Computer History Museum

California Trip: October 2013

The Computer History Museum opened officially in 2000 in Silicon Valley, though that is a bit of a simplistic explanation. Its roots go back to the Digital Computer Museum opened inside Digital Equipment Corporation's office in Marlborough, Massachusetts in 1979. But you are not here for a history of a high tech history museum. Click the link above for more information about the museum and to see their online exhibitions.

Here are a few photos I took on my visit to the Bay Area. There were lots of interesting gadgets and machines from the earliest days of computing, right up to today. Unfortunately, getting decent photos of the highly reflective displays in subdued lighting proved problematic, so these images are barely a representative glimpse of what was available to see.

Entranceway with a couple of Google bikes parked in front.

Early Card Tabulator

IBM Card Sorter - My first contact with "data processing."

IBM Mainframe Data Storage

UNIVAC Mainframe Control Console

Altair 8800 microcomputer with DEC VT100 terminal.

IMSAI 8080 microcomputer - You must key the first instruction via the front panel switches.

Southwest Technical Products microcomputer used the Motorola 6800 processor.

A PC compatible, the Macintosh, and the Lisa.

Apple II vs. the IBM PC

Various microcomputers, including TRS-80,  PET, Commodore, Sinclair ZX80, Amiga 1000 and Atari 800.

Various PC compatibles, including Compaq's Deskpro 286 and Portable Computer.