Re: Turn on Apple to preserve it?

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

"Michael J. Mahon" (mjmahon@aol.com) writes:
> Simon D. Williams wrote:
>> On Fri, 14 Mar 2008, Mike Willegal wrote:
>> 
>>> Aside from the issue with the capacitors, keyboards are more likely to 
>>> stay in working order with occasional use.  I would not only power on, 
>>> but I would attempt some activity that required keyboard input.  Try 
>>> playing one of those old text adventure games or write a game in basic 
>>> of your own design.
>> 
>> 
>> So Apple II users are doing a better job of preservation than the 
>> collectors... oh the irony!
> 
> It has always been so...   ;-)
> 
> Anytime I visit a museum with machines, I can't help but think about
> the damage done by disuse as opposed to use with good maintenance.
> 
> And disuse doesn't provide any incremental indications of failure, which
> are easily repaired.  Instead, multiple silent failures occur, rendering
> the machine very difficult or even impossible to put in working order.
> 
I think I posted something about that in the computer folklore newsgroup
at one point.

If you keep it in operation, when that connector starts making flakey
contact, you'll track down the problem at that time.  But if you don't
use it for a long time, there may be more than one connector being
flakey, and other issues may come in, and so the computer doesn't even
start up.  In operation, the computer supplies clues, but a completely
non-working computer doesn't.

Even taking something out of operation because of some problem, writing
down what happened and sticking it inside the case is likely better than
nothing.  Because any symptoms noticed before the failure may be clues
to where the problem lies.

  Michael