Here's what happens when an 18 year old buys a mainframe...

[Paul Koning]

> On Mar 30, 2016, at 11:40 AM, Jon Elson <elson at pico-systems.com> wrote:
> 
> On 03/29/2016 10:01 PM, Jim Brain wrote:
> Somebody mentioned a house with a collapsed floor.  A friend of mine bought two 770/145s and a GE/Intersil memory box.  (I bought the other memory box, in 1979 or so, a **MEG** of memory was a big deal!)
> 
> I am amazed we did not collapse the floor in his house!

Compared to waterbeds or pianos, computers aren't all that heavy.  Not even mainframes.

DEC's old headquarters (the "Mill" in Maynard) had prominent signs everywhere saying the floor load limit was 100 pounds per square foot, or something like that (perhaps less).  But they just planted their computers all over anyway, and I don't remember ever seeing floor reinforcements for that.  The stated limit was probably quite conservative.  After all, that building used to contain spinning and weaving machinery -- big hunks of cast iron.

	paul