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Re-Opened Computer History Museum Explored

Posted by simoniker on from the room-sized-drool-objects dept.

gosand writes "An article over at OSNews gives a nice overview of the recently re-opened Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. There are some good pictures in the article, and also at the Museum's website. They have a lot of very interesting computers, including an Apple I (signed by Woz), an Enigma machine, and Crays 1, 2, and 3 (yes, there was a 3!) Maybe you have something sitting in your basement that you would like to donate?"

18 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Computers by AyeFly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have a really old DEC Rainbow... if I can find it :-).

    --
    Sig- http://www.dreamhost.com/rewards.cgi?ayefly
  2. I crave my first computer... by Kickstart70 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How I loved the sprite graphics on my TI99/4A. A friend and I each had one...he went on to code for idSoft, and I went on to be a lowly sysadmin :)

    I'm curious...how did your first computer affect your life? (assuming you aren't 13 years old and your 1Ghz PC is still affecting you).

    1. Re:I crave my first computer... by Xerithane · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm curious...how did your first computer affect your life? (assuming you aren't 13 years old and your 1Ghz PC is still affecting you).

      My first computer had a tape drive. I used to play some game that had source that came with a magazine, in BASIC. I loved that thing, and didn't know how to do anything with it. I was pretty young. I then got a 286 with a 20MB hard drive and started playing with BASIC myself, doing really horrible adventure games. I also had a TRS-80 to play with, but that was just for some horrible games.

      Then came the 486, where I was introduced to C and started working with Borland C 3.1, with Assembly. Damn those were the days.

      It changed my life completely, and irreversibly. Watching Wargames (1986, yeah baby) over and over again, and programming. I originally wasn't going to be a programmer, because I didn't have the funds to go all the way through a 4 year degree (or graduate school to get a really good job) so I was planning on doing other things and slowly going to school. After 1995 it seemed very possible to get a job with just a 4 year.

      I dropped out of college in my last semester to go work for a biotech company (1998) and have been programming since. Still waiting for a degree, but if I get one it will probably be in law.

      Hope that satisfies a bit of your curiosity.

      --
      Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  3. Repair, Clean, Repeat by waldoiverson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    this organization seems to count on donations for their displays. does anyone know what sort of process they use for cleaning, repairing and sorting the different devices that arrive at their doorstep? also, what happens to those computers that are donated but not used for display purposes? curiously yours.

    1. Re:Repair, Clean, Repeat by taped2thedesk · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I am currently working on restoring a piece of the ENIAC at the University of Michigan - I know that when the piece was prepared for display, they literally put the computer in the back of a pickup truck and took it to the local do-it-yourself high-pressure car wash. Can't exactly do that with today's computers, eh?

  4. My evening with Gordon and Gwen Bell at the Museum by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Sometime between 1981 and 1983, a group of us from the NYIT Computer Graphics Lab visited DEC for a day. At that time, DEC had its own helicopter fleet that they used to promote face-to-face meetings of employees across the company. We took the air shuttle to Boston, and then they picked us up in a DEC helicopter.

    After an aerial tour of the DEC facilities, we landed and Ken Olsen, then president of DEC, greeted us.

    The high point of that day for me was the private dinner with Gordon and Gwen bell on the floor of the Computer Museum, then located at DEC, after hours. That day, Gordon had caught the fish that they served us for dinner.

    I wasn't even supposed to be on that trip, being just a junior systems programmer at the time. One of the senior scientists had to cancel, and I got his place. I don't think I ever met Gordon or Gwen again, but I won't ever forget that day.

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  5. Re:Let's get this out of the way. by RobertB-DC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Woo hoo! My TRS-80 isn't listed... my wife will *love* the closet space that will free up.

    Oh, shoot, the page goes on to say "nothing mass-produced unless it has a low serial number" -- and they're talking about low as in less-than-or-equal-to 000030 or so. I'll have to take a look...

    On the other hand, even if they would take my TRS-80, I don't think I could part with it. Even though my brilliant assembly-language terminal program (for my 300-baud modem with toggle switch for "answer-off-originate") has likely turned into just so much oxide on a decaying cassette tape.

    On a side note... I was surfing the site when all of a sudden, it stopped responding. Sure enough, the Slashdot story had gone live.

    Slashdot subscription: five bucks
    Being able to visit a feature site before it's Slashdotted to death: Priceless

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  6. Xerox Alto and three button mice. by waldoiverson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The picture of the Alto has a three button mouse displayed. I guess this is the part of the system that Apple didn't incorporate and Microsoft decided to use. NOTE: I am a long-time user of Apples and a short-time user of their mice.

  7. Atari 400 by boomerny · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was cleaning out the cellar recently and found my old Atari 400, I missed the old dog! I also have a couple 800xl's and an XT(a rebranded and recased 800xl basically, marketed as a game system). I almost have my own Atari museum going here.

  8. Re:Donation? by TomPJFan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually the museum has several "pre-computing" devices on display included abacuses and slide rules.

  9. The whole internet, on a single piece of 8.5x11 by robindmorris · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The computer history museum used to be housed in an old warehouse on Moffett Field (which also has a huge hangar that was used for airships). I visited there a while ago, and they have a great collection of stuff.

    One of the more interesting things was the internet (or arpanet) router. A six-foot high cabinet. And stuck on the side, was a hand-drawn map of the entire internet. On one piece of 8.5x11. With about 15 nodes. I hope it didn't fall off when they moved it to the new museum.

    1. Re:The whole internet, on a single piece of 8.5x11 by Alien+Being · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "The computer history museum used to be housed in an old warehouse on Moffett Field"

      Before Moffett field, it was on Museum Wharf in Boston. I wonder if they still have the tic-tac-toe computer made of tinkertoys.

  10. Whoa! by Rhinobird · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think we blew the tubes out of the ENIAC that was hosting thier site...
    *ahem*

    A couple of years ago there was a university project somewhere that implimented an ENIAC on a modern chip. I wonder if the museum has that. Maybe sitting besides the original to demonstrate the rapid pace of development or something.

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  11. Sinclair ZX-80 by Usquebaugh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Z80 1kb Rom/ 1Kb Ram no expansion.

    I went to a computer fair in 1980 more out of curiosity then anything else. Saw these and wanted one. Simple as that, parents waited until the next year and got me the ZX-81. I learnt basic and Z80 assembly. Upgraded to the ZX-Spectrum, then the BBC Micro (6502).

    Before the fair I was thinking about being an architect, after the fair all I wanted was to work with computers. I started programming for a living at 17 and have done nothing else for close on 20 years, including picking up B.Sc.(HONS) Compu.Sci. As long as I keep getting new challenges I'll stick with the job.

    Computers affect my life, nope not at all ;-)

  12. Sweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    That kitchen computer is a work of art.
    Does anyone have more info on that?

  13. It's a shame... by gklinger · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It's great that all these old (and not so old, I guess it's relative) computers are being collected but I was struck by a thought when reading the article and looking at the pictures.

    None of these computers are running.

    It's nice to have the hardware on display but I think an important part of showing the history is having them operational with their original operating systems. I've been to aviation and automotive museums and a large part of what they do is restore the aircraft and cars to their original working state. They may not fly/drive them often but if it doesn't fly/drive, well, you may as well have a photograph. I feel the same way about these old computers.

    I'm reminded of a line I saw in Usenet once:

    It isn't a computer if all it does is reactive passively to the Earth's magnetic pull and displace its own weight when submerged in water.

    I patiently await the suggestion that all those comptuers be turned into a Beowful cluster...

    1. Re:It's a shame... by robindmorris · · Score: 3, Interesting
      None of these computers are running.

      The Science Museum in London has what they claim is the only vaccum-tube (valve, for the English reading) computer that is still running.

      They also have a cool collection of other hardware, including part of Babbage's Difference Engine, the worlds first mechanical computer.

  14. I've visited and it's great! by Voivod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I visited this place a few years ago when it was a bit harder to get into and it was fantastic! Back then you had to call ahead and get an escort through the guarded gate onto the base. The museum was a few ancient warehouses in the shadow of this monstrous dirigile hanger which is also an amazing sight.

    I forget his name, but the person who ran the museum was very cool and took an hour just guiding me and a friend through the museum chatting about all the computers they had. Back then everything was in a huge dark warehouse on big dusty shelves. It felt like walking into the government warehouse at the end of the Raiders of the Lost Arc. Every time you turned a corner you were facing a lost treasure.

    Crazy old LISP OS machines in wooden cabinets. One of the original Internet routers the size of a refrigerator with a hand drawn network map of the Internet from 1979 still taped to the side. An amazing old Cray that looked like an art deco couch from the movie 2001. Computers that look like telephone switches from 1901. The kitchen computer! Oh my GOD they actually built this thing! See it and believe it. :-)