Honre Le Blanc gets credit for the *idea* of standarized parts, although the concept was one of those things that was "in the air" at the time. When Jefferson was in France he met Le Blanc and was taken with the idea. He brought the idea back to America and ended up being the driving force in getting Whitney his contract.
Whitney made *standardized* parts, but they weren't truely interchangable. The manufacturing process at the time wasn't sufficiently precise to make the parts truely interchangeable. That is, they still required hand filing and fitting.
Colt was the first to refine the *manufacturing* process to a level that actually let you take any part off the shelf and simply install it in a new gun with no hand fitting required and it was this concept I had in mind when attributing credit to Colt.
presents the answer to a question posed to me here on Slashdot a few days ago when I was talking about eBooks and Project Gutenberg.
What happens when the language changes only scholars can read Dickens and Twain?
This is what happens.
This can only happen *because* the work is in the public domain and presents one of the greatest arguments for works not remaining in the private domain overlong.
It also serves as a great example of the true social utility of a free internet and I applaud the author for making this great literary and historical document accessable in a modern and entertaining manner.
you belong to Caesar. It's a concept simple enough that it was expressed by a simple bookshelf builder who grew up out in the sticks two thousand years ago.
Once upon a time the great private universities were the bastions of independant thinking, but a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. They started takeing Caesar's money. A little aid here, a little aid there, and then the big money, government contracts.
This has created on odd state of affairs where a private institution has a public face presenting public knowledge, and at the same time a public face creating very, very, VERY private knowledge.
Or worse, presenting as public knowledge that which it is payed to present as public by Ceasar. Do you really need it spelled out that some of that "knowledge" lacks a bit around the edges in the "truth" department?
When a government contracts for science the government OWNS that science. I mean this quite literally.
If you wish to do science, or engage in ANY free thought for that matter, the solution is obvious and simple. Don't take Caesar's coin.
The poet laureate, by accepting the the coin and protection of the Lord is compelled by his very state to write only that which is pleasing and/or flattering to the Lord. If you don't think this happens in science you are naive. The poet who rejects the Lords money may say anything he wishes, although his life may otherwise be somewhat harsher.
Which way to go is a choice. Choose wisely, if not well.
And unless I'm missing something here I havn't a clue as to what this has to do with free software. You've created a database that stands as a layer *between* the HFS and the user, as a middleware layer.
Well, I can do that in Access and VBA.
Besides, as everyone * and his grandmother, literally* is saying already, people understand and *LIKE* the HFS. That's why it's lasted so long as it is, not for any technical reason.
"Mary, get me the deeds for the Swanson account."
Ok, go to the "Records" room. Go to the "file cabinets." Go to the "S" section. Open the "Sw" drawer. Remove the "Swanson" file folder. Remove the "deeds" envelope. Open envelope and remove "deeds."
HFS is how the real world works. *YOU* are trying to invent a "logical" system that can only be applied in a virtual space, which means that people will find it *less* intuitive.
And you've done it in a bloatful, crufty, way that emits bogons like crazy. It makes me want to scream "It's alive!"
File locations are already stored in a database, why, not only, reinvent the wheel but glue an extra set to the side? It would have been far more elegant and resource friendly if you'ld just made a user friendly front end to find and regular expressions.
Which of course brings us to where the problem of finding files really lies. The failure of the "user" to give files meaningful search terms.I don't see your system really addressing this issue in any meaningful way. This is actually much easier to do in a flat HFS way than in a RDMS way. Some*one* is going to have to *tell* the database that this is an article *about* the NYT, not an article *from* the NYT.
It really does all come down to the nut that holds the keyboard. You can only go so far in designing around that.
Seldon was a lawyer who "patented" the automobile by taking ideas from published sources, extrapolated them into the automobile, filed a claim and recieved a patent. The man never so much as touched a single nut or bolt himself and with one exception never invented a damned thing.
Basically he invented the way things are often done now in the IP "trade."
Once upon a time Feynman said ( just spoken mind you, not even written down) that you could take a nuclear reaction and use it to heat water to power a steam generator. On the basis of this off hand comment he was awarded the patent for the nuclear power plant ( sold to the federal government for a dollar).
IP law, and IP fact, is stranger than dreamt of in your philosophy.
I've got a credit card right here just itching to dump it's entire purchasing power in one swell foop on anyone who can install a "somebody else's problem" field around my home.
Please record this on a loop tape and put it under your pillow at night.
I play games a lot. I play a lot of them a few times, I play a few of them often. At this point I spend 98% of my game time in two games, Grand Prix Legends and Age of Empires II. Notice something about these games?
*They're both nearly five years old.*
But sweet Jesus they're good games. They look pretty good too, if it comes to that.
for "stealing" somebody else's rain. Not to mention the legal "oops" factor that happens when you nudge that hurricane just a liiiiiiiiiiiittle too far to the left.
For other weather control in fiction you might want to check out Poul Anderson's "Orion Shall Rise."
Elvis, Benny Goodman and Robert Johnson have finally achieved legal equivelence with Bach, Beethvon, Joplin and Sousa.
Which is where they belong.
I wonder how much money the music "industry" makes by "pirating" Bach and Joplin? It shouldn't be tolerated and someone should prosecute such blatently lawless acts.
Of course if anyone tried to do such the case would be thrown out on the motion of affirmative defense by virtue of such works having entered the public domain when their copyrights expired.
Well Duh! That's the *point* Sparky.
When a copyright expires it becomes public domain. If Elvis becomes public domain then recording him without permision is no different than recording Bach.
If this cuts into your bottom line, well, tough noogies Sparky.
How about coming up with something *new* of the same quality and selling us *that?*
Oh, sorry, I forgot. You're not very good at that, are you?
promoted the idea in the first place. *HE* got the idea from Honore Le Blanc while he was in France.
Was Jefferson the first "Al Gore."
As with most things of this nature there were actually several "inventors" who over a period of time developed the finished concept.
Le Blanc had the idea, Whiteney was able to put it into practice, Colt brought it to the point where interchangeable parts were *actually* interchangeable ( i.e. didn't require any hand fitting at all).
In any case the whole thing was a done deal before Henry Ford was born.
"What would have happened if Henry Ford had not come up with standardized parts"
Well, nothing really, because he didn't. Sam Colt did.
Other things Henry Ford didn't come up with include the car, the assembly line and mass production.
He was a strong believer in trade secrets though, and the sort of guy who wouldn't hire lawyer if you stole one from him. He was more inclined to hire a thug to beat your head in with a baseball bat.
He was also a primary participant in one of the longest, nastiest and expesive patent busting cases in American history.
into the discussions of people who didn't bother to follow up the links, but, here's a little snip:
"Of course, there'll always be someone who'll argue that providing this kind of technology to the least developed countries of the world is missing the point: that we should, as Bill Gates said recently, be spending our money instead on medical and food projects. And, of course, everyone involved in the Jhai project suggests we should do that too. But it's notable that it was the rural villagers themselves who asked for ways to communicate and gain knowledge, not the foundation."
There's a certain first world reverse snobbery going on when you send them a bag of rice, they say "Thank you, but what we really, really want right now is some effective means of communication," and you reply, "Well you upitty little pajama wearing dirt farmers. After all we've done for you already. Here's another bag of rice. Now shut up and be greatful."
Please note that this project was founded by a person who participated in the bombing of Laos in the 60's and now wishes to do what he can to make up for it. So let's all ridicule the hell out of him, ok? What the hell would he know about what they really need anyway, just because he's out there in the jungle with them?
Beyond that this is one of the most seriously cool hacks I've ever heard of, by one of the most seriously cool hackers ever, who was creating underground network hacks before most Slashdot readers had diapers to piss in and invented the portable computer.
They're not just buying some shit from Dell and shipping it over. They're scratch building it to meet local conditions, including the computer and power source.
If I had the money I'd be delighted to give them the whole wad, and deliver it in person to Laos, just to be able to help with this puppy.
a new freshman was trying to find his way about the campus. Seeing a man who looked like he knew the general lay of the land the freshman approached him and asked, " Excuse me, but could tell me where the library's at?"
At this the tweed jacketed elder stiffened his back, lowered his chin, looked down his nose and said, "Young man, this is an institute of higher learning.*Here* we do not end our sentences with prepositions."
"Oh, I'm sorry," responded the freshman, " Can you please tell me where the library's at, Asshole."
He thought about it for a few mintues and then said, " I don't know. I've been so busy doing what I want that I've never even considered the question."
Now *that* is success.
And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
What amazes me is how long it takes some people to figure that out, like the author of this article, for instance.
It's the student who has voluntarily undertaken to pay huge gobs of money and invest huge gobs of their time to attend college.It was the student who voluntarily chose to sign up for my class. It was the student who chose to *show up* for class. I didn't leap out of my office, drive halfway across the country ( or the world), hold a gun to their head and insist they take my class.Hell, once they've signed up I don't even insist they attend.
This isn't high school I think some of you have a hard time wrapping your heads around that one.If you don't wish to participate, stay home.It's that simple.
Hell, you can even get an A in some of my classes without ever attending if the work you hand in deserves it.
What I don't understand is if you would really rather be surfing the web or playing Quake why you don't just stay in your room and do it? Wouldn't we both be more comfortable that way?
they promised it to in 1947. They're handing them out in order of invoice number.Better go get a lawn chair and a Porta-Potty(tm), you've got a loooooooooong wait ahead of you.
I haven't given you any indication as to what sort of *conditions* performance will be measured under.
The author of this benchmark test seems to understand this. Did anybody wailing on him for failures of the tests bother to read his benchmark caveat?
All a benchmark test does is give you some understanding of how various things perform under the *precise* conditions applied during the test.
The real value of benchmarking only comes after performing hundreds of tests under hundreds of variants of enviromental conditions.
Doing so will increase your *human* wisdom about how certain things perform. Performance is a *value* judgement, and any human who abrogates their value judgment to a machine probably gets what they deserve.
Too bad that sort of shit usually rolls downhill though.
containing an item stop Now make another stop Now put them together in a new object stop Duplicate this object stop Now make a new object containing the two objects that were the result of the earlier operations stop Count the items in the latest object stop There are four of them stop stop
2+2=4
*Sometimes* purely symbolic typographical notation is *far* more readable than natural language.
A wise programer will use each method appropriately. First learn *math,* THEN learn programming.
But afterwards too. I've recently installed Mandrake 9.0 and it installs *seven* terminal programs. Seven? What on earth does the geekiest geek on God's green earth need *seven* terminal programs for?
Here's the deal, either you don't give a damn and will use whatever default shows up in your prefered enviroment, or you have a fave that you just can't live without for some reason and you'll manually install it from the CD anyway. If you're that picky you're sophisticated enough already to handle this.
If you're *not* that sophisticated the plethora of choices of terminal programs is at best confusing, and getting rid of the unwanted ones ( if you can even figure out which ones are unwanted, and why) may well be a somewhat daunting task.
Because free software is free as in beer to the distro makers they can throw in everything including seven "kitchen sinks," so they do. This doesn't mean it's a Good Idea.
I've got something of a rep as an Ubergeek in meatspace, but even I don't want a distro that just dumps the entire universe of software (including some pretty alpha stuff) on my HD just to prove it can.
Here's what I want to see in a default desktop install. A choice of KDE or Gnome ( I use a couple of others as well, but I'm perfectly content to install those seperately after I'm up and running for a bit), ONE terminal, preferably the default for the enviroment. ONE office package, preferably the default for the enviroment. A basic collection of utilities and, well, that's about it.
Clean, simple, and covering about 99.9% of all typical desktop funtions in one go, with no cruft.
For a newb throw in a special section in the manual explaining that one of the things free software is about is choice, how the CD's offer them many extras to play around with if they want, and clear, simple directions on how to install, and *UN*install, them.
Kinda like installing Windows, only better.
Installing a system should be an additive process, not like hacking away at a mighty oak with a chainsaw to release the inner OS.
I missed mine. . . until I got one of the new Logitechs. Ok, not the solid 5 pound monster the IBM was, and not quite as "clicky," but it seems to have just the right compromise between click and quiet with absolutely no feeling of "hitting the wall" that the membrane boards give you. I can type like in the "good old days" again.
And I don't have to mess up a perfectly good typewriter to do it. I still love my old Underwood. Leave it alone.
But for God's sake, don't make me have to *type* on it.
Slashdot Mirror
I did indeed get it wrong. Backwards in fact.
Honre Le Blanc gets credit for the *idea* of standarized parts, although the concept was one of those things that was "in the air" at the time. When Jefferson was in France he met Le Blanc and was taken with the idea. He brought the idea back to America and ended up being the driving force in getting Whitney his contract.
Whitney made *standardized* parts, but they weren't truely interchangable. The manufacturing process at the time wasn't sufficiently precise to make the parts truely interchangeable. That is, they still required hand filing and fitting.
Colt was the first to refine the *manufacturing* process to a level that actually let you take any part off the shelf and simply install it in a new gun with no hand fitting required and it was this concept I had in mind when attributing credit to Colt.
KFG
presents the answer to a question posed to me here on Slashdot a few days ago when I was talking about eBooks and Project Gutenberg.
What happens when the language changes only scholars can read Dickens and Twain?
This is what happens.
This can only happen *because* the work is in the public domain and presents one of the greatest arguments for works not remaining in the private domain overlong.
It also serves as a great example of the true social utility of a free internet and I applaud the author for making this great literary and historical document accessable in a modern and entertaining manner.
KFG
you belong to Caesar. It's a concept simple enough that it was expressed by a simple bookshelf builder who grew up out in the sticks two thousand years ago.
Once upon a time the great private universities were the bastions of independant thinking, but a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. They started takeing Caesar's money. A little aid here, a little aid there, and then the big money, government contracts.
This has created on odd state of affairs where a private institution has a public face presenting public knowledge, and at the same time a public face creating very, very, VERY private knowledge.
Or worse, presenting as public knowledge that which it is payed to present as public by Ceasar. Do you really need it spelled out that some of that "knowledge" lacks a bit around the edges in the "truth" department?
When a government contracts for science the government OWNS that science. I mean this quite literally.
If you wish to do science, or engage in ANY free thought for that matter, the solution is obvious and simple. Don't take Caesar's coin.
The poet laureate, by accepting the the coin and protection of the Lord is compelled by his very state to write only that which is pleasing and/or flattering to the Lord. If you don't think this happens in science you are naive. The poet who rejects the Lords money may say anything he wishes, although his life may otherwise be somewhat harsher.
Which way to go is a choice. Choose wisely, if not well.
KFG
But you've just made Linux Today, so I'm afraid the assault isn't over yet. :)
KFG
regular expressions?
And unless I'm missing something here I havn't a clue as to what this has to do with free software. You've created a database that stands as a layer *between* the HFS and the user, as a middleware layer.
Well, I can do that in Access and VBA.
Besides, as everyone * and his grandmother, literally* is saying already, people understand and *LIKE* the HFS. That's why it's lasted so long as it is, not for any technical reason.
"Mary, get me the deeds for the Swanson account."
Ok, go to the "Records" room. Go to the "file cabinets." Go to the "S" section. Open the "Sw" drawer. Remove the "Swanson" file folder. Remove the "deeds" envelope. Open envelope and remove "deeds."
HFS is how the real world works. *YOU* are trying to invent a "logical" system that can only be applied in a virtual space, which means that people will find it *less* intuitive.
And you've done it in a bloatful, crufty, way that emits bogons like crazy. It makes me want to scream "It's alive!"
File locations are already stored in a database, why, not only, reinvent the wheel but glue an extra set to the side? It would have been far more elegant and resource friendly if you'ld just made a user friendly front end to find and regular expressions.
Which of course brings us to where the problem of finding files really lies. The failure of the "user" to give files meaningful search terms.I don't see your system really addressing this issue in any meaningful way. This is actually much easier to do in a flat HFS way than in a RDMS way. Some*one* is going to have to *tell* the database that this is an article *about* the NYT, not an article *from* the NYT.
It really does all come down to the nut that holds the keyboard. You can only go so far in designing around that.
KFG
Seldon was a lawyer who "patented" the automobile by taking ideas from published sources, extrapolated them into the automobile, filed a claim and recieved a patent. The man never so much as touched a single nut or bolt himself and with one exception never invented a damned thing.
Basically he invented the way things are often done now in the IP "trade."
Once upon a time Feynman said ( just spoken mind you, not even written down) that you could take a nuclear reaction and use it to heat water to power a steam generator. On the basis of this off hand comment he was awarded the patent for the nuclear power plant ( sold to the federal government for a dollar).
IP law, and IP fact, is stranger than dreamt of in your philosophy.
KFG
I've got a credit card right here just itching to dump it's entire purchasing power in one swell foop on anyone who can install a "somebody else's problem" field around my home.
KFG
Base it on gameplay.
Please record this on a loop tape and put it under your pillow at night.
I play games a lot. I play a lot of them a few times, I play a few of them often. At this point I spend 98% of my game time in two games, Grand Prix Legends and Age of Empires II. Notice something about these games?
*They're both nearly five years old.*
But sweet Jesus they're good games. They look pretty good too, if it comes to that.
There's something to be learned here. Honest.
KFG
for "stealing" somebody else's rain. Not to mention the legal "oops" factor that happens when you nudge that hurricane just a liiiiiiiiiiiittle too far to the left.
For other weather control in fiction you might want to check out Poul Anderson's "Orion Shall Rise."
KFG
Elvis, Benny Goodman and Robert Johnson have finally achieved legal equivelence with Bach, Beethvon, Joplin and Sousa.
Which is where they belong.
I wonder how much money the music "industry" makes by "pirating" Bach and Joplin? It shouldn't be tolerated and someone should prosecute such blatently lawless acts.
Of course if anyone tried to do such the case would be thrown out on the motion of affirmative defense by virtue of such works having entered the public domain when their copyrights expired.
Well Duh! That's the *point* Sparky.
When a copyright expires it becomes public domain. If Elvis becomes public domain then recording him without permision is no different than recording Bach.
If this cuts into your bottom line, well, tough noogies Sparky.
How about coming up with something *new* of the same quality and selling us *that?*
Oh, sorry, I forgot. You're not very good at that, are you?
KFG
by a women who told him she had just read his latest book in the French translation and that she liked it a lot better than the English version.
Thurber replied, "Yes, it loses something in the original."
KFG
promoted the idea in the first place. *HE* got the idea from Honore Le Blanc while he was in France.
Was Jefferson the first "Al Gore."
As with most things of this nature there were actually several "inventors" who over a period of time developed the finished concept.
Le Blanc had the idea, Whiteney was able to put it into practice, Colt brought it to the point where interchangeable parts were *actually* interchangeable ( i.e. didn't require any hand fitting at all).
In any case the whole thing was a done deal before Henry Ford was born.
KFG
"What would have happened if Henry Ford had not come up with standardized parts"
Well, nothing really, because he didn't. Sam Colt did.
Other things Henry Ford didn't come up with include the car, the assembly line and mass production.
He was a strong believer in trade secrets though, and the sort of guy who wouldn't hire lawyer if you stole one from him. He was more inclined to hire a thug to beat your head in with a baseball bat.
He was also a primary participant in one of the longest, nastiest and expesive patent busting cases in American history.
Go figure.
KFG
into the discussions of people who didn't bother to follow up the links, but, here's a little snip:
"Of course, there'll always be someone who'll argue that providing this kind of technology to the least developed countries of the world is missing the point: that we should, as Bill Gates said recently, be spending our money instead on medical and food projects. And, of course, everyone involved in the Jhai project suggests we should do that too. But it's notable that it was the rural villagers themselves who asked for ways to communicate and gain knowledge, not the foundation."
There's a certain first world reverse snobbery going on when you send them a bag of rice, they say "Thank you, but what we really, really want right now is some effective means of communication," and you reply, "Well you upitty little pajama wearing dirt farmers. After all we've done for you already. Here's another bag of rice. Now shut up and be greatful."
Please note that this project was founded by a person who participated in the bombing of Laos in the 60's and now wishes to do what he can to make up for it. So let's all ridicule the hell out of him, ok? What the hell would he know about what they really need anyway, just because he's out there in the jungle with them?
Beyond that this is one of the most seriously cool hacks I've ever heard of, by one of the most seriously cool hackers ever, who was creating underground network hacks before most Slashdot readers had diapers to piss in and invented the portable computer.
They're not just buying some shit from Dell and shipping it over. They're scratch building it to meet local conditions, including the computer and power source.
If I had the money I'd be delighted to give them the whole wad, and deliver it in person to Laos, just to be able to help with this puppy.
KFG
a new freshman was trying to find his way about the campus. Seeing a man who looked like he knew the general lay of the land the freshman approached him and asked, " Excuse me, but could tell me where the library's at?"
At this the tweed jacketed elder stiffened his back, lowered his chin, looked down his nose and said, "Young man, this is an institute of higher learning.*Here* we do not end our sentences with prepositions."
"Oh, I'm sorry," responded the freshman, " Can you please tell me where the library's at, Asshole."
KFG
Everybody Chungwha tonight.
KFG
if he were happy.
He thought about it for a few mintues and then said, " I don't know. I've been so busy doing what I want that I've never even considered the question."
Now *that* is success.
And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
What amazes me is how long it takes some people to figure that out, like the author of this article, for instance.
KFG
Why the hell would I demand a students attention?
It's the student who has voluntarily undertaken to pay huge gobs of money and invest huge gobs of their time to attend college.It was the student who voluntarily chose to sign up for my class. It was the student who chose to *show up* for class. I didn't leap out of my office, drive halfway across the country ( or the world), hold a gun to their head and insist they take my class.Hell, once they've signed up I don't even insist they attend.
This isn't high school I think some of you have a hard time wrapping your heads around that one.If you don't wish to participate, stay home.It's that simple.
Hell, you can even get an A in some of my classes without ever attending if the work you hand in deserves it.
What I don't understand is if you would really rather be surfing the web or playing Quake why you don't just stay in your room and do it? Wouldn't we both be more comfortable that way?
KFG
they promised it to in 1947. They're handing them out in order of invoice number.Better go get a lawn chair and a Porta-Potty(tm), you've got a loooooooooong wait ahead of you.
KFG
a single cook enviroment.
KFG
The answer is:
You haven't got an fscking clue Sparky.
I haven't given you any indication as to what sort of *conditions* performance will be measured under.
The author of this benchmark test seems to understand this. Did anybody wailing on him for failures of the tests bother to read his benchmark caveat?
All a benchmark test does is give you some understanding of how various things perform under the *precise* conditions applied during the test.
The real value of benchmarking only comes after performing hundreds of tests under hundreds of variants of enviromental conditions.
Doing so will increase your *human* wisdom about how certain things perform. Performance is a *value* judgement, and any human who abrogates their value judgment to a machine probably gets what they deserve.
Too bad that sort of shit usually rolls downhill though.
KFG
containing an item stop Now make another stop Now put them together in a new object stop Duplicate this object stop Now make a new object containing the two objects that were the result of the earlier operations stop Count the items in the latest object stop There are four of them stop stop
2+2=4
*Sometimes* purely symbolic typographical notation is *far* more readable than natural language.
A wise programer will use each method appropriately. First learn *math,* THEN learn programming.
KFG
Mandrake installs seven different X-windows terminal emulation programs.
xterm, eterm, konsole, etc.
I'm not speaking about the number of virtual terminals the default install supports.
KFG
But afterwards too. I've recently installed Mandrake 9.0 and it installs *seven* terminal programs. Seven? What on earth does the geekiest geek on God's green earth need *seven* terminal programs for?
Here's the deal, either you don't give a damn and will use whatever default shows up in your prefered enviroment, or you have a fave that you just can't live without for some reason and you'll manually install it from the CD anyway. If you're that picky you're sophisticated enough already to handle this.
If you're *not* that sophisticated the plethora of choices of terminal programs is at best confusing, and getting rid of the unwanted ones ( if you can even figure out which ones are unwanted, and why) may well be a somewhat daunting task.
Because free software is free as in beer to the distro makers they can throw in everything including seven "kitchen sinks," so they do. This doesn't mean it's a Good Idea.
I've got something of a rep as an Ubergeek in meatspace, but even I don't want a distro that just dumps the entire universe of software (including some pretty alpha stuff) on my HD just to prove it can.
Here's what I want to see in a default desktop install. A choice of KDE or Gnome ( I use a couple of others as well, but I'm perfectly content to install those seperately after I'm up and running for a bit), ONE terminal, preferably the default for the enviroment. ONE office package, preferably the default for the enviroment. A basic collection of utilities and, well, that's about it.
Clean, simple, and covering about 99.9% of all typical desktop funtions in one go, with no cruft.
For a newb throw in a special section in the manual explaining that one of the things free software is about is choice, how the CD's offer them many extras to play around with if they want, and clear, simple directions on how to install, and *UN*install, them.
Kinda like installing Windows, only better.
Installing a system should be an additive process, not like hacking away at a mighty oak with a chainsaw to release the inner OS.
Small is Beautiful.
KFG
I missed mine. . . until I got one of the new Logitechs. Ok, not the solid 5 pound monster the IBM was, and not quite as "clicky," but it seems to have just the right compromise between click and quiet with absolutely no feeling of "hitting the wall" that the membrane boards give you. I can type like in the "good old days" again.
And I don't have to mess up a perfectly good typewriter to do it. I still love my old Underwood. Leave it alone.
But for God's sake, don't make me have to *type* on it.
KFG