On Sat, 23 Apr 2016, Chris Hanson wrote: > I want to use the systems as a whole enough not to just live in emulation, > but I only have a limited amount of time to spend with them, so replacing > just a few subsystems in ways that make the use of the overall systems > smoother seems like a reasonable compromise.
I completely agree with you and the rest of your post. It sounds like you and I have a very similar attitude and use-case for our retro-hardware. I don't mind putting 3rd party extras on my older systems. As an example, I use several Acard 50-pin SCSI2 narrow adapter that can hold 2.5" SATA drives on older systems. The bandwidth of the SSDs I put in these adapters far outstrips the capabilities of my old SGI & Amiga systems. The thing is the latency is _so_ much lower, and that *does* translate to improved performance on the old hardware. It makes using the machines much more enjoyable. Plus, I remember a tradition of modifying and extending hardware in the 80's and 90's that's mostly been lost in the era of cheap disposable PCs. I'm okay with hot-rodding machines, even 20-30 years later when it doesn't make much difference. Why not use an emulator? Well where is the fun in that if I can't touch the metal ? I guess it's a bit like old cars. Lots of people hate the idea of someone putting non-original parts onto classic cars. Others will go nuts and butcher them into franken-rods with a mix. To each his own. I might be laughed at for wanting a Fiero-Ferrari, but hey it's all in good fun. -Swift
