Building a Home Theatre Room

This week I want to talk to you about one of my newest projects. Building a home theatre in my basement! When my wife and I bought our home a couple of years ago, we managed to convince the previous owner to leave the video projector that he had suspended from the basement family room ceiling. He even left the screen for us too. Now, as you can see, this is not the most ideal setup, but it was still pretty cool to watch movies down there.

We recently had a home owners nightmare happen to us - sewage backup in the basement. I know, ewww. But we were lucky, and it was all cleaned up and fixed within two weeks, however, the basement carpet was going to have to be replaced. While going through this experience, I was trying to see the silver lining to such a crappy (pun intended) situation.

I decided that I would turn the old movie/family room into a REAL theatre room. One with a proper screen and built in speakers.

So, this is my first post as I start this new project. I will post new pictures as I make progress. Just be warned, this project will take me several months to complete, and will require quite a bit of work. At this point I am just getting ready to start the demo work. I need to empty the room completely and then remove all the carpet and underlay, for obvious reasons. I am then planning to remove all the wood panelling from all the walls, and including the stairs leading from the main floor. I never liked the wood paneling from the get-go, so this is my chance to get rid of it.

There is no dry-wall behind the panelling, so I'll have to finish all the walls too. This would be a little more upsetting, however it does allow for me to build in all the wiring ahead of time. I'm trying to see the bright side of a ton of work ahead of me.

Check back regularly to follow my progress here, as well as my other projects… I'm still on the hunt for those old computers, and will have a road-trip in the next week to pick up another system!

My New Hobby!

Today I want to share with you all my latest project which is actually a new hobby as well. As those of you who have read a few of my last postings may know, I enjoy spending time in "nostalgia-ville". I like to be reminded of the "good old days" and for me the good old days are when I was young and just getting into computers. In those days I spent a lot of time using the computer I had and drooling over the computers I wanted to have. I would spend hours looking through computer magazines, looking at the latest and greatest in desktops and lug-able computers that I could never afford.

Well, it occurred to me recently that it may be a neat idea to try and collect some of these old machines. Specifically, I am going to collect the computers I used to have, and the computers I used to really want. The best part of this new hobby is that these computer systems are so old that I can probably get some of them for free! As for the others, I don't believe that they will cost too much. So this can become a new hobby that won't break the bank, and keep the wife from getting too upset.

The first thing I needed to do was try and find some old computers. I placed an ad on a local buy/sell board and waited to see what would happen. The ad just said that I was looking for older computers, and gave a short list of systems. Specifically I was looking for a Commodore 64, an Atari 800XL, and a Macintosh system. The Atari 800XL was my favourite computer for years. But the Commodore 64 comes in at a close second. I learned to program on each of those systems. The Macintosh was only a dream for me. There was no way I could afford to buy one, but I use to want one so badly. I loved the design and look of it. It was a beautiful computer and I would stare at it for hours in magazines. It was just so cool!

I got a few responses from my ad posting. I found one gentleman who had a Mac Classic with keyboard and mouse for $20. After the first email from this computers owner, I could see that he was a "serious" Mac user. Before he would agree to sell me this working Mac, I had to promise that I would NOT turn it into a fish aquarium! I promised and quickly picked it up. Originally, I was hoping to get a Mac 128, but this was close enough. It looks the part, and to be completely honest, I didn't know the difference when I was young, so this system will do just nicely.

I then got an email from another person who said I could have his old Commodore 64 for free! Free is hard to turn down, so I made arraignments to meet him at a common location. The reason for the covert meet-up, was that he was a good hours drive away and offered to meet me at a location he knew how to find. Frankly, I was amazed that someone would be willing to go through the trouble. When I met him, he had a surprise for me. Instead of a Commodore 64 computer, he had two, and a floppy drive, and software, and joysticks, and a monitor! All for free! I thanked him and offered to give him $20 for his trouble, but he declined and said he was happy to get it out of his basement and to not have to throw it out.

I then received another email from a gentleman who had quite a few systems to get rid of. I made arrangements to visit and paid $20 for a Commodore 64, floppy drive and an Atari 400 computer. I already had a Commodore 64, but I want to have a couple of each system, for parts and a "just in case" situation. I used to own an Atari 400 and this would be a chance to collect the line of Atari 8-bit computers. He also had a few other systems that I would like to add to my collection at some point. I plan to remain in contact so that I can pick up a few more later on, when I have a little more disposable income.

I already had two Atari systems in storage in my basement, and now I would be able to dig them out and display them as well. One is an Atari XE game system, and the second is an Atari 1040STE 16-bit system. This was my everyday computer for a few years, and I'm glad I kept it around.

The next problem I had to solve was where the heck was I going to put these computers. I wanted some place that I could leave them out and setup so that I can reminisce at will. My current office is in a spare room which has a closet that really serves no purpose. So I decided to build in some display shelves for my new 'old" computers.

So, with a little time, money and effort I built in several shelves and now have a few systems on display. I still have to clean up these old computers and accessories, but I have something I can work with.

I am still looking for a few old systems to add to my collection. I would like to complete the Atari 8-bit line with an 800, 800XL, 600XL, 1200XL, 65XE, and a 130XE. I would also like to get a few Atari floppy drives, like the XF551, a 1050 and an 810. I would love to get the 410 tape drive for this system too. Pretty much any Atari accessory with the classic brown and white plastic casing will do. Another system I would like to get my hands on is a Commodore PET. This was the first computer that I used in school and would love to have one for my very own.

If you live in southwestern Ontario and have one of these systems that you would like to pass on to me, please let me know.

Thanks

Motherboard Wall Art project - Continued.

Today I want to update one of my past projects. I seem to never be completely contented in any project I take on, and usually end up tweaking it in some way or another further down the road. It's been well over a year since I first "completed" my motherboard wall art project, and as I sit and stair at it everyday, it occurred to me recently that it may not actually be a finished project. I enjoy looking at it, but it seems that it might look better it it were not so multi-coloured. Different motherboards always seem to sport a range of colours, and with 12 different motherboards, there was a lot of colour.

The first thing I needed to do was see if it would even be possible to paint this project. I've never tried to paint electronics before, and the variety of materials - different kinds of metals and plastics would make it a challenge for any paint to cover everything. After a sample I discovered that with a coat of automotive primer spray paint, I could easily paint the entire project.

I setup a paint station in my garage, and began removing all the RAM, BIOS and CPU chips. I had this idea that I would leave them unpainted and after painting the entire project, I would place them back into their corresponding slots. This would allow me to use the chip-less motherboards - painted in one solid colour - as a canvas for the removed chips.

After removal of all the microchips, and a good cleaning of the motherboards, I then had to decide on a colour. I've been working on designing my home office to have a simplistic, clean look, and so I thought that I would paint this project white. I went back and forth between flat white and glossy white for way too long. It wan't until I was standing in the paint isle at Canadian Tire with a can of each in my hands that I finally decided on flat white.

At this point I can say that I am completely happy with my choice. I have this project back up, hanging over my computer desk, and really enjoy it. I hope that this project inspires you as it does me.