintage.org/2015/east/ 
... come see * and use * computers from the 1960s-1980s.