about

When I acquired my first real computer, an IBM RS/6000 Type 7012-370, I was mesmerized. I was fascinated by the build quality and the amount of thought put into the design, and by the weirdness, of course (compared to a normal PC). I wanted more this, and I started to grab anything that resembled a computer without being a PC. Before long, I stashed dozens of old computers, ranging from "common" Sun SPARCs, HP 9000s, RS/6000s, SGIs, and VAXen to weird stuff such as a Tektronix 4132, Motorola 8120, or Siemens RM200. What fascinated me even more than the machines by themselves was to see how technology developed over time (hardware and software). Every generation came with new groundbreaking technical enhancements, was faster, smaller, better. Various paths of development were tried, sometimes abandoned, and sometimes even picked up again when tradeoffs shifted. When proportions shifted, some things suddenly were declared dumb, while old ideas tossed out as stupid made sense again (or not).