saundby
Experienced Member
I've just finished a blog post on what I'm up to with my computers this summer. Well, some of it, anyway. I've posted some pics of some of my systems and part of my set up and my electronics bench (temporarily covered in clutter when I took the pic.)
Have a look:
http://catsonkeyboards.blogspot.com/2010/06/retrocomputing-summer.html
These are just a few of my systems. Over time, I expect to have more pics and info out there. In addition to what's shown I have an area next to my big screen where I rotate various of my old systems through over the course of the year, including Vic-20s, C-64s, an Amiga 500 (my 2500 is playing dead until I figure out what's wrong with it), Apple IIs, and so on. I've also got a desk in the garage that has a Bigboard, a G4 MDD Mac tower, and a place where my compact Macs rotate through (presently the Performa 550 is there, last week it was one of my Mac Plus systems.) There's another desk in my second garage that has my AT&T 6300, a PS/2 Model 25, and an HP/Apollo model 425 Unix box (68020, 25MHz--for years this was my primary software development system.)
In addition to the projects on the blog, I've finished refinishing a 1.5m rolling rackmount chassis that I'm planning on moving a collection of CP/M systems into. The present plan is to put the Bigboard, a Bigboard II, a Kaypro, and an old 286 with a Compaticard and Baby Blue board into it (formerly owned by Jay Sage, given to me in a trove of stuff by Dave Baldwin.) The plan looks good on paper, but it's going to be tight fitting everything in, especially while keeping the keyboards and displays accessible. The 286's display will sit on top of the cabinet, since it's only going to be used for data transfers between 8" and other formats, so I don't mind craning my neck a bit when I use it. If I've been overconfident, I'll leave out the Kaypro.
Once that's done I need to build a place to house a selection of my Commodores. Presently I have a TV armoire that I've converted into a home for old video game systems. It presently houses an Atari 2600, a 7800, a Sega Saturn, and a Sega CD along with all the games and peripherals for the systems. They're all hooked up to an old-style "prosumer" TV/monitor with multiple inputs. I'm thinking of doing something similar for the Commodores, but with drawers modified to have the fronts swing down as keyboard trays, and probably only three systems to allow extra space for the disk drives.
After that comes a permanent home for my Apple IIs...but each step forward means more room on the three desks I've already got committed to old computers around the house. That means others get to come off the storage shelves for good.
Have a look:
http://catsonkeyboards.blogspot.com/2010/06/retrocomputing-summer.html
These are just a few of my systems. Over time, I expect to have more pics and info out there. In addition to what's shown I have an area next to my big screen where I rotate various of my old systems through over the course of the year, including Vic-20s, C-64s, an Amiga 500 (my 2500 is playing dead until I figure out what's wrong with it), Apple IIs, and so on. I've also got a desk in the garage that has a Bigboard, a G4 MDD Mac tower, and a place where my compact Macs rotate through (presently the Performa 550 is there, last week it was one of my Mac Plus systems.) There's another desk in my second garage that has my AT&T 6300, a PS/2 Model 25, and an HP/Apollo model 425 Unix box (68020, 25MHz--for years this was my primary software development system.)
In addition to the projects on the blog, I've finished refinishing a 1.5m rolling rackmount chassis that I'm planning on moving a collection of CP/M systems into. The present plan is to put the Bigboard, a Bigboard II, a Kaypro, and an old 286 with a Compaticard and Baby Blue board into it (formerly owned by Jay Sage, given to me in a trove of stuff by Dave Baldwin.) The plan looks good on paper, but it's going to be tight fitting everything in, especially while keeping the keyboards and displays accessible. The 286's display will sit on top of the cabinet, since it's only going to be used for data transfers between 8" and other formats, so I don't mind craning my neck a bit when I use it. If I've been overconfident, I'll leave out the Kaypro.
Once that's done I need to build a place to house a selection of my Commodores. Presently I have a TV armoire that I've converted into a home for old video game systems. It presently houses an Atari 2600, a 7800, a Sega Saturn, and a Sega CD along with all the games and peripherals for the systems. They're all hooked up to an old-style "prosumer" TV/monitor with multiple inputs. I'm thinking of doing something similar for the Commodores, but with drawers modified to have the fronts swing down as keyboard trays, and probably only three systems to allow extra space for the disk drives.
After that comes a permanent home for my Apple IIs...but each step forward means more room on the three desks I've already got committed to old computers around the house. That means others get to come off the storage shelves for good.