Edit0r’s Bloog

A very nice friend of Other Andrew kindly gave me a shoulder massage a while ago, as my neck and shoulders ache like stink. The reason for this is that this weekend has been a good one for my computer collection. Well, not directly in some cases, but I’ll explain. I found a home for the last two Superbrain computers I mentioned in my last post. A collector from Glasgow heard about my plight indirectly via the Old-Computers.com and came to pick up my machines. Apparently, he wants to do something related to music synthesis with them, so I think I’ll stay in contact with him and keep this site updated on his progress, because making music with a Superbrain is just all kinds of cool. The third machine was brought to Edinburgh by train and carried up 4 flights of stairs to Iain and Ulf’s flat, where it is now sitting happily waiting for me to clear some space here for it. So in other words: crisis successfully averted!

On Friday I saw one of those things computer collectors dream about: a big pile of old computer equipment cleaned out from a department and awaiting disposal. This was in the JCMB in Kings Buildings, which is where a lot of the sciency type stuff is. After a few inquires, I found that the origin of these machines was the graphics department. This pleased me immensely, as there were several big monitors, and I’ve been looking for a replacement monitor for a few months. There were also a good many scanners, external SCSI hard disks, as well as some high end (at the time) IBM and Silicon Graphics machines. I decided to take home a 21″ Triniton monitor as a replacement for my own, and a Mac G3 to sell. Getting these home was a laugh, and it took Iain and I a good half hour to carry both items to the bus stop just outside KB. We made a sling of sorts out of Iain’s coat, so we could take swapping between carrying one of of the monitor with two hands, or carrying the monitor with one hand and the G3 in the other hand. I can honestly say that this monitor is one of the heaviest it’s been my dubious pleasure to carry. But boy, was it worth it! The thing gives an absolutely fantastic rich, crisp picture, with a native resolution of up to 1600×1200 (though it can handle higher modes at the wrong dot pitch). I’m going to pick up an IBM machine tomorrow to see what I can make of it. Also, I obtained an incredibly small Toshiba laptop, but more on that later. Right now, I’ve got media center to build and server to set up…

I’ve been talking a lot about computers lately, but I should really be spending less time on them and more on studying, though I suppose my scientific programming coursework is due on Wednesday, so I’ve got plenty time. Anyhoos, if I fail my degree I could always just open up a computer museum and become a technology historian! Oh, and before I forget, quick shout out to Rosy and her new blog at tkeya.net. It should be up by the time anyone clicks the link. Probably.