One of the things I planned to do this summer was to clean out my storage space in the basement of my building. I've lived here 6 years now and I have several unused items taking up space. Today was the day to accomplish this task.

I borrowed the hand cart from the front desk, rolled it down to my storage space and loaded it up with several boxes of old computers. I've been a huge Apple fan for many years. When I was younger I started collecting older model computers. At one point I had 11 old Apple Computers. Most of them have been sitting in my storage space for years waiting for the right time to make some money.

I brought the computers up to my condo and began going through them one at a time. I connected all the old cords and put a disk in each disk drive (can you believe it, discs!) I started them up and only 3 of them actually worked. I decided to keep those 3 and get rid of the rest. I boxed up all the old ones and took them down to the trash room in my building. There is an area in our trash room to put things that you don't want so that others can snatch them up if they care to. I put all the old computer in this area. I'm sure they'll find a home of someone who likes tinkering with old computers.

The 3 computers that worked were all packed up nice and tight and returned to my storage space. Now the storage space is nice and neat and has plenty of space for me to store other things or get to those things I need to get to from time to time. I feel so good about getting that cleaned out and organized.

One of the computers that I decided to keep is an original Macintosh 512k from 1984. The 512k is actually the second Mac they made. It's the same as the original Macintosh that only had 128k but with more memory. The keep board attaches to the computer with a phone cord like plug. It requires discs to run it. I have some original discs but they are for the Macintosh SE/30 (another computer I had at one point but sold it). The discs are in their original package with the insert that tells you how to set up your computer. I'm sure these things will be worth something someday.

Another of the computers I'm keeping is a Macintosh Color Classic. This machine is basically an LC II crammed in a new design case. I've always been a fan of the all-in-one designs that Apple produced so I just had to have one of these. Several years ago I used to look through the Macs for sale messages in the newsgroups (does anyone use the news groups anymore?). I found a message stating they were selling their color classic and the price wasn't too high so I decided to get it. It came with everything I needed except the original discs. Luckily the Color Classic has a SCSI port so I was able to connect my old external hard drive to it and load system 7.6 on it. It runs beautifully. Of course it's slow but it works and I just think it is so cool. I'll hold on to this one for awhile.

The last computer I'm keeping is an LC III. This is the only computer I've ever owned that needs a monitor separate from the computer. The LC III is the pizza box design that Apple first introduced with the LC. I can't actually remember where I got this one, but it had the Apple monitor, cables, and the original discs in the packaging. I connected the monitor to the computer and the plug to the wall and cranked it up. It started up just fine. It's very slow as expected but it's a good example of design changes Apple made at one time. This one works beautifully as well. I'll hang on to this one too.

I will not be collecting any more Apple computers. I might hang on to my 17″ iMac once I get the new G5 iMac in September but we'll see what kind of space I have. I might just donate it to my school. Which is where many of my past computers have ended up. In all the computer stuff I found today I also found an Apple Newton Message Pad (not the first version) and an Apple Quicktake 200 digital camera. This camera was the second generation of digital cameras that Apple made. I think they discontinued making digital cameras after that. I decided to get rid of both of those items as well. I just don't need that stuff sitting around taking up space.

Cleaning the storage space has taken up most of my day. Now I need to take a shower and get ready for class. Only two more classes!