Retro Machines Key to Rescuing Old Data

SimilarityEngine writes "New Scientist report on the virtues of old kit. From the article: 'Today's stylish PCs may perform billions of calculations a second and store tens of billions of bytes of data, but for many, they have got nothing on the 32, 48 or 64-kilobyte machines that were the giants of the early 1980s. This renewed interest in old-school computing is more than just a trip down memory-chip lane. Early computers are a part of our technological heritage, and also offer a unique perspective on how today's machines work. And within growing collections of original computers and home-made replicas, and the anecdote-filled web pages and blogs devoted to them, lies the equipment and expertise that will one day help unlock our past by reading countless computer files stored in outmoded formats.'"

Comments

First Post?

[nearlygod]

My friend John Titor told me that the IBM 5100 is going to be very popular soon.

Re:old cruft

[Daxx_61]

Though most researchers will end up on stuff like the Sega Saturn, doing 'research'.

Re:i bet the computer doesnt exist

[speculatrix]

sorry for taking so long to post a reply, but I haven't got the dual-core upgrade for my abacus yet!

Re:Universal Format

[KevinDean]

Sounds like you'd better start carving the x86 instruction set onto stone tablets!