ScuzzBlog: Diaries June 2017
Entry 11th June 2017: Post: 05
Saving Johe Connor
Hi Time to Save John Connor.. again
It has been 50 years since the cyborg finally defeated the armies of the
world and there is little hope that anything can be done. However our
brave hero armed with a short program scribbled on a piece of paper and
clutching his pen trips across an ancient technology museum which still
has power and dusty old computers sitting out upon the desk tops. He
knows he has but a very short time to access the machines and to
calculate the input code to enter into a transporter device that will
allow him to travel back in time and put all this mess right.... As soon
as he powers up he will be tracked.
Before him are several machines and bits of memorabilia. He has no
knowledge of any and has to use them instantly to work out the complex
program. Sadly there are no system disks. They are in order....
A 1996 Colossus Windows 95 computer
An Apple ][ with double disk drive
An Atari 800
A TRS-80 Model 4
A BBC Model Master Series
A 1982 ZX81
A CBM 3032
An Acorn A3010
A 1987 Amstrad PCW9512
A 1993 Amiga 1200
A Compaq III
An old laptop [any]
He also finds a Slide-rule, Logbook and sheets of paper plus brochures
and promotional material for the various computers and descriptions of
the historical context of the machines.
Only one machine can be switched on and so what will your actions be.
Remember you not only have to hope the machine works but also what will
you be able to access and whether you will be able to work out what to do.
So what would you do ?
I would get out the slide-rule and logbook and start doing it long hand.
Any of those machines that relied on the BIOS or CMOS stored in a
battery would be inaccessible. The Compaq would be worst. The Apple ][
if anything like mine runs off the system disk and you hope the floppy
works. Anything with a large capacitor or ancient PSU is bound to catch
on fire the minute you switch on. Machines with disk drives wouldn't
basically function if they needed to boot into a disk. I also think the
power switches on some machines would trip out. The Amiga wouldn't work
without the boot disk and you don't have that. If it did have a hard
drive it would probably be the 2.5" and that would have long since
collapsed. Added to that capacitors should, would have eaten the
motherboard. The Acorns would be dead without the battery and sadly the
battery will have destroyed the motherboard. The membrane on the ZX81 is
likely to have failed along with most of the internal components. The
laptops obviously have no battery life though may be your best bet if
you can get into the OS and the user didn't put an access login on the
screen. Can you take the risk. The Atari 800 would need its BASIC
cartridge and I again would be concerned about display and power switch.
With all that has happened to me this last six months I hold the view
that unattended computers left in glass cases in museums will not
function in 25 let alone 50 years time. I am not sure the world has
clocked that old computers are prone to failure. The kit is getting
harder to find replacement parts. And what is worse is that the modern
machines that we have now are fitted with the kill switch that is
validation and internet dependency and its getting worse. I compare
modern machines to having a mobile phone fitted with a SIM card. There
is always the possibility that someone can switch it off. In time that
is going to get ever more problematic.
And so... what of the future. Terminator was such a load of nonsense.
You could pretty much write any scenario into the mix. The only real
issue is how long can we keep Arnie alive without looking like an old
fogie.
scuzz
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