I am not sure what the machine was used for, but likely business purposes. There are a lot of other computers and parts stored in the barn, he seemed to use it for storage of his obsolete equipment. I have no idea what Comm or VT100 are, as I'm still new to Amiga.
Any idea what the business was?
Comm is a terminal emulator / modem software. VT100 is also a terminal standard. In other words, he was definitely using the computer to connect to something else through a serial connection of some kind. Since you found modems... Likely using the modem to call into something.
i am beginning to think perhaps the A1000 was being used as a BBS. which would explain some of the questions concerning the kickstart boot disk, comms error, hard drive.
I suppose that is also a possibility, but I'm thinking it was more likely making the calls out to something than receiving them in, if it was set up to kick and boot to a Comm terminal. Of course, it's possible that is just the last role it lived through before being consigned to the barn. It could have been doing something much more interesting before it got demoted to being a terminal interface.