Minicomputer Storage Myths - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

22 Jul 1997

From:	MX%&quot;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&quot; 22-JUL-1997 17:47:54.16
To:	MX%&quot;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&quot;
CC:	
Subj:	Minicomputer Storage Myths

...
    In a few assorted threads I've seen under
various names like "RSTS/E
Manuals" and "Minis not 'Trendy'", several folks have put forward
the
argument that minicomputers are too large to collect easily. I have one
word: "hogwash". 
Absolutly!

My parents (who have to put up with and store most of my little collection) 
don't like storing micros (in fact they moan for days when I bring home
a TRS-80 or some such), but don't seem to mind the PDP11's/PDP8's etc
anything like as much.

The reason is simple. Micros are a pain to store. You can't easily stack
them (the ones at the bottom get mangled, the pile slips over, etc). Monitors
are worse. But minicomputers (generally) come in 19" boxes that either go into
a 6' (or taller!) cabinet, or get stacked up in a pile in the corner. They are
easy to store.

The floor area taken up by a 6' rack is not much larger than the area taken by
a micro, BTW...

...
    I noticed that one chap has installed his pdp11
under his bed; good
call! I hadn't thought of that one... 
I've considered designing a bed with 3 6U or 9U rack bays under it. In the
UK you can get beds with storage drawers under them, but one _designed_ for
computers would be somewhat interesting...

...
    Another guy gripes about putting a mini in his Honda
Civic for
transport. My wife did just that when she came home with a DG Nova 1200
for me a few years back; it fit very comfortably in the trunk. I just
got back from a trip to the US Midwest with two minis in two 6' bays
in the back of my minivan (story coming on my website). 
A large estate car (Station wagon?) will carry a _lot_ of minicomputer
hardware. I've been in one which contained : 
A PDP8/e
A PDP11/44
A Sun 3/260 (on its side, on top of the PDP's)
A PPL graphics display + trackball
A northstar Horizon (OK, a micro, but in a 19" rack)
An Acorn System 4 (ditto)
A _lot_ of spare boards, drives, heads, etc
Service manuals, printsets, etc.

No problem at all.

...
    The ultimate space-management tool in dealing with
minis is the
six-foot rack. In one of them you can mount an easy half-dozen
machines; if you share peripherals, they can all be used too. Un-
fortunately, my wife drew the line at that one, so I use the "scatter
method" of space management. 
Odd... My parents _like_ big rack cabinets - in fact they grab them for me to
put my machines in. Maybe I'm just lucky.

...
    The bottom line is that _it's not as big a deal
as it's made out
to be_! It can be done, it should be done, and not enough people are
doing it. The machines are disappearing  - and that's a shame. 
That's exactly why I started. I realised (10 years ago) that nobody was
preserving the recent history of computing, and it was going to be lost for
ever. So I did something. I started collecting and restoring computers.

...
 | Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin)            | West
Boylston       | 
-tony