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Posted on 01/10/2004 4:11:55 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
Remember the Commodore 64? The Tandy TRS-80? Computer museum saves relics from the past
By Andrea Ball
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, January 9, 2004
Drop the mouse, move away from the iMac and step back in time for a moment.
Remember the Commodore 64? The Tandy TRS-80? Clunky word processors, Atari Super Pong and black-screened monitors with blinking green cursors?
Ahhhh, memories.
Those days might be gone, but an unlikely agency is preserving Austin's computer relics: Goodwill Industries of Central Texas. The agency has more than 1,000 donated computers, calculators and gaming systems housed at Computer Works, Goodwill's used computer store on ResearchBoulevard. About 200 of those items are on display at the shop's computer museum.
"We think this is one of the better computer museums," said Jamey White, Computer Works manager. "We have some things other ones don't. It's just a labor of love."
That's a love many people share. For years, private collectors and universities have amassed the old machines. But true computer museums are harder to find.
Goodwill's display is one of a handful across the country open to the public.
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., is home to one of the largest collections in the world, featuring more than 4,000 artifacts. The Smithsonian Institution's computer history collection in Washington, D.C., has about 2,300 items. The Computer Museum of America in San Diego has more than 2,000.
The Austin museum is a more casual endeavor.
The exhibit emerged in 1997 as a single shelf of old computers at Computer Works. As time went on, the shop's techies decided to preserve some of the old gems donated to the store. Today, the museum has scores of artifacts but only room to display 200.
"We've got big plans for them, if we ever get the space," White said.
For now, the computer time capsule is housed in a small room with a sign that reads "Relics of the Past."
The display includes computers from the 1970s, such as the $1,000 dump terminal that worked only when hooked up to a $100,000 mainframe, and the Apple II, which cost $1,298 in 1977 and was one of the first consumer models.
They've got a 1983 model from PC's Limited, which later became Dell Inc. Meanwhile, the 1994 Cray EL94, a 500-pound beauty considered a mini-supercomputer in its day, packs the same punch as today's average desktop.
There's also curiosities such as the baby blue computer, the computer covered with paneling and the first portable computer, which weighs about 25 pounds.
Over the years, a string of computer museums have come and gone.
"There have been more attempts than successes at keeping them running," said David Weil, executive director of the Computer Museum of America. "It's a difficult equation to make work because one, you have to get enough storage, and two, you have to build, maintain and show quality exhibits."
The Goodwill museum is free and is a big draw for the store, White said. Over the years, officials guess thousands of people have visited the exhibit.
"It's history people can relate to, because who hasn't fired up a video game or gotten on the Net these days?" asked Mark Akins, a Mac technician for the store who helped develop the museum. "It's a part of history."
If you go
What: Goodwill computer museum
Where: Goodwill Computer Works, 8701-A Research Blvd.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Cost: Free
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My first computer was a Vic-20 with a cassette tape drive, no floppy, no hard drive. It ran at a screaming 1 mHz, and had an expansive, roomy 5 KILObytes of memory. Oh, the power ... the raw, unbridled power....
Poser.
My first computer was an Epson PX-8, with tape drive, two floppy drives (128kb?) processor unknown but 128KB of memory. AND the AWESOME CP/M OS!
Power indeed.
Curses! Foiled Again! :(
Says he's going to fix it up for nostalgia reasons someday.
L
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The Altair 8800 is considered by many to be the first microcomputer. Dates from 1974, ran an Intel 8080 at 2 MHz., with 256 bytes of RAM. No keyboard or monitor; was programmed in machine code through the front panel switches. |
My understandng is to never throw them into the trash. Best thing is to find some organization to donate them to, or even this Goodwill museum.
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