Customizing the computer room? Mine will rock!

[redrumloa]

NICE!

Lucky you, I live in a one bedroom apartment. I have a lot of gear. Computers all over the living room. My girlfriend hates it, but this is all we can afford right now. Times aren't so good right now. I've gone back to college to get a degree, this limits my employment opportunities for the short term. If you can call a few years short term.

Hang in there dude, it will get better. From your post it is clear you are on the right path to better yourself. Tough it out and get your degree, it will likely help open doors. There is no shame in living in modestly while working and going to school.

Very few people are lucky enough to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and they might not even be lucky. Lord knows I was not one of them, we struggled terribly for more than a decade raising a family living well below the poverty line. I worked ~80 hour weeks for 6+ years. We really didn't start making progess until ~2003 and somewhat getting ahead until ~2005. I know poor very well and I know how easy it is to become poor. We are not wealthy today, more like lower-mid middle class. That said I appreciate everything I have and worked so hard for. I remember in the mid-late 90's getting internet access and being amazed at what was available for the Commodore 8bit and Amiga. I wanted everything so badly, but could afford nada. I would post like a super fanboy, but would be teased because I didn't even own hardly any hardware except the cheap clone I cobbled together for net access. Been there, done that, probably explains my obsession with projects like the 128T.

Keep your chin up, if you ever feel down PM or email me and I wil tell you some stories of what we went through... I know what you are going through very well.

[mr_a500]

Can you beat that? :-D

Oh, I forgot to mention... the main desk in my computer room, a huge office desk - was made by Commodore! Do I get points for that?

It was a weird coincidence. The desk was left by the previous owners of my house because it was too big to move. I only found out it was a Commodore after I set up my computer room and put a bunch of Amigas on it. (inside the top drawer, it has the Commodore logo and "Made in Canada")

[redrumloa]

Oh, I forgot to mention... the main desk in my computer room, a huge office desk - was made by Commodore! Do I get points for that?

It was a weird coincidence. The desk was left by the previous owners of my house because it was too big to move. I only found out it was a Commodore after I set up my computer room and put a bunch of Amigas on it. (inside the top drawer, it has the Commodore logo and "Made in Canada")

Nerd!!!

JK! That's pretty cool actually. Do you still have that desk?

[mr_a500]

Of course. It's the main part of my "Command Centre". At the moment it has a C128, A4000, Atari 800XL and CoCo 3 on it. (along with floppy drives and a couple 1084 monitors )

It's a Commodore all right. It crashed on me - literally. When you pull out the centre drawer, it falls off the rails and crashes to the ground.

[Wayne]

Hey Jim,

I find myself really envious of the computer room you're building.  I'm still using the 9' x 10' third bedroom myself, having not even decided on moving into the larger guest bedroom.

As you can quite imagine, my outside garage is still covered to a depth of about 4 feet with the ex-wife's crap, with me still too emotionally involved to go out there and do the right thing (chuck it all).   I guess I'll have to hire you and Angel to come up here one long weekend and help me get over being stuck then insulate / board it all up for an office..

I did however -- for the record -- hollow out an 8' x 12' space for the bike, which is all I really need right now.

Wayne

[JimS]

Hmmm.... sounds like "Thiis Old Data Center" ;-) I think Bob Vila is free..... or if not free, then resonably priced...

[smerf]

Hi,

@Mr A500

Is that all you have, I have more computers under my bed, I would take a picture, but it is dark under there and the flash went bad in my digital camera. Now up in my attic I have at least 15 other old computers but it is dark up there too, I have to use a flashlight don't you know.

Please don't cry in your computer, I don't want to feel bad about all those arcs and sparks.

I am not counting the 6 computers that we are using on the ethernet, can't take pictures of those either, the wife says we have to save electricty when using them and she keeps turning off the lights LOL :-)

smerf

[GadgetMaster]

Nice work Red, it's always interesting to see someone else's computer[room] setup.

Maybe others can also upload their pics to their album to be able to link to them in their new blog.

It would make interesting reading.

Then we can maybe vote on the best setup in another thread or poll. What dya think?

I haven't finished my garage conversion and forgot to take before and during pics but I will try to upload some when it is finished. I know Mine Will Rock.

Who said comparing willy sizes was old fashioned? :lol:

[mr_a500]

@Mr A500

Is that all you have, I have more computers under my bed, I would take a picture, but it is dark under there and the flash went bad in my digital camera. Now up in my attic I have at least 15 other old computers but it is dark up there too, I have to use a flashlight don't you know.

I've got 22 different computers (not counting duplicates or "modern crap") all set up and ready to go and you ask "is that all you have"?

Actually, now that I think of it... I'm starting to feel a bit ashamed about how few I have. It's not my fault! I have a wife, you know. Combine a computer collection with a wife and you could have a potentially volatile situation. Like plutonium, when handled correctly, she's relatively stable. But one more computer and I might just reach "critical mass"... then, CABOOM!! I can't risk it.

(....well, maybe a Commodore PET, Burroughs ICON, Wicat 150....)

[modrobert]

CABOOM indeed. Though after my wife reach critical mass and the shock wave has passed by there is this moment of tranquility I've learned to appreciate, at that moment it might even be safe to get another computer.

[mr_a500]

CABOOM indeed. Though after my wife reach critical mass and the shock wave has passed by there is this moment of tranquility I've learned to appreciate, at that moment it might even be safe to get another computer.

Ah, I see you're experienced in the handling of plutonium... I mean... wives. However, getting another computer after a "shock wave" has passed is like sneaking out of a hole in nuclear devastated wasteland to quietly grab another ICBM. It's dangerous and a sure sign of insanity.

[modrobert]

All the radiation makes you numb, in that moment of apathy when contemplating the bitter future ahead you need to rise up and remember your mission (the computer in this case).

[mr_a500]

Yeah, even though I said it's "a sure sign of insanity", I secretly acknowledged your post as a piece of useful advice.

[smerf]

Hi,

@mr a500

Know what you mean, about the wife that is, mine threw out my C64, 128, 128D and my Amiga 1000 one day when I wasn't home, that wasn't to bad she also threw out all my software for the C64 and 128 & D. Closest we ever been to the big D. I almost cried about the C64 I had all the switches that a person could want for memory copy, cartridge copy etc. The darn thing had a multitude of switches that I put in. So I went out and bought a new C64 last year, then I asked my wife where were all my mags, guess what she threw those out too!  Women just don't understand about a mans collections, they think that it is all just junk. Never will be able to replace my A1000 though, that had a 2mb memory expansion, supra scsci card and six hard drives, 4 floppy drives, a modem and switches on the front to turn them all on and off, and yes it was put in a old obsolete big Xerox word processing tower. Really was proud of that machine and lets not forget the accelerator a 68010 replacing the 68000 and then the 68030 accelerator that plugged into the 68000 socket

Why couldn't they make women with an off switch?

smerf

[K7HTH]

There is nothing more cool than having a dedicated Man Cave.

[redrumloa]

The desk is stained and sealed! Now I have to wait 72+ hours for this "fast dry" sealer to dry :-/

http://www.redsretro.com/workshop/shop3.JPG

That desk is almost 12 feet long, can't get the whole thing in a good picture. if I get a chance in the next day or so I will update with some more pics of everything else that has been done. This has been a HUGE project, as you could imagine.