"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Jan 2018 16:53:24 -0400, Leon Fisk
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Jan 2018 14:56:05 -0500
Ed Huntress wrote:

huge snip
It's disheartening to become obsolete. d8-)

Yeah, I use to fix stuff, good thing I retired when I did. Still do
for
friends when I feel ambitious, which isn't often nowadays. Now
people
replace stuff, even the "repair" guy...

Yeah, the new "techs" are board replacers because the computer
diagnostics told them to do so.

In 1970 the Army trained me to repair computer communications
'peripherals' to the component level after memorizing the machines'
operations, but the material was so difficult that only students with
science degrees completed it. Four of us survived the forty week
course, whittled down from over 80 entrants. We were available only
because the grad school draft deferment had been dropped.

The Army was soon forced to revert to a test procedure for board
swappers. I think the problem was that people who could do it were
qualified for better jobs. I certainly preferred designing and
building new equipment over repairing older stuff.

-jsw