2 Oct
2009
2 Oct
'09
6:34 p.m.
Message: 7
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 11:00:53 +0200 (CEST)
From: Christian Corti <cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
<cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
Subject: Re: Classic computers endangered!
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0910021054350.21422 at linuxserv.home>
<Pine.LNX.4.61.0910021054350.21422 at linuxserv.home>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
On Thu, 1 Oct 2009, Richard wrote:
Well, this part is just plain uninfomed:
"Science museums around the world have long collected computing
kit. But there are only three institutions actively growing
collections of outdated computers and restoring them to working
order: the UK's National Museum of Computing (NMOC) at Bletchley
Park; the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley; and the Heinz
Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) in Padaborn, Germany."
Only three? I can name a half-dozen more off the top of my head
without even googling.
And at least the HNF does not restore/run their machines, they don't even
display them in a logical manner (and it's Paderborn, not Padaborn ;-))
OTOH our little museum has been collecting/restoring etc. for much
over ten years now. And of course, almost everything on display is
functional (people don't want to see dead junk, they are much more
impressed by a demonstration).
Christian
There are 'many' private and public museums that not only preserve but keep
working vintage computers in their collections. Two important ones come to
mind:: 1) The First Computer Museum of Nova Scotia. It has Kenbaks which
some consider to be the first microcomputer. 2) The Digibarn Computer
Museumlocated a shoet distance outside Silicon Valley. Not only does
this museum
have an excellent collection of vintage machines but has an excellent web
site to boot.
There are some interested in vintage computers just as some are
interested in vintage cars. The numbers are really not that large, in either
domain, as far as this observer can determine. Yet we should do all we can
to preserve old computing technology. History will thank us!
Murray