[comp.sys.apollo] Orientation of Apollo on floor.

ted@idunno.UUCP (Ted Park) (08/21/89)

At the company where I work we have around 16 Mentor nodes
(essentially DN3000 nodes) as well as around 20 nodes that we
purchased from Apollo.  Some of these nodes are sitting on the 
floor on edge - the nodes with Mentor stickers on the front sit 
with the tape drive towards the floor, so that the vents on the 
side don't get blocked, while the Apollo nodes sit so that the
small light plate is upright, and the tape drive or floppy drive is
in a position that media can easily be inserted.

The CE from Mentor insists that vents up is the "correct" way, although
you can flip it over if you get the optional stand.  The Apollo people 
claim that the media end should go up.

Although it makes most sense to set the node down flat on the desk
where people can't kick it over (yeah, I guess that the drive wouldn't
get jarred as badly if it was nearer to the floor if the node got 
knocked over)  I'm curious about what other sites do.

Yes, I know it's trivial and not particularly relevant, but 
inquiring minds still wanna know. . .
 
If you have nodes sitting on the floor, which end do you have 
up??

krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (08/23/89)

Your Mentor person is correct. The DN3000 is designed to stand on its end
with the tape/floppy at the top IF THE NODE IS MOUNTED ON THE FLOOR STAND.
If the node is not mounted on the stand, you are blocking the air intake
vents on the left side of the system unit. If the node is mounted on the
stand, it's very hard to kick it over; but mostly you want to use a floor
stand to avoid blocking the vents, overheating the unit, and sucking dirt
into the system.


 -- David Krowitz

krowitz@richter.mit.edu   (18.83.0.109)
krowitz%richter@eddie.mit.edu
krowitz%richter@athena.mit.edu
krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet
(in order of decreasing preference)

shull@scrolls.wharton.upenn.edu (Christopher E. Shull) (08/24/89)

In article <10@idunno.UUCP> ted@idunno.UUCP (Ted Park) asks how folks
orient their stand-on-end DN3000's.

We bought a bunch of floor stands, figuring that Apollo probably
designed them to hold the systems right side up.  If you don't want
to pay for the stands, you can still put the vents at the correct,
floorward side by sticking a couple of bricks or a thick phone book
under the system unit, carefully avoiding the vents.  We only did
this when we could also lean the top or bottom of the system unit
flat against a wall or pedestal desk.

We eventually bought the floor stands because I was afraid that some
graduate student would see the phone book only part way under the
system and "fix" it.

-Chris