Since you asked –
Our former living room, about 15” x 15”, has become my computer room.
My wife has her own computers [Win XP desktop & laptop, two older Vista Dell laptops [donated for her volunteer work] and an old Gateway 2000 386 in various places – bedroom, rec room and yes, the bathroom for laptop work – wireless internet – isn’t it great – really portable !
40 + years of marriage you learn a lot – separate computers are better !
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So in the former living room –
Vista – locally built – about 4 years old
Vista Laptop – locally built – about 3 years old – kept in storage under desk until needed – use for my PowerPoint presentations – e.g. 2008 Trenton Computer Fest on Kaypro era, my science, technology and society [STS] research, etc.
Gateway 500 - dates about 2000 – Win XP
Compaq Presario 5006H - dates about 2000 – Win ME
Gateway 2000 – 486 – dates around 1993 – MS-DOS 3.0
Kaypro “8” [converted / upgraded Kaypro II] - dates 1983 – CP/M
Toshiba Satellite laptop – dates abound 1997 – updated to Win98SE from Win95 – when needed, but kept in storage under desk – backup for Vista Laptop and PowerPoint presentations.
Plus accessories – printers, scanners, supplies, software disks / documentation, etc.
When I “proof out” devices like deviceside, PLR, my experiments, etc., it is nice to have “all in one room” the capability to easily use Vista, Win XP, Win ME, MS-DOS 3.0 and CP/M.
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Two other much older Toshiba laptops – MS-DOS – from my very early years – in storage in basement
5 other Kaypro “8” ‘s –for those who remember - they were so slow, you needed to use more than one when doing big projects ! – in storage in basement
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Why all the computers ? We have both been very active professionally, in volunteer work, home projects and hobbies.
I got started in the 1970’s thru a large multiyear PA wide National Science Foundation Grant involving many academic institutions to get computers into academe – students took off, faculty – resistant, but at least administrators knew they needed a mainframe.
I was even “ Director of Computing “ at a small new liberal arts college in a rural area – but not really such a big title – only one teletype and a phone hookup to a CDC6400 mainframe at a nearby university – in just a year we “doubled” our computer capacity – two [2] teletypes – due to the high demand by students – the line went out the door to use them – they were “hooked” also - all in a small back room about 15” x 15’ !
You could also get from the university a briefcase size device with a phone modem – you put the handset into a cradle – remember those days ! - to connect to the CDC6400 wherever there was a phone ! I do not remember if there was just a CRT and / or paper printout for output.
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It was fun and I got “hooked” big time – but a chemist by training – computing did not hit chemistry back then as a practical everyday tool.
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Others should share their experiences also – it was quite an era that we must try to not let get lost in the future – it was how it all started for “individuals” to have their own personal computing [PC’s] capability on their desk and at home, not just for large organizations and computer “experts !”
We do not get many visitors since we live in a very rural area, but one did note the Kaypro, since I had mentioned it to him many years before – they do stand out compared to more modern computers. Others just “gasp” at the crowded conditions !
Frank
