Withdrawal symptoms, cylinder index, CPU index?

[Alex Kowalski]

I know the feeling, brother.  I have an entire console, with functional lights and complete wiring harness, from an IBM System 370/138 in my garage.  What does that count for?  I'm sure if I ask my father to dig around he can come up with all sorts of print hammers and assorted card reader and tape drive parts, relays and optical sensors, LSI and VLSI circuit boards, motors, fixed-disk head assemblies, and even a whole collection of reels for an IBM 3420, in frequencies from 800 to 6250 BPI, and probably some 3330 and 3350 disk packs, also.  

We also have a collection of more or less modern "computer" (ha!) lying around that I could easily whip into shape and beat the crap out of your CPU index ;)

Of course, the electric bill would be obscene and my girlfriend would probably stop visiting me at that point. 

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_3420.html 

I suggest we stick with a cylinder index for the Quattro list, at least formally.  But we could modify it with past Audi experience, in other words, take the past Audis you've owned and multiply the number of cylinders logarithmically by the difference between today and the date of manufacture of the car.  ;)

Cheers,
Alex


--
"If You're Not Part Of The Solution, You're Part Of The Precipitate."
-- John Callas, CTO, PGP Corporation


Mike Arman wrote:

> I'm having withdrawal symptoms - Cody Forbes came and picked up my *entire* 
> collection of five cylinder Audi cars and parts (well one car is still 
> here, he has to make two trips, there is just *so* much you can put on a 
> trailer, into the cars and into the bed of a dually . . . )
> 
> I was amazed at the quantity and quality of the stuff - NOS parts, hard to 
> find stuff, all labeled, annotated and boxed, right down to what section of 
> the Bentley covers it, reconditioned subassemblies ready to be installed, 
> and all of a sudden I have ROOM in my garage, side and back yards, and can 
> mow, trim, and generally move stuff around now . . .
> 
> I have not left the Audi fold - I still have (and am keeping) the V8 - and 
> now I have room to accumulate goodies for it!!
> 
> My cylinder index, however, took a hit - down 13 points (yes, I know 13 
> isn't divisible by five - he also got a Subaru Justy engine which I was 
> going to convert to power a generator "someday"), and that moves me from 
> "master of motors" down to "dilettante", and I don't like that. Somehow I 
> don't think buying a V-12 Jag to get the CI back up is going to fly . . . 
> or even run, if it is a Jag . . .
> 
> One item we never did resolve is the CI of a wankel engine. Is it "1", or 
> is it "3" or is it "the equivalent number of cylinders in a recip engine 
> which makes the same power" or something else entirely? My CI is now 
> somewhere between 24 and 27, depending on how we count the rotary engine.
> 
> I propose, therefore, that we create an additional index as a measure of 
> geekdom - the CPU index. How many computers do we have laying around? 
> Ground rules - they all have to be assembled and working, parts in a box 
> don't count. There are multipliers, as well - a working Linux system which 
> you installed yourself is worth "2", anything with a 486 or less is worth 
> ".8", and anything that runs CPM is worth "3" and belongs in a museum. 
> Hacked iOpeners that run are worth 1.5. So let's see, that puts my CPU 
> index at 12.8, which makes me a candidate for propeller-head geekdom.
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Mike Arman
> (Audi V8 . . . it isn't just a car, it's an ADVENTURE!)
> 
> 
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