"Under the bed" style lab

[steve30]

I watched Martin's video where he shows up round his bench.

It was cool to see another bench built underneath a bed as that is where my bench is .

Previously in this area there was a sofa chair and the computer set up was on another small desk. Therefore, the old electronics area was only half the current size. So I built one large desk under the bed, thus moving the computer and HiFi speakers there as well.

Unfortunately when using test equipment in addition to the computer, even this new set up gets a bit crowded, so I'm thinking of adding a couple of small shelves and adding some pull out draw type things (kinda like 'keyboard trays') to make the area expandable.

I really need to sort out the lighting as its a bit crap, but I get by.

If anyone's interested in what's on the bench... There's an HP 35s calculator, Antex CS18 iron, Avometer 8 MkIV, a cheap '830' multimeter, IBM Model M keyboard, Keesonic speakers (old), and a Dell U2410 24" monitor.

[MJLorton]

Hello Steve,

Brilliant!  Thanks for the post, great to see others have to pop under a bed too! 

Is that an Acorn or BBC PC on the floor???

Cheers,
Martin.

[steve30]

Having a lab with a bed above is always useful if you fancy going to sleep for a while .

Yep, that's a BBC Model B on the floor. It has a temperature sensor hooked up to its analogue input. I can't get my disk drive to work with it though so I have to save and load programmes on a tape. Also got an Amiga 500+ hiding under the desk.

Did you have BBCs in South Africa? I know they were very popular here in England, but I gather they are quite rare in other countries.

[SeanB]

BBC are as rare as rocking horse, but there are quite a few Speccies around, along with a lot of old Apple][ clones.

[steve30]

Martin, just wondering, what is the distance between your bench surface and the bed?

[MJLorton]

Martin, just wondering, what is the distance between your bench surface and the bed?

It's about 67 cm.

I'm sure there were a few BBC's in SA...can't recall where I saw them though....that was a few years back. 

[Mr Eastwood]

I like the idea of having the option to take a nap whilst in the lab, I wish mine was like that!  The old BBC computer is a very cool retro computer to own, the processor is one of the most famous of all time, the 6502.