On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote: Well, I tried to limit myself, but I just couldn't. So I got some warehouse space. And that wasn't enough. So I took over about half of a friends warehouse (who was really nice to let me use it). Then I had to get a storage locker. And then I took over half of a friend's bigger storage locker. (A different friend from the first one.) *sigh* Peace... Sridhar

Lawrence Walker wrote: First, I filled up the garage. Then it extended into the back bedroom, then back porch, then front bedroom (when our daughter moved out), then the dining room ... oops, company coming ... stuff to bedroom closets. More stuff, darn where does it go ... good, the hall is still empty and nobody will go that route. More *good* stuff, all the closets are full so pack it higher in the garage and fill up the aisles there and block off access to most of the back porch. More stuff, whew, a friend has an enclosed trailer that I volunteered to store ... if I could fill it with "stuff". More stuff ... oh, oh, another friend gives me two army tents, time to put one up. More stuff ... sigh, put it out in the back yard in front of the garage and try to get the good stuff out before bad weather hits. More stuff, okay, time to fill up the ex-dining room. Hmmmm, what to do if more stuff comes in ... okay, time to start getting rid of stuff I don't need or want; darn that *hurts*. Good ebay will provide a great opportunity ... but I don't want to get rid of good stuff. Okay, get rid of the newer stuff first, 386's, 486's, monitors I figured I'd get time to fix *some day*. This stuff is too good to toss, hmmmm, that is what thrift stores are for. AHHHH, a free spring clean up (our city does that) with everything I can put out there. Why are those people looking at me like I have a sickness?

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote: I didn't know I was a collector until a couple of months ago, when I found this list. I just thought I was insane. Wait.... I've learned to stack them very tall. With various found-object spacers for airflow. Aten KVMs are a poor collector's godsend. As are some of the better displays like my Idek Iiyama 21" - which is darn near on-topic now - and my jack-of-all-graphics Power17. They'll do 56Hz quasi-VGA, 1280x1024 mono, sync-on-green, composite-sync, and separate-sync hi-res SVGA without a hiccup. Look darn good doing it too. Limits? Seenyore, we don't NEED no steenking limits! BwaaaHaHaHaHa..... Doc

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. -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. -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. -If its a vintage system your not going to "use/play with" : then keep very little software for each system, only maybe an OS and a few utils, games etc...just to "show it off" -Get many shelves, nice ones. -Frequent cleanings....I do major ones at least 5 times a year a throw out a bunch of stuff....you have to stop saying "yes but I might use it someday" at one point and go more like "Whats the chance I am realling gonna use this again or is this really worth keeping"? But thats just me...I cant stand a mess - at all...all my collection is in matching sturdy "ABS" plasctic shelves that I bought brand new a few years ago...this helps a lot! Some people I find "accumulate in piles" more then "collect". IMO...But I think this was already the subject of much discussion and a very lenghty thread... Later Claude http://computer_collector.tripod.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lawrence Walker" <lgwalker(a)mts.net> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 1:00 AM Subject: Taking control of your collection artifacts accumulated once was, list-members was going

Lawrence Walker wrote: That's a beginning. That's a thing that one must admit to oneself :-) Good decision :-) I've done this many times. I find that it is a progression. One week, you pull out all the things that you don't really need, and sell them, give them away, or whatever. The next time you sort the collection, amazingly you find that a few more things can be let go of, even though, they were there the first time you sorted. This is an opinion obviously, but remember I'm speaking from experience..... these sound more like excuses than valid reasons :-) Sure, I understand. I have no intentions of getting rid of my Apple //e system. I wanted an Apple //e when I was a kid, and had some of my first computer experiences with them at school. I hardly use it, but I'm keeping it :-) Well each person will have different factors motivating them. Here are a few of mine: -I want a wife, and while I'd like one that is tolerant of my computers, I really want to be practical about it, and not push the limits. Finding a wife is much more important to me than having an awesome computer collection. -I can't own everything, I can't have two spares of all the parts. -I can only practically manage so much (maybe I can hire a curator :-) -I can't store/display/set up everything..... I don't have the room -I don't want to horde something that I only 'might' use when it might be exactly what someone else needs, or wants very much. I'd rather someone else use something, rather than myself just storing it. -I want to have room/time/money/etc for vintage hi-fi audio gear. My systems are 60's and 70's Solid-state, hopefully I'll get some tube stuff eventually. I haven't spent a ton of money as most of it is from Goodwill, but it's still money, takes up space, and requires fiddle time. Something else that I try to do, is to focus my collections on certain brands, models, busses, or whatever. Rather than trying to own everything. I think this works because if you own a broad cross section of things, you end up trying to expand each part of that cross section to 3D, which can be a lot of stuff!! If you have fairly targeted collections, then as you deepen and complete those collections you end up with a more manageable lot. That being said, I have one Microvax and stick to Qbus..... no Unibus, and I am letting the MicroPDP11 go. I have one Apple //e all decked out.... I gave the others away. I've sorted through my box of spare boards and drives time and time again, and have sold off or given away things that I don't use. I was able to sell one of my IDE TEAC cd-rom drives..... why keep it.... I use only SCSI! I have quite a few Microchannel boards, but I do own a Model 80 and an RS6000, and will be reworking them a bit. I owned an IBM PC, but got bored of it, sold it, missed it, bought an XT, got bored of it, and sold it, and have very little 8-bit PC hardware now. The 8-bit ISA stuff I do have I keep because I don't think I could easily replace it, such as an 8-bit ISA SCSI card. Several times I have been tempted by Commodore hardware, yet decided against it..... I had a Vic-20 as a kid, wanted a 64 or a Apple//e. Well I used a //e is school own a //e now, but never did anything with a 64, so why add one now, when I can put my energy into current into established interests? This whole topic comes at an interesting time, since I need to sort through things again :-) Chad Fernandez Michigan, USA

I have the same problem. I eventually "just said no to classic computers" :-) The one computer line that is still causing space trouble is Classic Macs. People find out that I collect, nay, use them regularly and foist all manner on me. Great for parts, but then I can't bring myself to dispose of the units. There's a Performa 630CD in the closet that I got with a PowerBook 1400cs/117 fix the PB and took the P630 I could have them for free -- who could refuse? ;-) but it will never get used because the IIcis work so well. I can't just junk it, though, it's fully functional! Since I have Commodore 64s and 128s coming out my ears (last count two breadbox 64s and four (!) 128s), I have been fairly good at self-control about those. Plus about six disk drives, five monitors ... I'm also getting antsy about the PCjr printer. It was a good idea at the time and came with the package but it's bulky and I never print anything off the PCjr anyway. -- ----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ -- Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu -- It's not Camelot, but it's not Cleveland either. -- Boston mayor Kevin White

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote: Well, the wife left, for reasons besides my computer hobby. That gave me the freedom to cram all the normal household areas into one room, the room formerly known as bedroom. It is where I eat, sleep, watch what little TV I do, use my PC, play guitar, etc. It is not unlike a college dorm room. Of course, things like the entertainment center (furniture, not electronics) had to be given away so that everything would fit into that one small room. On the other hand, I gained about 750 sq.ft. of space for my collection. Assuming I'm never tricked into marrying again, I think my next home just might be a small warehouse. I need only build a small living area in one corner of the warehouse and I'm set. -- Jeffrey S. Sharp jss(a)subatomix.com

Mind some life priorities. Don't give up my livingroom for stackage. Have garage and a room for the collection. And only that. Spend only After minding things like bills, savings, and even small charities. There are a few super presentable items in my living space, but that is as if a "real" museum. Normal housekeeping rules do apply. Having a working vacuum, be signed up for curb trash pickup. Watch for infinite loops. "This is too good for materials scrap, not good enough for a working piece." (keep?/delete?/keep?...) Decide. Set "outplacement" priorities. Maybe you can't throw it out. I don't. But I do do this. Test for working state. If it works: Offer to list, to Goodwill. If it fails any of these, part it out and send to metal and plastic recyclers, keep the good bits. Every once in a while I look everything over, recalling price paid, working state, etc. Basicly PeeCee and Broken things can flow out of the collection real easily, for when a better thing comes in. Be aware that after some point, you Will have enough machines to keep you busy indefinitely. That is the point where buying a new thing will necessitate some other thing having to go. That leads to a decision: sometimes what you already have will be better, and you "stand" on that. John A.

Lawrence Walker wrote: Moving day always has thinned out my collection.The loss of the 'magic smoke' in older computers and living on the third floor helps a great deal. Also I find it is not worth my trouble to collect anything that has no DOC's or software. -- Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu * www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote: Great question, BTW. For my collection, I've tried to set some arbitrary limits. My appetite and fascination for old computer stuff is pretty boundless, though I do avoid old PC stuff. I think mostly that's due to having wasted a lot of time in the late 1980s and early 1990s fighting with PCs, MS-DOS, Windows, and generally crappy PC hardware. * No old PC stuff unless it's an active part of my home network infrastructure. I've got a relatively new PC laptop, and a fast PC server in a co-lo. That's all the x86 I need. * It (almost always) has to have an MMU. I'll make exceptions for truly rare finds... but so far no Altairs or PDP-8s have wandered my way. * No game consoles except for my Vectrex (and a Sony PS2). * Stick mainly to DEC equipment, specifically the VAX family of systems. I would willing expand this into the PDP-11 familiy, but as of yet, I've not found any systems that I like for the right price (or close enough). * For some variation, I also collect NeXT equipment, but I only have two of them, and likely won't get any more. Still looking for a few options and a cube logo to fix up my salvaged system. * Systems have to run headless with only serial console access (with very few exceptions to this rule.) * Documentation consisting only of relevant user guides, hardware docs, technical refs, and software docs. No periodicals, no marketing info. * Almost no peripherals at all. I've used the NeXT laser printer as a network Postscript printer. I wouldn't mind have a dot matrix as well, but generally I live a paperless life. * Stick to things with standardized interfaces: SCSI, ethernet, RS-232. I do keep some duplicates and spare parts around, but my collection ends up being relatively manageable. I try to keep it geared towards being practical. "Can and will I actually make use of this stuff?" is a motivating question for me. There are certainly exceptions, but I try to keep them to a minimum. Based on what I can tell from following this list, I'd guess a fair number of the people here have some pretty serious obsessive-compulsive disorders. But hey, I guess you're allowed as long as you can afford it and you aren't screwing up the quality of your life. -brian.