Computer History Museum
Readers!
For many reasons, mostly political but partly ethical, I do not use Google, Facebook, Twitter. They practice corrupt business policies, while targeting conservative websites for censoring, facts repeatedly confirmed by news stories and by my sense that Facebook has taken action to prevent my readers from recommending Behind the Black to their friends.
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
Readers!
For many reasons, mostly political but partly ethical, I do not use Google, Facebook, Twitter. They practice corrupt business policies, while targeting conservative websites for censoring, facts repeatedly confirmed by news stories and by my sense that Facebook has taken action to prevent my readers from recommending Behind the Black to their friends.
Thus, I must have your direct support to keep this webpage alive. Not only does the money pay the bills, it gives me the freedom to speak honestly about science and culture, instead of being forced to write it as others demand.
For many reasons, mostly political but partly ethical, I do not use Google, Facebook, Twitter. They practice corrupt business policies, while targeting conservative websites for censoring, facts repeatedly confirmed by news stories and by my sense that Facebook has taken action to prevent my readers from recommending Behind the Black to their friends.
Thus, I must have your direct support to keep this webpage alive. Not only does the money pay the bills, it gives me the freedom to speak honestly about science and culture, instead of being forced to write it as others demand.
Please consider donating by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below.
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
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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!