ScuzzBlog: Diaries January 2021
Entry 13th January 2021: Post 1: The Workshop - My Amiga heaven.
The Workshop - My Amiga heaven.
Taking pictures of the Microvitec monitors gave me the opportunity
to photograph the inner sanctum I call 'The Workshop'. This is
where I sit surrounded on all sides by Amigas so that I can access
all my data files, images and disk back-ups. From a single chair
I can rotate and face five Amigas and work from them all. The area
which is a converted garage is not used as the workshop these days
as it is split between Amiga and more traditional PC based machines.
The area is home to a dozen machines and does get very lively.
I created a separate bench some while back for undertaking repairs
and the like. I have five other spaces set up for Amigas in the
house. Workstation 1 has the Checkmate, A2000 and A500 with the
ViperCD. There is also two PCs, an Amstrad 1512, Einstein, C64C, 2 x
PCW9512, Amstrad 6128, CPC464 and Acorn 7000 on tap.
The disk room has all my disk boxes, cover disks and games and also
is home to the Ezi Tower and an A500 with an A590 hard drive.
The main upper Workstation 2 area is where I keep all my most treasured
boxed machines and has set up an A500 with the 3.1ROM, A1000 and
the 1060 sidecar, four Amiga 1200s plus SCSI, ZIP and CD facility
plus an A600 and Graham the bogus A1200 in the A1500 case.
In this room with my internet based Win7 and Win10 machines I have
my Amiga Technologies A1200 with the IDE thrown out the back, An
A4000/030 and an A3000 plus two more A1200s, an A600 and an IBM
PS/1. I also have my gaming machines XBOX/PS3 and a studio HP
workstation hooked up to my multitude of USB external drives. All
networked to machines in the Workshop.
And so to the pictures of the inner sanctum.
Computers clockwise starting with the A500 and GVP. This is my test
machine for games and mostly demo work. She's a treasure.
A4000/040 OS3.9 18GB hard drive and home of my main Amiga archive.
She is Parnet connected to the adjacent A1200. There is another
A4000/040 to her side and an XP Evesham PC hooked up to the flat
screen monitor. Again networked. The second 4000 uses the large
Mitsubishi.
First A1200 with Madonna at the 1995 Brits acting as a screensaver.
This has OS3.9, Blizzard 1230IV, Analogic SCSI squirrel attached
to a ZIP, CD-ROM and two external SCSI hard drives. This is where
I compile disks and catalogue stuff.
The next A1200 is a games machine and is full, and I mean full of
Amiga games. She is set up with the Surf Squirrel which I currently
use upstairs. Mostly I play snooker, but I do run Settlers and
SWOS in the background as they can play themselves whilst I do
other things. She has a GVP 1230Turbo accelerator and is real fast.
Lastly but not least is my favourite original Amiga 1200 Chantel and
she sits in front of the Magazine library, or a small part of it.
She has the Blizzard 1230IV and SCSI KIT and has two external SCSI
hard drives, CD-ROM and ZIP drive. She has Ethernet PCMCIA and is
connected to the internal network. To her side is a BBC Model B
which shares a flat screen monitor with two PCs just to the right
of the A1200. There are no less than seven PCs networked to the
A1200 in this area alone. The other PCs are stationed around the
house and are all interconnected.
That's about it. Takes me a while to turn everything on but when it
is I really don't need the heating. I always have a blast in the
workshop and when seated I rarely get up. Very dangerous. Interestingly
the chair is also retro. It is an original CEGB power-station turbine
room chair that was stationed at Walsall Power Station now demolished.
I know this cus my dad sat in the chair his whole working career.
He was there the day it was opened and also there the day they blew
up the cooling towers. He salvaged the chair and gave it to me when
I was at college. Been with me the whole time I have been seated
in front of Chant. Amazing really.
There really is nothing else to add other than I often see spaces
created by others for their kit. In truth you don't create a space.
It evolves over years of use. The space becomes a comfortable place
to be because it was added to over years and is home to all your
favourite stuff. It also has everything just where you need it. I
often see these clean clinical looking desks with Amigas on them
and reflect on the fact that they do look very sterile. The Amiga
was always about colour and fun things. Amigas always had a load
of gadgets and the like strewn around the computer. Also the area
would be filled with games, disks and bits of paper. There is no
way I can sit at a bench arrangement. I have to be sitting at the
helm with the computers all around me in easy access. A bench is
for standing at and I certainly have that arrangement also. I spent
a long time on a drawing board standing so it's no problem for me
standing using a computer.
In the end your world is very personal and so no copying mine.
M'kay... The pictures were taken a couple of days ago and are not
some trick with smoke and mirrors of 1994.
The Workshop - My Amiga heaven.
Clara Veiga 10th January 2021
|
