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         Dreams/Technology, (sdf.org), 08/13/2018
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Most nights I remember my dreams. They're usually not 
that interesting, but every once in a while they are 
noteworthy. Last night's dream wasn't that noteworthy, but 
it was applicable at least. It reveals a thought and 
experience process that I've been having relative to 
technology.

Last night I dreamed that I was in a parking lot, looking 
for my car (it wasn't where I thought it should be) when I 
noticed a garage sale[1]. I entered the house where the sale 
was happening. It was unusually ornate and luxurious, and no 
one was present. I walked through the house, not finding 
anything that I was interestedin, and into the very 
large back yard.

In the back yard there was a large temporary carport, the 
half-round kind covered by a white tarp material. I walked 
into the carport/shelter and noticed that there were piles 
of old, dusty "stuff," a mish-mash of household goods, old 
appliances, and yes, some old computer junk. I immediately 
started working through the piles looking for anything that 
might be useful or interesting.

As I searched, I noted that there were many high-quality 
tools. A few other people came around, also looking for 
things, including a young boy. The boy picked up one of the 
tools, apparently interested in buying it, when the lady of 
the house emerged. She was an older lady, and quite elegant. 
To the boy's dismay, the lady informed him of the 
astronomically high price of the item he was holding. 
Crestfallen, he put it down and left. The people that were 
there asked the lady about a few other items, and all of the 
prices were ridiculously high. 

As they spoke, I continued to look. Eventually, everyone 
left but the older lady and me. She seemed excited for me to 
find something I wanted, and kept asking me if there was 
anything that interested me. I almost felt like she was 
excited to burst my bubble with some insanely high price if 
I were to express interest. However, nothing in the pile was 
of interest to me.

That's all I'll share of the dream, as it's all that has 
bearing on technology and what I want to talk about here. In 
recent years, I've become a lot more interested in the 
computers that were around when I was young, but which are 
harder and harder to find now. For years, I've had fun 
searching at thrift stores for older computing devices and 
parts. It has been a lot of fun, but recently it seems like 
it's gotten harder and harder.

Thrift stores- at least the ones near me- no longer seem to 
have any old computer junk. I search and search, and rarely 
find anything. The things from the period that interests me 
have filtered through or out, and are either in someone's 
hands, or in a landfill, or melted down for gold (as used to 
be common.)[2]

Just recently, my grandfather passed away. He was a horder, 
and I had the unfortunate and fortunate responsibility of 
going through his home to find any photos or other family 
history that could be salvaged. I secretly hoped that, 
having been somewhat technical in radio and computers, he 
might have old gear lying around. During my search through 
papers, I did find a receipt for a C64, and that raised my 
hopes even more. But alas, even in all his junk, he hadn't 
kept any vestigates of computer years past.

The dust in my dream, I'm positive came from the experience 
at my grandfather's house (it was so dusty and dirty in his 
garage, though it was well organized.) The tools also, for 
my grandfather was a mechanic by trade, and had quite a few 
rather nice tools. The garage sale, I think, came from the 
thrift stores that I search regularly. The miserly woman, I 
think represents the difficulty and expense related to my 
hobby these days.

Some dreams I wake from wondering how they came to be. This 
one I woke from understanding that it was just my brain 
mulling over things that I thought about somewhat regularly.

In happier news, I ordered a new z80 SIO/2 ic from mouser 
last night, which I want to try out in my pcb-version 
project[3]. If I can't find the old stuff to buy readily, I 
can at least make it. It is amazing to me that I can still 
order the parts so easily.

My previous attempts at the breadboard and pcb versions of 
Grant Searle's CP/M computer didn't work, and I believe I've 
narrowed it down to the SIO/2. I bought cheap-o SIO/2's on 
ebay, and I think they're fakes. I suppose this mouser part 
will tell me if I'm right or not.

Maybe I'll have a more pleasant dream in the future, after I 
get some of these things out of my system.


[1] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Garage sale
[2] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Electronic waste
[3] gopher://grex.org:70/1/~tfurrows/projects/z80_buildpcb/