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How do you store and display your collection - show & tell

T

ThinkpadIL

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
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18
Every collection starts from one device, then it populates one shelve, and then... every collector knows what happens then.

So, I thought it would be nice to hear some tips and also to see how it looks actually.
 
I just finished building this shelf area along one wall in my basement/lab. I'm still working out how to set it up. This picture shows double-stacked PC's. But I may decide to do it differently. Maybe a CRT on PC on top shelf and a single PC on lower shelf with keyboards. Still experimenting.

This wall is all about pre-pentium PC's, from 8088 to 80486. From right to left is an 8088 Class PC, Tandy 1000, IBM 5162, NEC 286-12, IBM PS/1 386sx-25, and my recently rebuilt 486DX4-100 under a PC Partner 386sx-16. There's an AST 486 on the shelf under the IBM 5162 but that has been moved to another area after this picture was taken.

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The wall adjacent is for Pentium to P4 and then Core Solo thru iCore. From the right corner moving left are the Pentium thru P4, with a 486 Gateway 2000 under the P1, P2, and P3. I have these all on a 4-way switch for the monitor and keyboard and mouse. Under the flat panel TV is Pentium 4s with analog TV (old HTPC's) then Core Solo Celeron and some Core2Duo's, an AMD Athlon 64 and a Core i5. All the way to the left is my Win8 HTPC that I still use as my lab TV with WMC. It's a Core2Duo.

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I've displayed from right to left in progression from 8088 to iCore5. I like to just walk up or sit and use them so I try to keep them all active at once. I use KVM switches when I can.

Seaken
 
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This is a personal challenge more me for sure. They had been expanding in my living room, but it looked pretty messy and I told my wife I would improve it. I've got a corner that has a Altair 8800C I built using one of Mike's fine kits and also a PS/2 I've been working on lately. I've got a DEC vt420 for 8800C, but not wanting to put the monitor up on that aluminum top I set to finding some sort of shelf that would look nice. There are a lot of monitor shelves out there, but it turns out finding one with large enough dimensions was not so easy. I ended up ordering a thing called a Sanus accurate furniture audio stand like this:


Which I am going to turn into three independent monitor shelves. It hasn't arrived yet, but hopefully the idea will work and improve things by allowing me to stack the monitor up on top instead of beside. I've also got some other desks around my office and garage for holding old systems, but many of them are not ideal as older systems really need to large desk surface especially if you want the keyboard out in front of it. I put up a wood shelf with some nice strong L brackets under bolted into the wall studs. This was heavy duty enough to put a Compaq Deskpro/M with CRT and also another system.

Always looking for good ideas on how to store and use them!
 
@alank2, that is a nice shelf unit. Reminds me of when we had stereo component systems in our living room. It should work well for your monitor stands.

I have also struggled with depth of shelving for these old PC's. The keyboards will not fit on the shelf in front of the PC case like it does on a desk. I don't have enough room to make desks since I have to work around a centrally located pool table. (I took over the old entertainment room in the basement of my wife's grandparents and the pool table had to stay. I use it as a work table but it restiricts my space against the walls).

Seaken
 
Good to know fellow collectors in the area. Im 45 mins from Poughkeepsie.

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I've seen a couple of other members in the Hudson Valley and Poughkeepsie area. So, there are a few of us.

Seaken

P.S. Technically I'm not in the Hudson Valley, I'm in the Catskills. But most of my work is between Kingston/Rhinebeck and Margrettville. I spend a lot of time in and around Kingston. I'm also 45 minutes from Poughkeepsie.
 
I bought a house and building a dedicated museum on the 2nd floor. Sadly, due to the situation since 2019, it takes longer than expected.
 

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Seaken-thanks, I'm happy with how it turned out. I was tough finding something that could fit over the 8800C. It adds a little bit of "better" to the way I usually have equipment just laying about!
Caluser2000 - I am pretty careful with static electricity having made a lot/handled many pcb's/ic's, so I usually ground myself on something if humidity is low!
Timo - great pics - I love the table and wide open space.
Robert-that is funny! I actually have the same shelves from 20 years ago being used for TV equipment (dvd player, amplifier, etc.) and I was surprised that Sanus still made them thought they are different. My old ones seem slightly thicker and have a textured (non-shiny) finish on them.
 
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