Claude.W said:
Hi
I also have accumulated many machines, but I have the following rules
to keep control of the space it uses:
-Only 1 copy of a machine. Keep the best & cleanest. Trash, sell or
giveaway duplicates. I was keeping extra for trades but find they take
up too much space.
How about keeping them for spares ? I try to get at least two of each,
especially if the machines are rare enough.
-No matching printers for each system. I abandonned
printers long time
ago or it just takes up too much space.
-No books. Only one or 2 max complete reference per system. Or then it
gets outta control.
All the books I can get. They're normally the best part :)
-No magazines.
-Only 1 or 2 peripherals like floppy drives and such....I dont try to
get every peripheral for each system...
-Only 1 "branded monitor" model per system. Monitors use a lotta space.
And break often. See the part about the spares.
Please note that I'm lucky enough to have plenty of storage. But getting
spares or backup systems is always a priority for me. I know Tony could
get away with fixing everything but some are just too hard (like HP 9000
s500 processor boards or the bad-block-ridden 7933).
I think the best way to keep a collection withing reasonable size limits is
to specialize. Try to concentrate on a certain make/model and *then* get
everything you can get your hands on esp. books, prints, magazines from the
era etc.etc. I think a collection is mostly a mindset, accumulated
knowledge, therefore one machine might be enough.
--
jht