Actually I always felt that the big iron had the coolest look. The IBM
System/370 was big, jet black, and had a front panel covered with lights
that flashed as it worked. Only a few of them were *really* useful if you
were a sysadmin as opposed to a CSE (hardware tech). But it looked
*really* cool. And the coloring made it cooler looking than the
System/360, which had more lights and even switches (those big electrical
toggles, not rocker switches or anything), but a funny beige/white and blue
look.
<http://www.thegalleryofoldiron.com/370_135.JPG>
I'm also rather fond of my old TRS-80 Model III.
<http://oldcomputers.net/trs80iii.html>
But maybe I'm just nostalgic for some of the really fun times I had
programming on both systems.
Tony
--On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 03:54:40 PM -0400 Nick Floersch
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
http://www.osnews.com/story/19621/The_Ten_Most_Beautiful_Computers/page1
/
As an avid enthusiast of SGI, NeXT, Be, Apple, and a proud computer-pr0n
collector (i.e. naughty picks of hot - usually old - hardware), I was
intrigued to see what choices were made here. I really can not agree
with some of the choices, but to see some of my favorites on the list
does warm my heart. I think anything from NeXT, SGI, or Cray
automatically should win a prize (not that Cray made the list), but I
admit that I feel the #1 choice on their list was well chosen, even if
the other stuff on the list was just a smattering of the hundreds of
great options out there.
My biggest beef with the list - the IBM PS/2. There were some cases from
IBM in that era that I really did love - the PS/2 Model 80 in particular
( http://www.silicium.org/ibm/ibm/ibmps2mod80.htm ), but none of them
really strike me as beautiful.
So, how about all of you? What are your favorites?
Or, in "High Fidelity" language: what are your top-10, desert island,
all-time, most beautiful computers? Links to photos might be fun, too.
Try not to drool and gibber while responding...
-Nick
