OT: card storage

I've had as many as 50 boxes leave, or get emptied in a single month. Some sold at hamfests, others scrapped for parts & recyecled.

Bulk is anything that won't fit in a single drawer in one of the ol;d

50 drawer 'Akro Mils' parts

Something like these, but five drawers wide & ten tall:

While waiting with baited breath and a fire extinguisher? ;-)

I had to shut down a Novell server I'd built, years ago. It had a keyboard & monitor, but the video board had died. I had to just turn the power off, since it wasn't responding to the keyboard.

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Hi Michael,

[attributions elided]

I keep those mounted on one wall. I think there are currently

14 60-drawer cabinets. But, lately, I have been moving "small things" into old pill bottles, etc. as wall space is at a premium, here. I may run HVAC into the little (100 sq ft?) store room off the garage and convert that into usable storage space. But, too many other "more pressing" projects before that...

Mine are 6 wide and 10 tall. Same general idea. I passed up two "revolving racks" of drawer units (each 4 sided, 6 ft tall made of those little drawers) simply because I didn't have the space to store them. :< I'm trying *not* to store little parts any more as i can just have Digikey drop a package on my doorstep in a few days (instead of tying up space *anticipating* future needs)

Yes, there is a group here that does that on a large scale (probably a thousand PC's yearly) so I bring any "recyclable" items to them. Stuff like this turns up far too frequently to set aside places to *store* it!

(OTOH, 13W3 KVM's tend to be "keepers" when I do come across them!)

No, most systems (especially if they don't have "MS" anywhere in their name!) can handle even abrupt power cycles. The only frustrating part is if the keyboard had been "bumped" in the past N days so that the console wasn't sitting at the "login: " prompt -- since I can't verify that visually. In that case, I have no way of knowing that my login was unsuccessful! So, if the machine doesn't start shutting down when I expect it to, then I have to go back through a more systematic set of keystrokes to *ensure* I am at a "login: " prompt, etc.

And, if push comes to shove, take the 7" LCD out of it's case and plug that in. (I have learned to leave a video cable dangling out of the back of every headless machine here so I don't have to try to crawl behind it when I *need* to plug in a monitor! :> Painful lessons learned through experience...)

I mounted a bunch of them on an old 9-track computer tape storage rack. I added heavy casters and covered the back side with these:

That way I can roll it around the storeroom, or turn it around to get the hardware stored in the open bins.

I had a repair buisness years ago. Why throw out the parts, and buy more? :)

Now that I was declared 100% disabled and not allowed to work, it's just a hobby.

I have several of the Sony versions of those SUN monitors with the BNC connectors.

I prefer a monitor switch to switch through the various machines, but I do have a background in TV Broadcasting. :)

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Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
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Huh? The 9T racks I have seen were basically "open" -- nothing to hang things off of (besides the tapes' "hooks")

Yeah, the key there is "storeroom" :> As I said previously, if I had a place to dedicate to this stuff, I'd do things differently. But, with age, I've found I like having less and less "stuff" around to deal with (though I am still not to the point of wanting to "live in two rooms" someplace! ;-) Probably NEVER trim down *that* much!)

Depends on whether or not you have the space to store them. My first move (out of college) my "load" was 19,000 pounds. Amusing considering I was just a college kid, etc. :> (I think all I had by way of "traditional belongings" was a bed, a couch, a kitchen table and a refrigerator)

I live in terror of ever having that much "stuff" again. It would be *so* nice to be one of those guys who can get by with just a laptop. *ONE* laptop! :>

4BNC and 5BNC. Actually, I think finding that sort of KVM would be even harder than a 13W3! (though you could adapt one with an appropriate set of cables, etc.)

I found most KVMs don't like the typical mix of machines that I have, here. They'd "hang" at inopportune times, etc.

So, for "headed" machines, I usually use monitors with two or more video inputs and just do the switching in the monitor. This is a little tedious as I usually run dual-headed on most machines -- but, can also be a win as I can switch one monitor to machine A while the other is on B and do two things at once (with careful planning of screen real estate).

The pisser comes from the keyboards (and mice, if I'm running a GUI). It is *really* hard to keep track of which keyboard to type on for which "monitor" (machine) -- especially as you could have the screens set up as A1+A2, B1+B2, A1+B2 or B1+A2 (so you never really know *what* you're doing until you get some feedback from a screen :< )

Life was so much simpler with a Bell 103 and ASR33... (though considerably more BORING!)

That's it, in one! I screwed a sheet of scrap 1/4" pegboard to one side to hold the bins, and stacked the metal framed 50 drawer cabinets on the other. A narrow piece of angle aluminum was run vertically on both outside edges to tie them together, and to the frame.

The 'Storeroom' is an old 10' * 10' 'Office' off the back of the shop, where I store tools & parts to keep them away from 'Visitors' with sticky fingers. I had planned on opening a small shop when I retired, but I ended up disabled, instead.

Heh. I moved over 18,000 pounds when I moved south. I hauled it in two trips in an old Chevy stepvan.

I've had almost a ton of electronic equipment show up at my shop one day while I was out to lunch. It took me the rest of the day to move it all from the front door, then into the storeroom. :(

Not a KVM, just a monitor switch. Separate keyboards & mice per machine.

You had an ASR33? I started with a pair of Kleinschmidt 60 mA machines on leased lines. They were replaced with KSR33s, which was cheaper than adding sound deadening to the radio & TV station building.

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Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
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Ah, OK. Must have been a real b*tch to try to move it!

I'd like a basement -- except it would quickly end up cluttered. :< With limited space, you think real hard before you *keep* something. Especially anything sizable! Hence the appeal of things that can get "stored" *inside* other things. Like cards installed in a PC (instead of piled in a box!).

I've been slowly scanning the paperwork that I deem worthy of saving. That will clear up a fair bit of space (volume).

Now imagine that much stuff when you're "just getting started in your 'adult' life"! :>

Like odd bits of furniture, best not to let it in the door to begin with -- as it is hard to get it back *out*, later! :>

Ah, OK.

It's too bad someone hasn't hacked together a laptop that is *just* a monitor + keyboard! I imagine there would be a market for such a beast.

Yeah, I still have one in the garage. Don't want to scrap it but *shipping* it anyplace is a real chore. :<

Not really. It was only a single 4' wide frame that I picked up at a local school board auction for $5. Everyone thought I was crazy for wasting the $5. ;-)

Basements are rare in this part of Florida. :(

That's why I bought a house with a 1200 Sq' garage, an 18' * 28' shop building and two 12' * 12' outbuildings. There is also a single bedroom cottage on the property that's 12' * 24'.

What are you scanning? A lot of manuals are available on sites like 'retrevo.com'. Other sites have free downloads of service manuals & test equipment manuals, as well.

I had more than that when I moved my shop out of my parent's basement, and all I had was a long wheelbase GMC van. :(

It was a complete CAD system, with two color Tektronix terminals, a huge Tektronix inkjet plotter/w the rasterizer and a small VAX based computer. Some of the students at the local vocational electronics school would bring me stuff they didn't want, in exchange for free access to my technical library and some tutoring. Their teacher would give them a project to design & build before they graduated, and the school's collection of databooks was about 25 years out of date.

Yes, but not enough to convince the bean counters to let them bring it to market. :(

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Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

These are either documents for old projects that I did (and didn't have the foresight to save the electronic versions of those documents at the time -- something I quickly learned!), tax and business records, etc.

The most tedious are the print manuals that were never available (publicly) in electronic form. In addition to the actual *scanning*, there is a lot of work getting the manuals "disassembled" to the point where they *can* be scanned (e.g., ripping "perfect binding").

I've got ~5 cu ft of MULTICS manuals that have been staring me in the face for a while, now... most of them are printed on "european size" paper (is that A4?) so it's also a bit "different" to handle.

I may see if I can hack together a little adapter to fit inside just such a beast next time I come across one that "feels right". Doesn't have to be "pretty" -- just functional. Maybe turn it into a Hackable?

Oh, there are lots of folks who would "love to have it"! :>

Problem is, getting it out of here requires considerable effort on my part to ensure it will "travel well". It's just not high on my ToDo list (I got rid of another one a few months ago so I figure I'm already "50% done"! :> )

We all have one or two (or several) of these...

I know various place like The British Library, has special research centres so they can make electronic copies of various documents, books etc..

Bear in mind they CANNOT rip the bindings or damage some books many HUNDREDS of years old, so they use special prism like structures to scan two partially open pages, often in special chambers to avoid damp, dirt, insects etc.. getting in whilst scanning.

They cannot afford to damage most books as they are even less obtainable than your old Multics manuals.

Slight correction ISO standard paper size, used in most of the world major exception North America.

Nearest thing is ultra thin clients.

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with

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but

It not only has been done, but is still available, mouse included. But most of such currently are just repurposed laptops. Probably more user hacks than commercial sales. A great excuse to buy a laptop that is otherwise relatively CPU underpowered.

building.

This is something that *looks* like a laptop but, in reality, is just the laptop's *screen* with a video INput and keyboard with a PS/2 or USB OUTput?

Pointers, please?

Have you tried photographing those pages using a digital camera ?

This way, the book only needs to be opened to 90 degrees, compared to

180 degrees on an ordinary flat scanner.

A 12 Mpix photograph of the A4 paper will be about 14 pixels/mm. Compare this to the older CRT computer monitors that had a 0.25 mm pitch (4 pixels/mm) shadow mask, thus the picture can even be enlarged on the screen, compared to the original page size.

Of course, the Bayer camera cell will degrade the resolution as well as the quality of the optics.

is

Not knowing your specific application i suggest using this in your favorite search engine:

X-terminal device

You could probably find brick-like devices that do what you want.

No, X Terminals, thin clients, etc. are different beasts entirely. I have several from NCD, Neoware, HP, etc. (I tend to like using them because they have very little maintenance overhead)

I want a portable LCD monitor and a portable keyboard. I want to be able to connect that monitor to any old PC just like any *other* LCD monitor. I want to be able to connect that keyboard to that same PC just like any other keyboard.

Gee, a laptop has an LCD *panel* in it. And a set of keys. Even laptops that are DOG SLOW have these things!

I.e., a laptop that one is likely to DISCARD (recycle) as being too slow would make an ideal device to *gut* and convert into a "portable LCD monitor with attached portable keyboard" (i.e., no CPU inside).

*That* is what I am asking for.

I can do this with a (*fast*) laptop and a video digitizer card and some software. But, if I could remove the processor from the laptop along with 95% of its guts and leave *just* the LCD panel and keyboard, I could get the same sort of capabilities by adding enough guts to turn it into *just* an "LCD display".

This should be possible (as a "hackable") with a small board installed in place of the laptop's guts. I.e., take the guts out of an LCD monitor and wire them to the connector for the LCD *panel* inside the gutted laptop (the keyboard is a simple thing to hack)

The problem is that LCD display isn't a monitor. It is mated to the LCD video interface on the laptop's system board.

The keyboard isn't encoded, it is just a set of raw, matrixed switches.

makes some small SVGA LCD monitors, starting at 6.4 inches.

It hasn't come up lately, but for a while someone asked that question about once a month. Then they would find that it cost more for the custom elcetronics, than to buy a new monitor.

Correct. But, the LCD *panel* in the laptop is no different from the LCD *panel* in an LCD monitor. I.e., there is nothing to prevent it from being used as such.

Keyboard debounce and encode is a trivial task. :>

Understood. But I'm not looking for an LCD monitor, per se. What I want is the portability that the laptop offers for screen *and* keyboard.

I.e., currently, I carry a 7" portable LCD monitor and a (generic) PC keyboard to interact with headless machines. I would much prefer the LCD and keyboard be in one neat little case -- like a laptop -- so easier to carry and store.

Making a suitable interface (to convert a "laptop LCD + keypad" into a "portable monitor + keyboard") isn't a real problem. The bigger problem is finding a suitable laptop on which to do this. (i.e., so that the design effort for the interface isn't "wasted" on a "qty one" product). Everyone would have their own special wants -- namely, that it work with *their* (scrap) laptop (fitting *their* laptop's keypad and display connections, fitting *their* laptop's mechanical constraints, etc.)

It would only make sense to do if you had a known supply of a particular laptop (or netbook, etc.) to use.

It's too labor intensive. You have to arrange for the book to be held open "enough", even lighting, transfer photos to PC, convert to TIFF, trim them, import them (in the correct order) to a PDF, etc.

A lot of time, you end up with crappy image quality "in the binding edge" as the paper curls and you can't get a clear view of stuff at that edge, etc.

Instead, I bring the manuals to a print shop and have them

*cut* the binding edge off of the pages. They have large, electric stack paper cutters (do ~1000 pages at a time *without* the inevitable skew that a manual/guillotine paper cutter imparts to the cut!). Then, I can just feed the "individual pages" through the document feeder (instead of having to manually flip pages, etc.).

It ends up destroying the original *bound* document () but most of the folks who look for this sort of information would gladly see a paper document "sacrificed" if it makes that document more readily available (in electronic form).

It's just a hugely BORING activity (tedious?) and demands large blocks of time to get anything done. So, I don't rush to "do more of it"! :>

This works for most "A" size manuals. Things with fold-out pages (e.g., a B size fold-out in a "regular" manual) have to be processed differently. I have a 12x17 scanner for larger documents. Anything bigger than that I have to piece together from partial scans (which gets *really* time consuming!)

Even that approach won't work for a lot of materials. E.g., the scanner in the original KRM was deliberately designed (for obvious reasons!) to be able to scan a book in this way. With particular care to being able to bring the camera *deep* into the binding edge I.e., the scanner glass came right to the edge of the case over which the book's binding would sit (the 3rd photo in

is

*just* the scanner)

Yet, it still had problems with some printed materials. "Perfect" binding sucks :>

is

Sounds a lot like an X-terminal. Due to volume issues the laptop may yet be lower cost.

No. An X terminal has a processor in it, understands the X protocol, has a network interface, etc.

I.e., if I gave you an LCD monitor and a keyboard, you could never run xdm -- unless you added a processor and a NIC. The device I am describing could be used "as a TV" (with an NTSC-VGA adapter) -- something you aren't going to do with an X Terminal.