ken shirriff: Restoring a vintage Xerox Alto day 8: it boots!

Have been following this saga via RSS (the "days" stretch out over weeks) and getting the device to boot up is a major step.
The Alto is the computer Steve Jobs "borrowed" many of his ideas from back in the '70s. The degree of work to restore a 40-year old machine should give anyone pause about the longevity of current data.