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I've got a DEC auto-loader unit that's just sitting and collecting dust.

Of course it's promised to the state dept. of education.

But this brings up a very good point. There happens to be loads of data that is unreadable because the technology is seriously obsolete (8" Floppy anyone?) and not in widespread use. The same thing is happening to 9-track tape now. And it won't be long before CD's, DVD's, and ever DAT and DLT are ancient history.

In the past you just upgraded to the newest storage technology. But there are still many, many paper tapes, 9-track tapes etc. out there.

Fortunately there are retro computing groups that lovingly restore ancient hardware. For example:
http://www.osfn.org/rcs/

I know the Retro Computing Society of Rhode Island has a Mac Portable and a Lisa in its collection. Both are actually functional.

The collection can be seen at http://www.osfn.org/rcs

Ok, I'm a geek and I love to have the Internet wherever I am but why in the kitchen? Like I don't have enough shit on my crappy counter space... Why not do something like those failed Motorola wireless AIM clients and have a docking station and wlan? Why do we have to have a small form factor machine in the kitchen?

Because Helen Homemaker didn't want to look like the phantom of the opera just to get her recipes?

Ahh, if only we could go back to the days of harvest gold and avocado green. The hiiiiiiillls are aliiiiiiiive... with the sound of togggggle swiiiiitchess!

I am already working on a portable beowulf cluster based on this technology. Im finding that the 32 cent stamps work best...

Though the Honeywell 16 series was designed as an I/O processor for he internet, they were also ganged together (not quite beowulf) and used as timesharing machines. I hacked the 1648 for a while, i think it was two 516's (one for OS and one for as many user jobs would fit in 32 K), and a 316 for I/O.

... and watch slashmorons crave your superior geek wang.

What's wrong with having a Wang?

I hear all the geek women love them... =)

PDP-10 with a PDP-11 in it just for booting the system:

http://starfish.osfn.org/rcs/DECsystem/2065/2065-o pen.jpg

The PDP-11 is over on the left on the top shelf. It has a row of blue and greenish-black toggle switches.

An even larger PDP-10 that uses four PDP-11's

http://starfish.osfn.org/rcs/DECsystem/1090/1090-o pen.jpg

but the PDP-11's aren't pictured.

PDP-10 with a PDP-11 in it just for booting the system:

http://starfish.osfn.org/rcs/DECsystem/2065/2065-o pen.jpg

The PDP-11 is over on the left on the top shelf. It has a row of blue and greenish-black toggle switches.

An even larger PDP-10 that uses four PDP-11's

http://starfish.osfn.org/rcs/DECsystem/1090/1090-o pen.jpg

but the PDP-11's aren't pictured.

The Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island, Inc.

When dinosaurs ruled the machine room.

There's a spacewar program here. I'm guessing PDP-8 assembly (PAL8), dated 1/11/71.

It's amazing. Games. There are always games. Anyone have a translator?

/ SPACE WAR PAL8-V7 1/11/71 PAGE 1

1 / SPACE WAR
2 /
3 / INTERPLANETARY DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON YOUR
4 / LAB-8
5 /
6 / EVAN SUITS
7 /
.
.
.

Don't let the bare directory format put you off--there are tons of neat things in that site, especially the big iron

Don't let the bare directory format put you off--there are tons of neat things in that site, especially the big iron

The history of computers is an interesting topic isn't there a project cataloging all the different parts of computer history going on?

There most certainly is! Perhaps you missed the story on the Vintage Computer Festival the other day? There are a lot of people involved in preserving the quickly disappearing history of the computer industry, including myself. Check out some of the others, such as:

• Blinkenlights Archaeological Institute
• The Computer Museum of America
• Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island
• The San Francisco Computer Museum
• and even the Microsoft Museum

or, for a more international view, try:

• Ullrich von Bassewitz's Collection of Old Computers (Germany)
• Silicium: Le musee de l'informatique (France)
• National Archive for the History of Computing (England)
• Bletchley Park (England)
• Australian Computer Museum Society
• The First Computer Museum of Nova Scotia
• Belgian Microcomputer Museum

For tons more, check out the links page at the Vintage Computer Festival, or better yet, come to the VCF at the end of September and experience history in person!

I don't think this is the case anymore, at least as far as computer history is concerned. The Computer Museum History Center broke off from The Computer Museum in Boston as early as 1996 or so and moved to a building on Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California. You can visit, but you need to get clearance to get onto the site.

Website: http://www.computerhistory.org/

Also of interest (and closer to Boston): the Retrocomputing Society of Rhode Island. Their website is here. There are more museums scattered here and there, but I believe these two (and, perhaps, the Smithsonian) are the foremost.

--Tom