"Hacker Oscarv wanted a PDP-8 mini computer" the question needs to be asked... why? This is part of humanity I just don't understand. An infinite number of useful potential projects lay before me and the thought of playing around playing with or restoring 'vintage hardware' is just opportunity cost.
I've long since stopped asking why, and just gotten on with "why not?"
Building a replica of a platform gives you the experience of doing it, the understanding of the process, familiarity with the tools you're using... and possibly some bragging rights among your fellow nerds.
Why pimp out your CPU case with neon? Why put spinners on your rims? Hell, why have cars anything other than black, which should suffice for anybody? Why play video games? Why watch TV?
He's snarky, but there's a point when 'additions' start to harm the machine rather than to improve it. Neon tubes with their associated high voltage and extremely high cycling rate draw a lot of power for not real benefit and introduce electromagnetic noise into the computer. Spinners on car wheels mess with the rotational and steering dynamics of the vehicle and remove one cue to other drivers as to what the vehicle is doing as they can no longer look at the wheels to see if the car is starting to pull f
I remember one of my EE classes (microprocessors class? it's been several decades) was basically "how to design and build a PDP-8 using logic gates". One of the more interesting classes I took. Building up the thing from various blocks gave good insight. So, yes, it can be valuable to "resurrect" old hardware.
Why??? (Score:0)
"Hacker Oscarv wanted a PDP-8 mini computer" the question needs to be asked... why? This is part of humanity I just don't understand. An infinite number of useful potential projects lay before me and the thought of playing around playing with or restoring 'vintage hardware' is just opportunity cost.
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
I've long since stopped asking why, and just gotten on with "why not?"
Building a replica of a platform gives you the experience of doing it, the understanding of the process, familiarity with the tools you're using ... and possibly some bragging rights among your fellow nerds.
Why pimp out your CPU case with neon? Why put spinners on your rims? Hell, why have cars anything other than black, which should suffice for anybody? Why play video games? Why watch TV?
None of these accomplishes anything other than
Re: (Score:-1)
Why pimp out your CPU case with neon?
Because you are an idiot.
Why put spinners on your rims?
Because you are an idiot.
Re: (Score:2)
Snark from an anonymous coward is about as useful and purposeful as any of my examples.
Ergo, by your own logic, you are an idiot.
Re: (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why??? (Score:1)