Computer History Museum
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An evening pause: A quick review, with images, of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Like them, I was tickled by the gigantic scale of technological improvement that took place in this field in such a relatively short time.
Hat tip Ben K.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Regular readers can support Behind The Black with a contribution via paypal:
If Paypal doesn't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
An evening pause: A quick review, with images, of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Like them, I was tickled by the gigantic scale of technological improvement that took place in this field in such a relatively short time.
Hat tip Ben K.
Computer History Museum is a wonderful place. I’ve been a long-time supporter. They have an amazing collection of artifacts. Be prepared to spend some time! There is a great café for lunch. And the store! oh, it’s geek heaven.
Check the schedule: you can see and play Spacewar! on a vintage PDP-1. Also a restored and fully-operational IBM 1401. Ah, the smell of oil from all those moving parts…
I remember my first computer programming classes in high school. 1982/83.
Green screen ASCI terminals connected to the local university. No internet and no passwords or security yet.
A year later we were writing programs and games on TRS-80’s.
My first home PC. An 8086.
My first was a TI-99/4A. It came with an adapter cable to turn your cassette recorder into a mass storage device. The stone knives and bear skins era of home computing.
Good stuff by all!
Halt and Catch Fire, Episode 1,
“Computer’s aren’t the thing…”
https://youtu.be/YQLbi4VXYcA
0:58
in total contrast– for a great analog experience I’d recommend Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village in Detroit.
It was very sobering, going to the museum and seeing computers of the type that I used to work on!