IBM 5155 analogue display fault

[Vintage Computer Festival]

On Wed, 1 Jun 2005, Tony Duell wrote:

> > You would advocate physically marring a board as "reversible" since you
> > could "solder a piece of wire over the break", but someone swapping screws
> > is permanently altering a machine's make-up?
> >
> > Please tell me you're joking.
>
> No I am not joking...
>
> A PCB cut and repair is (a) generally a useful modification (either to
> trace a fault, or to improve the machine in some way, and then to go back
> to the original configuration). And (b) it's bleeding obvious what's been
> done.

You're telling me that permanently altering a computer in a museum setting
by cutting traces and modifying components is less intrusive than swapping
screws?  Please explain how this is the case.

> It is _not_ obvious that the original screws were, say, Bristol Spline
> head if they've been replaced with Pozidriv or whatever.

It is equally non-obvious that the modification was done contemporarily or
prior to the museum taking possession.

> My moan from the start is that there is no good reason to replace the
> original Bristol Spline screws with anything else. Period. And if there's
> no good reason to change something, you don't change it.

In this case, there was what I would consider a good reason: Jules didn't
have a Bristol Spline tool on him and wanted to swap out the screws to
something more serviceable for future work.  As far as I'm concerned (with
the caveats I have expressed) that's reasonable.

> When there is a good reason to change something, then I see no problem
> with changing it, provided you document the changes and attempt to make
> sure said documentation is preserved.

I agree.  So how do you rationalize the cutting of traces and
modifications of parts to make something work to be acceptable but the
swapping of screws to make something more practical to work on is
unacceptable, given in both cases you fully document the alteration?

Your logic does not compute.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
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International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

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