Replicas - was Re: *** Ideas needed for developing

[Tony Duell]

> 
> Right. I'd much rather see a working replica next to a nearly working 
> original, compared to a pile of rubble with a sign: "This is what happened 
> when we tried to run this" and an irreplaceable machine destroyed forever.

What's the point in having a working machine if you never run it? 99.9% 
of failures do no visible damage to the machine (I would, of course, 
recomend keeping a careful eye on PSUs, insulation resistance, etc), so 
what's the difference between having a working machine you never run 
because it might do damage and a machine that's got some custom chip 
failed becuase you did actually run it?

-tony