A bit long reply ... My collection outgrew the room in which all was more or less "in storage", because I got so many that there was no more room to play with them. That's the point when I decided that I needed more space. Renting some storage is not expensive in the beginning, but that are recurring cotst every month. An other drawback is that such a storage is not near your house, so (what I do almost every evening) going to have a look at the collection (I love the sight of those machines) would not be possible. I could build something in the backyard, but there were restrictions from the local authorities, otherwise it would sure be at least twice as big! The outside measures 30 sq. m. It is built like a house: a good floor to carry +/- 5000 kilo (at this moment) and under the tiles is a 500W. electrical heating. I wanted to keep all machines in a "good" environment so, the temperature is never below 10" Celcius, even now, when it is outside freezing 7" Celcius. To keep the temperature inside there is 10 cm spacing between the outside and inside walls. That 10 cm consists of air and glass-fiber insulation, the normal stuff used in Holland when a house is built. The inside stone wall is made of bricks that have small air pockets (for better temp. insulation). I would have built a bit cheaper (especially the windows and the door), but my wife insisted: you build it *good*, or you don't build at all! Regarding the power installation, I had to get that from the closet where the power company cable enters the house. As I could not wire *under* the house, I had to dig a 60 cm trench around the house (deep, I know, but I do not want any hassle is good for 3-phase power, at least 32 Amps per phase. If I "upgrade" the power company fuses (behind seals, so I can not do that myself), I actually can draw 16 Amps per group at 230 VAC. and I have 6 groups! That should be enough to run the PDP-11/70 and the two RM03s at the same time. BTW, the "making of ..." does not show everything. There are a lot of small construction details that I did not know of. But my neighbour (it is not my brother, but hey, the Dutch "IRS" might read my site) works in the "construction business", and I would have done a few things not so well. While building they are simple, but when it's done and you have trouble with damp walls, things are not so easy anymore! Oh, and the outside roof was done by a chap retired in that business. So, the place was built "after hours". It saves a lot of money, but the drawback is that the construction took approx 6 months. Actually, I have the power just since two months! And now I am sort-of-playing with the first machine, the 11/34C. After three years not-powered, I have had a lot of problems getting the machine to run, and I am still not out of the weeds! But I do learn a lot in the mean time. Tip: run your machines at least once a month to keep them "healthy"! Talk nice to them :-) I will shoot new pictures of the "computer room", of which you can see one on the "Update Status" page. The wall at the end is not so empty anymore ... The latest addition is *NOT* a DIGITAL machine. Allthough I do restrict myself to DEC, I could not resist the offer of a DATA GENERAL NOVA 3D with the machine matching printer and terminal. Further, it has 192 Mb memory (so MMU must be installed) and it has two disk drives, and comes with several 10 Mb cartridges. Plus 3 boxs of documentation still shrick-wrapped. I did a quick check on bitsavers, and saw noting of the 3D. I guess the new year will bring a lot of scanning work ... If you ask "why get that non-DEC machine?", the answer is simple. For two reasons: 1) DG was founded (?) or the Nova was built (?) [not sure what applies] by people that left DEC! just like Amdahl was founded by poeple who left IBM, and 2) it's a complete, and original setup. BTW, the I will keep the Nova in the house, next to the HAM radio stuff. But it is a tight fit, getting full again! If I ever win the lottery big time, I will move. My wife can decide on the (new) house, I am just looking for s p a c e , (not the final frontier). About 3 times what I have now would be nice, for starters :-). Everybody, a healthy 2006! (the most important thing in life, whatever you collect!) - Henk, PA8PDP. ________________________________ Van: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org namens Richard Verzonden: do 29-12-2005 07:02 Aan: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Onderwerp: Re: Housing collections (was: other Utah collectors?) For those of you that have larger machines, do you set them up in "machine room" configurations like the Netherlands PDP-11 room? Do any of you have your collection housed somewhere with a raised machine-room tile floor for routing cables underneath? ;-) -- "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline"-- code samples, sample chapter, FAQ: <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/ <http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/> > Pilgrimage: Utah's annual demoparty <http://pilgrimage.scene.org <http://pilgrimage.scene.org> > This message and attachment(s) are intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or agent thereof responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone and with a "reply" message. Thank you for your cooperation.