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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?"

7 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. 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?

  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

  5. 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
  6. 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...