Washington D.C. Trip

From: Eric Chomko <chomko_at_greenbelt.com>
Date: Thu May 31 10:19:52 2001

John Lewczyk wrote:

> Jason,
>
> I agree that those museums are a MUST SEE for any vintage computer
> enthusiast!
>
> You forgot to mention (did you miss it?) that they have the origional
> "Mark-8 Microcomputer" that Jon Titus built as found on the cover of Radio
> Electronics in 1974! It was right next to the micros and micro magazines
> exhibit. Jon was a guest at VCF in 1999.
>
> I reckon that the burn-in on the Xerox Alto was an early "desktop theme" or
> "screen saver" (did the Alto have that feature?). If I recall correctly it
> reminded me of cartoon-like butterflies, flowers, or a bee or something like
> that. There were a number of Altos placed into service at the White House
> for use by secretaries there, and perhaps one of those is what ended up at
> the nearby Smithsonian. I understand that the secretaries that got to use
> them, loved 'em.
>
> Its a pity that none of the computers on display at the the museum actually
> are working. I think that is a major flaw in their presentation.

The problem with working machines with millions of people tocuhing them over
the years
is that the machines tend to break. Even the modern display terminals used for
presentation are
in constant need of repair due to fingers smashing and otherwise folks that
don't respect the equipment out of common courtesy. Computers don't hold up
well to abuse. Its a shame but the way that it is.

Eric

>
>
> I found the videos running as part of the Enigma exhibit and the Eniac
> exhibits to be particularly interesting.
>
> John Lewczyk
>
> jlewczyk_at_speakeasy.net
> classiccmp digest subscriber
>
> > Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 13:57:30 -0400
> > From: "Jason McBrien" <jbmcb_at_hotmail.com>
> > Subject: Washington D.C. Trip
> >
> > Didn't get anything from anywhere on my extended Memorial Day vacation to
> > Washington D.C. (Mostly running through museums) But I highly reccomend it
> > to anyone interested in historical computing devices. The main Smithsonian
> > museums I went to were the American History Museum and the Air and Space
> > museum. Both had special exhibits on information processing, and among the
> > highlights are:
> > *snip*
Received on Thu May 31 2001 - 10:19:52 BST