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Where do you store your vintage collection?

I started by accumulating things in my basement. Then I bought some fridge sized SGI machines and was storing those in a warehouse space rented by my friend. Then my friend rented a bigger warehouse space to hold his arcade cabinet collection and I moved along with him and acquired some more big SGI machines. Then my basement was too cramped, so I moved everything into the warehouse. Eventually I needed more space and so did my friend, so I moved into my own warehouse space that was initially shared with the local maker group. Then I started getting cramped on space again and the local maker group thought I was being tyrannical because I wouldn't let them make me legally liable for killing themselves on a lathe/band saw/table saw/TIG welder/whatever, so they moved out into their own space. Now I have enough space for storage and a modest arrangement of stored stuff as an "exhibit" and I'm bringing items from the warehouse to my basement for repair/refurbishment/restoration work project. For what I was collecting, the typical sources (ebay, liquidation auctions, government auctions, etc.) have pretty much dried up, so I got things in the last wave before they became scarce. Therefore my focus has shifted from item acquisition to item rework.
 
nearly all my collection fits in one room. long table with desktops on it, some stuff stored under it. and a tall shelves for desktops in a corner of a room. notebooks stored in shelves in another room.


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I started by accumulating things in my basement. Then I bought some fridge sized SGI machines and was storing those in a warehouse space rented by my friend. Then my friend rented a bigger warehouse space to hold his arcade cabinet collection and I moved along with him and acquired some more big SGI machines. Then my basement was too cramped, so I moved everything into the warehouse. Eventually I needed more space and so did my friend, so I moved into my own warehouse space that was initially shared with the local maker group. Then I started getting cramped on space again and the local maker group thought I was being tyrannical because I wouldn't let them make me legally liable for killing themselves on a lathe/band saw/table saw/TIG welder/whatever, so they moved out into their own space. Now I have enough space for storage and a modest arrangement of stored stuff as an "exhibit" and I'm bringing items from the warehouse to my basement for repair/refurbishment/restoration work project. For what I was collecting, the typical sources (ebay, liquidation auctions, government auctions, etc.) have pretty much dried up, so I got things in the last wave before they became scarce. Therefore my focus has shifted from item acquisition to item rework.

How long do you think it will be before that happens with IBM PC's from the 80's(5150/5160/5170 etc)?
 
nearly all my collection fits in one room. long table with desktops on it, some stuff stored under it. and a tall shelves for desktops in a corner of a room. notebooks stored in shelves in another room.


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Is that a Digital Venturis 5/75? I've got one of those with original monitor/keyboard.

Not sure how rare they are but yours is the first I have seen outside of my collection in years.
 
How long do you think it will be before that happens with IBM PC's from the 80's(5150/5160/5170 etc)?

Well, there are several important differences between what I've been collecting and the IBM PC.

First, the IBM PC was designed to be affordable by ordinary people and was manufactured in huge quantities.

Second, when people "decomission" their old PC, they might put it in the basement or the attic or give it to a friend or relative. Or maybe they replace their 5150 with a 5160 and move over the peripherals, leaving a partial system behind.

So the huge production quantity and the fact that those PCs remained around even when not in daily use, makes for a different story in terms of availability for collectors. Plus, we still see warehouse hordes like the Computer Reset thing in Texas currently.

Contrast that to things like SGI workstations. This kind of equipment was made in significantly smaller quantities than anything in the IBM PC or compatible lineup. Even though SGI was quite successful, the absolute quantity of equipment is significantly smaller than anything in the PC/microcomputer space.

These were expensive things and not many people bought them for their personal use when they were current product. They were purchased by companies. When they were no longer useful, those companies typically liquidated them as used equipment or outright scrapped them. Still, they were liked by lots of people, so when companies offered up old equipment, employees or others were happy to take ownership. Once Hollywood got into digital effects, SGI equipment was one of the favored brands, so decomissioned equipment from primary uses was likely to find aftermarket value in smaller companies: contractors, developers, etc. This is still the case with something like an SGI Tezro or Fuel workstation. Even though these products are quite old compared to modern GPU/PC setups, they still fetch a high price on ebay, which tells me that someone is still using them for production work. Most likely this is due to specific software that requires a MIPS processor in order to run properly as the Tezro/Fuel were the last workstations made by SGI that used the MIPS processor. So if you have "tried and true" MIPS SGI software that you are using for production work, the Fuel or Tezro is the most recent hardware you can purchase and still run your software natively.

There's also the size/weight factor. I used to see SGI "deskside" and "fridge" sized computers listed on ebay when I first started collecting. I haven't seen one for a long, long time. The freight shipping alone for a deskside system is probably like $500 at this point. Probably $1,000+ for the fridge sized models. This means that it's unlikely a collector is going to purchase a whole system over something like ebay and since production companies aren't using that equipment anymore either, there's not much incentive for a full-time ebay seller to list such an item. Instead, they list the boards and PSU parts and scrap the rest. This contributes to scarcity.

Get into even lesser known brands like "Sanders Associates", "Evans & Sutherland", "Ramtek", etc., and the things are just downright rare if non-existent.
 
Garage, computer workroom, master bedroom closet, gameroom + closet, guest bedroom closet. Feel like my wife should read this thread to make her realize I'm not the only nutter out there.
 
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