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How do you organize your stuff while keeping it accessible/usable?

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carangil

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
285
Location
Oakland, CA
My collection isn't that big, but I'm already out of desk space. I'm thinking of making a short rack, and repacking my current modern computer, my k6-2+ (which is in an ugly clone case) and my 486 (which is already in another clone case) into 3U or 4U boxes. If I do this, packs up my bulky towers into one box in the corner, and leaves me extra rack space for expansion. Maybe put in shelves for machines I don't want to re-box because they have name-brand/historical case. Just about anything with a detachable keyboard could be rack-mounted and adapted to run off a KVM.

My question is really about what to do with the bread-bin machines? I have a Coco-2 which is currently in a box in the garage. I intend to set it up on the top of my desk. (My KVM keyboard is on the keyboard tray.) I've been thinking about getting a commodore-64. Where the heck to I put it? I feel like a lot of the interesting computers I want to play with all have their own built-in keyboards, so they each need their own workspace setup. I could put the c-64 on a shelf, with the PCs and use a ps/2 interface, but at that point I might as well use the emulator, since I'm already using a PC keyboard.

Has anyone here come up with a single-desk set-up that lets you easily access multiple keyboards?
 
I wish I still had a photo of what I did back in 2004-2005 before I moved to Washington.

My setup had a six port Belkin AT KVM switch - and all of my PC's had standard AT/XT chassis at that time, save for one, and even that one was technically a full size AT chassis because I hacked it up to make a PIII sleeper out of it.

I had a shelf next to my desk wide enough to accommodate all 5 of the PC's - my stack was this from top to bottom....

TOP
XT Clone Chassis P-120, 64MB RAM, RedHat Linux 6.1 Cartman
Baby AT Flight 386 SX chassis with a 486 DX4-100 w/ 24MB OF RAM, 3 HDD, and DOS 622/WFWG311
Compaq Deskpro 386/16 (big older version) w/ 60MB HDD and 2MB of RAM - DOS 6.22
Compaq Deskpro 286/12 (big older version) w/ 30MB HDD and 512K RAM - DOS 6.22
Micro Configurations Corp XT clone w/ 640K and 2 30MB RLL HDD - DOS 6.22
BOTTOM

The XT used an IBM MOdel "F" on the desk right next to the Northgate OmniKey 102 I was using at the time. Everything fed into a KDS 15" CRT first, and later a Samsung TV/LCD (my first LCD) when the CRT died. It kept all my machines in a corner.

I did have a lot more stuff back then though and lived with mom so it was easier to have more, but that was the bulk of my setup that I used all the time at that time.
 
I'm on the fence between building a proper 19" rack versus just buying some sturdy shelving at Lowes. What kills me is the shelving unit I saw online has 18" by 24" shelves, built out of angle iron, with holes and everything. If the center to center of the holes were just 3/4 a inch more apart, it would be a perfectly fine server rack for $70. Some rack mount boxes are only 17" wide without their brackets, so this actually might work just by making custom brackets. Little things like this really bug me.
 
If you want to get fancy, I can build you a 19" rack compatible shelving system however you'd like to design it. Mind you, I can't do Made In China prices.
 
Right now, my setup consists of the wire shelving rack units you can get from Walmart/CostCo/Ikea/name your discount houseware supplier. I have plastic storage bins with foam and/or bubble wrap for the "bread bins". These storage bins fit on the shelving units. Also, the all-in-one machines fit on these shelves (think Commodore PET, TRS-80 Model III and IV, etc.) I also have a desk area that "should" remain clear for the setup of whatever machine of the moment that I want to poke at.

My issue is, desk area becomes a shelf. :( Additionally, I have this pipe dream that I'll be able to use the same desk area as a workbench. That's not a good mix. Workbench vs. Area to Use a Machine is always in-conflict.

Just bought some more organization stuff, hoping to get it under better control this weekend. Famous last words. :)
 
19" equipment racks can be a good solution. For a while, I had an aluminum 19" four-post rack with its own power bar, a long power cord, casters on the bottom. It was maybe 4 feet tall and had a slab of Formica countertop on the top, it appeared to be a "factory configured" thing. I picked it up at the MIT Flea for I think $20 or $25. The casters and the slab of countertop made it really nice -- a monitor or test equipment could sit on top, and it could get stowed in the corner next to the shelves/file cabinets when not in use, and wheeled over to my workbench when I wanted something in it.

You can get aluminum two-post "telecom" or "relay rack" style racks for cheap on eBay. They come unassembled and can ship UPS. That's how I obtained my first rack, back in middle school -- everything local was hundreds of dollars, whereas a brand new "Chatsworth style" two post rack was like $75 shipped from an online supplier (may have been pre eBay).
 
How do I do it?

Badly. :-D

IMG_2525.jpgIMG_0754.jpgDSC_0339.jpgIMG_0720.jpgIMG_1421.jpg

They're all in the basement. I have a "workbench" area where I keep a few machines "ready to use" (right now it's an Apple IIgs, an IBM PCjr, and a Macintosh Performa 640CD DOS Compatible.) The workbench area has a bunch of drawers that hold disks. Next to the workbench is a large IKEA-style cheapo wardrobe/shelving unit that has a variety of stuff. (The first two pictures above - and why is the one with the boxed Apple software upside down?) The top shelf has a few LCD displays, a bunch of storage hardware (portable CD-ROM drives, Zip, Jaz, LS-120, etc.) and a few 'drawer' style floppy disk holders. There is one shelf for laptops (shown with only the 'back layer' visible above,) one shelf for Macintosh boxed software, one shelf for IBM boxed software, the bottom shelves have big desktop systems and a CRT monitor. Many desktop systems are in "storage" under my basement stairs (third picture shows that.) Others are at the back wall of the laundry area, which also has a couple bookshelves full of boxed software, manuals, and even boxes of hardware (a box of ISA cards, a box of SCSI cables, a box of mice (next-to-last picture,) etc.) Last is my Craftsman rolling tool chest - (not this exact one, but close - mine has more drawers in the bottom section: http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/SpIAAOSwdvpWEXAn/s-l300.jpg ) which houses "parts". The flip-top has CPUs, the top actual drawer has memory (last picture shows those two,) the next two in the top section hold various "thin" items, the top two deeper-depth drawers on the lower unit house expansion cards (one drawer just for video cards, one for other cards,) the bottom drawer holds 3.5" and 2.5" hard drives. The large door-opening section at the very bottom holds internal large-size drives (optical drives, my couple 5.25" hard drives, etc.)
 
carangil; said:
Has anyone here come up with a single-desk set-up that lets you easily access multiple keyboards?
Click to expand...
No. Multiple desks, shelving, storage bins and draws. Also have a bit of stuff stored in the shed.
 
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After looking at at some IKEA hacks online ( https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack ) I realized I might be able to hack up my furniture too. My old desk is a metal frame with a (scratched up) top particle board desktop and some shelves. Replacing the tabletop with nicer wood has been on my maybe-project list for a while.

I figured out that if I take my desk apart, and replace the tabletop board and the shelves with slightly longer boards (make the desktop and shelves slightly wider), I can make the shelves the same width as a standard rack. If I buy 1 rack-mount chassis to start with and a pair of server rails to confirm all the measurements, I should be able to turn my desk into a desk-rack.
 
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