🚀 go-pugleaf

Both Radio Shack and Staples sell hold-down kits for computers. I'm
not really satisfied with the Staples kit (it has a really cheap lock,
and the cable loop is to small to use a better one), but haven't
checked out the Radio Shack yet.

If you hear of others, could you please let me know too?

Thanks,
- Steve Masticola (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).

We have about 2 dozen Mac SE's, each with 2 floppy drives.  We have a
write-protected boot floppy in the top drive, and the user supplies his/her
own floppy in the lower drive.  We purchased sheet metal "chastity belts" that
have a slot to allow access to the lower drive, and a bit of foam rubber that 
causes the boot floppy to rebound back into the drive when it is ejected on
powerdown.  The contents of the boot diskette are copied to a RAMdisk at bootup,
and most of the programs are on a server, available via Appletalk.

As for physical security, these units have a hasp that fits over the snap-in
security ring on the back of the SE's, and we put a padlock through this ring
and a case-hardened chain, the other end of which is welded to the underside
of the worksurface.  By using the chain, we give the users some degree of
freedom to arrange the work area to suit their preferences.

We've had this setup for almost 3 years now, and we haven't had any problems
with either viruses or theft, except for a couple mouse pads that sprouted
legs.  I don't recall where we purchased these units, but I'm pretty sure
it was through an ad in one of the Mac trade rags.

-- 

    Cliff Hathaway
    Dept. of Computer Science (602)621-4291
    University of Arizona     cliff@cs.arizona.edu 	        (internet) 
    Tucson, Ariz. 85721	      {cmcl2,noao,uunet}!arizona!cliff	(uucp)

I wrote a couple of days ago:

>Both Radio Shack and Staples sell hold-down kits for computers. I'm
>not really satisfied with the Staples kit (it has a really cheap lock,
>and the cable loop is to small to use a better one), but haven't
>checked out the Radio Shack yet.

Since then, I bought a hold-down kit made by Acco, and am very pleased
with it.  It cost about the same as the kit sold at Staples, and the
hardware (especially the lock!) was much superior. I found it in a
random storefront computer shop. (Staples can special-order the Acco
kit, but it costs more there than I paid for it.)

Still haven't seen the Shack's kit, but I believe it's a clone of the
one Staples sells.

- Steve (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).