[Elecraft] manuals ...

[John Ragle]

Hi, Blair...

What you say about 'job files" is quite true. I've been in & around 
computers since the late 1950's, and although I've ditched all my 8" 
floppies, I still have some 5 1/4" that I have saved in the forlorn 
hopes that they will become useful again for some other function than as 
coasters.

...but about the lifetime of tech manuals, I think the significant 
yardstick by which to measure them would be the average lifetime of the 
hardware they describe. Granted that eBay has the occasional SX-24 or 
HRO, or even the FT-101, I think that progress in the field is such that 
over a 10 or 15 year interval the useful hardware's lifetime is exceeded 
on average. Emphasis on "average!" The equipment in my ham operation 
looks very different from the way it looked 10 years ago, and on the 
computer side, I reckon 2 or 3 years is the absolute maximum life for 
hardware. Manuals designed to last for 25 or 50 years are just silly.

John Ragle -- W1ZI