re: Technology: New Uses for Old Computers (Clyde McMorrow, US)

Bookends, bookmarks, doorstops–all child’s play. Clyde McMorrow has found some truly innovative uses for obsolete computers:

Old DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation -> Compac -> now HP) 11/780 cabinets are in big demand as bars. I have two friends that have Cray 1 (Control Data 8600 -> Cray -> Silicon Graphics -> Sun -> Oracle, maybe) chassis that they use for couches. I use one of the cordwood logic modules from a CDC 6600 to hold my coffee cup. I might mention that most of these machines were built from discrete transistors; no integrated circuits. My cordwood module is about 2″x2″x1/2″ and has 28 transistors, a bunch of resistors but no capacitors. Seymour Cray felt that capacitors slowed electronics down and were, therefore, not required in his computers. Thousands of cordwood modules were strung together with 50 Ohm transmission lines to make a computer. The energy consumption for the big CDC and Cray machines was over 10,000 watts. The result was a machine with roughly the same computing power we expect to see in a good cell phone today.

JE comments: I looked for ten minutes on the ‘Net for a picture of a Cray Couch. No luck, but lots of photos of bluesman Robert Cray. I’d be grateful if Clyde McMorrow could snap a picture of one of his friends’ sofas–I’d love to share it with WAISdom.

Will we ever be lounging on old MacBooks?

re: Technology: New Uses for Old Computers (John Heelan, UK)

JE asked on 4 November:

What is the most innovative/creative use you’ve found for an obsolete computer? “Dust collector” doesn’t count. Randy Black has found a high-tech door stop.

John Heelan reports:

I have an IBM 80-column punched card (circa 1964) that I still use as a bookmark (a partner to my 1970s TWA “Sorry-Seat Occupied” plastic notice!). A friend cannibalises LEDs from obsolete machines and creates flashing jewelry from them.

JE comments: I’ve always wanted to turn my primitive MacIntosh into a planter. Take out the guts and screen, and the plant can grow sideways out of the opening where the screen used to be. An ambitious, “out-of-the-box” IT application–so for now, Protolithic Mac will remain a bookend.