@nullvalue, Looks good. Is that a mini-computer in the case next to the closet?
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!
I hate to tell you this but some of the plastics will still yellow even when covered.Im too paranoid about yellowing and dust so I keep all my stuff covered with towels or small blankets when not in use.
Very true. Sun light is not needed. Had a perfectly light-grey PowerMac 7500 which I stored in a box in a dark room for about 2 years. When I moved and wanted to set it up, I was shocked about how it yellowed. It is now one of the most badly yellowed systems in my collection.I hate to tell you this but some of the plastics will still yellow even when covered.
I just call mine "whatever it is" IRL, but the wife is the one who came up with the "Lab" idea, after calling it a "man cave" for about 9-10 years. Although for me it means "cluttered room full of old shit and guitars".Never understood the whole "Lab" thing. Most of the time it seems to be just an area of old shit with blinkin lights and , oh of course a NAS. I'm like WTF?>
Very true. Sun light is not needed. Had a perfectly light-grey PowerMac 7500 which I stored in a box in a dark room for about 2 years. When I moved and wanted to set it up, I was shocked about how it yellowed. It is now one of the most badly yellowed systems in my collection.
Bottom line: you can not stop yellowing. Period.
I hate to tell you this but some of the plastics will still yellow even when covered.
Forget "retrobright" - just put your yellowed computers in the sun and they'll whiten. After a few years, they'll eventually re-yellow, just like with "retrobrighting", but you don't have the hassle of disassembling and soaking in peroxide.
I whitened some computers a few years ago this way and they're just getting a bit yellow now. When they're too yellow, I'll take them out on the deck in the sun for a few hours and fix it.
It's a Compaq Portable 386. I have a III, but the power supply is shot.Is that a Compaq Portable III? I had one that went missing when I moved. I also lost an Apple II Plus. (damn those movers)
This is how I de-yellowed my computers/keyboards. A seagull even came down to check it out. I think he approved.This. I was looking into retrobrighting but wasn't excited about taking everything apart. It went from disassembling everything and submerging in relatively expensive peroxide, to just using LED strips in a foiled over Tupperware to just leaving them outside in the sun (on days that aren't incredibly hot).