Thread
Wow.
two words: i wish.
I really want to be there!
it's beautiful.
i hope they don't have earthquakes in belgium.
i hope they don't have earthquakes in belgium.
Mother-son-of-a-Jesus! That's a lot of compacts! I aspire to be that person.
*thinks about his electric bill*
*thinks about his electric bill*
Holy Moses! The owner should share with the rest of the class! 
He could make a house out of those! With heat
So long as the Macintosh II couch is available to sit on.He could make a house out of those! With heat
Moving day will be quite the ordeal though. Imagine having to takedown, transport and set-up all those machines. Surely some would meet with an undesirable fate along the way.
If they don't work - interlink them all into the world's biggest MacQuarium.
That would be hella cool.
If they don't work - interlink them all into the world's biggest MacQuarium.
That would be hella cool.
Saw that one a wee while ago - it is one really impressive collection of compacts! You would be flattened if they decided to topple over on you though.
I don't think those are all plugged in though. No ordinary home or even most businesses would have enough power to run them all at the same time.
My storage unit is basically entirely full of Macs now, mostly AIO G3s, 5xxx and 5xx Macs that I'm working on selling. Some of the schools are auctioning off even MORE Macs at like $1/pallet now so I may have to get another storage unit!
I kick myself every day for not knowing about the auctions earlier - several years ago one of the school districts here phased out Apple IIGS computers - and I just know they auctioned them off for pennies on the dollar!
My storage unit is basically entirely full of Macs now, mostly AIO G3s, 5xxx and 5xx Macs that I'm working on selling. Some of the schools are auctioning off even MORE Macs at like $1/pallet now so I may have to get another storage unit!
I kick myself every day for not knowing about the auctions earlier - several years ago one of the school districts here phased out Apple IIGS computers - and I just know they auctioned them off for pennies on the dollar!
Wow, indeed. This is the first I have seen of the Mac Storehouse Galaxy!
Is there some sort of story to go along with the picture?
I wish it was available in high resolution. It would make a cool background.
I wish it was available in high resolution. It would make a cool background.
What I want to know is, when is the sheer weight of all the upper Macs going to crack the plastics of the lower Macs and bring the entire mountain of machines crashing to the floor?
Seriously, it would be more prudent to put each row of Macs on its own shelf. I suppose a few rows of Macs stacked atop each other wouldn't hurt for long term storage. But count how many rows there are in that photo! I would be very, very afraid to take a step in that room, more less sit at the desk shown in that photo. Scary!
Seriously, it would be more prudent to put each row of Macs on its own shelf. I suppose a few rows of Macs stacked atop each other wouldn't hurt for long term storage. But count how many rows there are in that photo! I would be very, very afraid to take a step in that room, more less sit at the desk shown in that photo. Scary!
Eight rows of Macs, JDW. Certainly, the vertical load is way past the expectations of the original Mac designers. There are a few mitigations, however.
The Mac case design is sufficiently squat that we don't have to consider Euler's column theory. The cases are unlikely to collapse en masse in a cascade (which might happen if Euler was valid). If one case fails, the most likely consequence is that it will exert a lateral load on the Macs surrounding it and onto the walls beyond. Given the constrained space, it is unlikely that a Mac might topple, even from the row above a Mac that has collapsed.
The most dodgy row is #7, where the number of Macs in the row is reduced from eleven to ten, leaving a gap on one side and the opportunity for Macs to fly.
But this is all presumptive. Before stacking up the Macs, what else did the owner do? It looks like a damned posh cellar to me and I find it difficult to believe that "staying up" was not part of the owner's calculations.
The Mac case design is sufficiently squat that we don't have to consider Euler's column theory. The cases are unlikely to collapse en masse in a cascade (which might happen if Euler was valid). If one case fails, the most likely consequence is that it will exert a lateral load on the Macs surrounding it and onto the walls beyond. Given the constrained space, it is unlikely that a Mac might topple, even from the row above a Mac that has collapsed.
The most dodgy row is #7, where the number of Macs in the row is reduced from eleven to ten, leaving a gap on one side and the opportunity for Macs to fly.
But this is all presumptive. Before stacking up the Macs, what else did the owner do? It looks like a damned posh cellar to me and I find it difficult to believe that "staying up" was not part of the owner's calculations.
Charlie, thank you for the detailed analysis. I think it would be nice if the owner of that cellar would put a video camera down there and leave it recording 24/7. So when those Macs do come down, we can see how well the theory matches the experimental! :beige:
And if they do work, beowulf 'em!
Add all those together and you might get something with the power of an early G3 iMac
That pic. was first linked to in these forums some time back, perhaps even before The Fall. That the Macs are still standing now, several months later, shows that one can be too analytical, and thus be undone in calculations from such parameters as gross weight, vectorial forces, intrinsic rigidity and the like. Look closely, and you will see that the backs of the Macs are lightly blue-tacked to the walls ... 
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Everything old is new again, eh equill?
The laws of physics aside ... I have seen too many of these old compacts in my time to know that the vent grilles on top were never designed to support the force exerted by the focused weight of the mac vis-a-vis its feet. It saddens me to think of all the cracks which are fracturing in the brittle plastic as we write.
Nevertheless, a sight to behold.
P.S. anyone who does this at home, should either adhere to JDW's shelf suggestion, or at a bare minimum place a sheet of Plexiglas or other solid material between each layer to evenly distribute the weight. Anything over three for four layers should be well adhered to the wall as well, even velcro should do it.
The laws of physics aside ... I have seen too many of these old compacts in my time to know that the vent grilles on top were never designed to support the force exerted by the focused weight of the mac vis-a-vis its feet. It saddens me to think of all the cracks which are fracturing in the brittle plastic as we write.
Nevertheless, a sight to behold.
P.S. anyone who does this at home, should either adhere to JDW's shelf suggestion, or at a bare minimum place a sheet of Plexiglas or other solid material between each layer to evenly distribute the weight. Anything over three for four layers should be well adhered to the wall as well, even velcro should do it.
Exactly! Even if those lower-row Macs aren't crushed into oblivion some day, I guarantee there are holes in those grills on top!
With that said, this certainly would be FUN to see if a little creativity was implemented. Imagine if they were all plugged in and attached to power strips with one master switch. With the flip of one switch, they all come to life and boot off floppies in the internal drive. Specially written software on each disk starts an animation sequence that plays on each of the Mac's screens, creating one enormous, animated mosaic!
Yes, I know it would be hard to keep all those Macs in synch when doing that. And of course, keeping those floppy drives maintained would be next to impossible. But it's fun to imagine.
I can hear the house wiring and breakers groaning under the surge. That stack pulls a few kilowatts in steady state, and probably a couple of times that when first powered on.
In other words, that guy must try it. It's a mad scientist's imperative!
In other words, that guy must try it. It's a mad scientist's imperative!
... and then, the heat from all those Macs without fans, especially on the bottom levels which vents are blocked, cause a massive display of smoke and sparks as the internals of each one overheats and fails in any number of the myriad of ways a compact mac can fail. Aside from the ozone-smell, the collection will revert to the state it was in before the flip of that power switch.
I just said it would be "fun" -- not necessarily practical. ;D
What a housewarming party the first mass switch-on could make, with or without JDW's imaginative software animation as a bonus.
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im more worried about all that stuff tumbeling down for some reason