Where can I buy the original lemmings for my PC??

Just wondering if anyone knows where i can buy the original lemmings

for my PC??

It's a difficult question to answer. The term "Lemming" actually covers

about six different genera within the Arvicolinae family; although all

20 species ultimately belong to Order Rodentia.

A further difficulty is that Lemmings are actually living organisms

and as such, pretty difficult to interface directly with a PC. Even

using the very versatile IEEE-488 interface adaptor (ie GPIB) it's

pretty hard to get an animal directly attached; even on a legacy ISA

bus! A PCI lemming is even harder to imagine (although, I do have a few

friends who seem to have actually become organically attached to their

computers; and these guys certainly are animals).

You might want to back-track a bit and re-assess your requirements. Will

a lemming actually provide the user functionality you're looking for? Be

aware that lemmings do not, in fact, make those suicidal migratory

dashes to the sea for which they are widely but inaccurately celebrated.

Like many rodents (eg mice) lemmings are characterised by dramatic

swings in population size over 2 to 5 year cycles. Most species only

migrate a short distance even under population pressure; but during

population booms the Norwegian Lemming (Lemmus lemmus) will travel far

and wide, swimming across rivers and lakes, and moving into human

settlements. When the cyclical boom conditions diminish, many of the

lemmings die. Hence the origin of the popular misconception.

There's the widely-deployed pointing device called a "mouse" to

facilitate Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). But the term "mouse" here

is just an analogy - the device is constructed from synthetic materials

like plastic; the name derives from a supposed similarly to the

general external shape or morphology of the mouse animal (like lemmings,

a member of Order Rodentia). But there's no actual mouse hide, bone, or

internal organs in the apparatus.

Nevertheless ... I've been able to find some pretty rare stuff on eBay -

old software and various bits of hardware that bring back happy memories

of the 1960s and 1970s. If you look under the "Computers and Office"

section of eBay you might find what you're after. Look particularly in

the subsections with "vintage" in their name. If there's a lemming for a

computer out there somewhere - this is where you'll find it.

Cheers

Andrew