10 Apr
1997
10 Apr
'97
1:50 p.m.
On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, Carl R. Friend wrote:
Well, I've not got a mainframe _yet_, and I have no idea where I'd put one
if I did...
BUT, a minicomputer doesn't take up that much more floor area than a
micro. A 6' rack (say something like a DEC H960) takes up about the same
area as a PC + printer (actually a bit less), and holds a CPU and a few
drives. OK, so if most of your collection is packed away in cupboards,
then storing a mini is a bit harder, but they're not as big as some people
think.
In general, minicomputer boxes (the bits that slot into the rack) are a
lot easier to store than micros, even without the rack. They stack up in
the corner of a room quite easily - they're mostly flat-topped boxes, and
are strong enough to stack, unlike micros, which (IMHO) are often
impossible to store, especially the ones with built-in keyboards which
simply refuse to stack :-)
Of course convincing your SO that a 6' rack is a perfectly normal item of
furniture is left as an exercise....
While I'm greatly pleased that folks are
preserving microcomputers,
I've never felt a "bond" to that particular realm of design. I like
things like time-states, core memory, and pulse-logic. I guess that
makes me an "old fart".
You probably have space to burn. As it is my fiance has a hard time with
my hobby. Just wait until I find my first mainframe and try to store it
in the garage. To say the least I'll run into some opposition.
Sam
--
-tony
ard12(a)eng.cam.ac.uk
The gates in my computer are AND,OR and NOT, not Bill