Re: MIDRANGE-L Digest V4 #419

At one day and age, yes, it would of cost more.  But now...
We can go out and get an e-machine computer for between $300
to $400 for the box.  Throw in $60 for 64 megs more memory 
(bringing it up to 96 megs) and $100 to $140 for a monitor
(17" if you can find them on sale) and throw in $30 for a 10/100
BaseT Network Card ($12 on sale, the real cheapies).  Your total
cost is real close to a dumb tube ($500 to $600 last time I priced
them).

Admittedly, there is a much higher cost of ownership for a PC
than for a dumb tube.  A dumb tube, once every 6 months or so you
might have to go fool with the twisted pair wires that someone
stepped on, or adjust the brightness, or buy a new keyboard.

A PC, you are forever wondering why this PC is stuck in 600x400 mode
when you just reinstalled the video driver 8 times after trying various
things, the dumb thing still won't get out of blind man mode!  (We actually
have one computer here like that now.  When I get some free time [HA!]
I'm going to have to wipe it slick and reinstall from scratch, with all
the software, a 4 to 6 hour job).  Not something you have to worry about
on a dumb tube.

Regards,

Jim Langston

Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 11:04:38 -0500
From: "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com>
Subject: RE: MIDRANGE-L Digest V4 #416

And there are cases where it simply doesn't make sense to replace a dumb
tube.  Shop floors are notoriously bad environments for PCs: extremes of
temperature and humidity, airborne foreign matter, electromagnetic
radiation.  In these cases, they might have a membrane keyboard connected to
a dumb tube for Joe the Punch Press Operator to simply mash the Enter key
when an operation is completed.  I'd love to see the corporate IT guy
explain to Joe that after each operation, Joe has to take off his glove and
wash his hand, then try to position a little mouse pointer onto a button on
the screen.

Remember, Joe's Christmas bonus is based on efficiency...

More than likely, you'd start seeing a lot of "accidental" PC failures, as
in "I accidentally smashed it with the punch press".

Joe

P.S. Yeah, you can write a PC application that only requires mashing the
enter key and that will probably mollify our friend Joe.  But the point is
that the PC will likely not last as long as the dumb tube, and will probably
cost more.
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