ACMS (was RE: [LINK] (no subject))

[Adam Todd]

>I like what they are doing and I've exchanged emails with some of their 
>leading lights in the early days, but such an inefficient page will lose 
>them most dialup visitors.  It tested my patience on ADSL.

Yep, ditto.  I didn't wait for the graphics to load up.  Maybe the 
"antiquated" computers are a clue to the new world.  Perhaps these guys 
aren't with the HTML coding :)  Given 'em a 16 switches in a row and I'll 
bet they make some code!

>But I was mainly asking whether this is an [Australian Computer] Museum or an
>Australian [Computer Museum].  It seems to be the latter and it's not 
>surprising that most of the storage pressure would be caused by those PDPs 
>(I tended an 11/34 once).

The reality is that there aren't too many Australian developed and 
manufactured computers.  Not only did the government screw Australia over 
with R&D in this area as well, but it was never sustainable due to Unions, 
even though there was no IT union at the time.

> > >Bugger you've now made me wonder where I've stored my quirky
> > >hobbyist AMSTRAD with inbuilt modem.
>
><pretend 80s snob mode>
>An Amstrad! What were they ever good for?! Now, a Microbee was a *real* 
>computer!
>:-)
></pretend 80s snob mode>

Hey, try and Ohio Scientific Challenger 1P!

>Lemons I owned included an Atari 400 with a membrane keyboard and a 
>SpectraVideo.

I've got half a dozen Amiga 500's now collected from Council clean ups 
:)  I've got ESC4500's, Mica 8088's and a pile of other stuff!

>I also remember keying in a Lunar Lander program painfully in an HP 
>calculator. I think it was exciting at the time. :-)

I did that on the Tandy Pocket Computer :)  But it had BASIC :)

> > >What was the competition for portables at around 1988?
> >
> > There were portables around back then?
> >
> > Kidding!  I had a Toshiba at one stage and I've got a few mid
> > 80's Laptops, if you dare to call them that!  One is a
> > "dedicated" word processor compatible with word :)
>
>IBM donated/loaned to my user group one of the "sewing machine" versions 
>of the original IBM PC and I used it as a BBS for article submissions.

We built a 4 bit ticket BBS that used a photocell to determine the time of 
day :)

>Lo and behold, in the early 1990s, they realised it was valuable and took 
>it back!  Our office has an original, working IBM PC in a display cabinet, 
>donated by a member.

I've got a few original IBM PC's in good condition.  XT's with 128K of RAM 
:)  And original full height 5.25" floppy drives :)

I also have 8" floppy drives, a dual "slim line" 8" floppy sub system (slim 
line in those days was about 4 inches per drive in height!"

>Speaking of old computers:
>
>Posted on Tue, Jun. 22, 2004
>Computer pioneer Goldstine dies at 90
>BY GAYLE RONAN SIMS
>Knight Ridder Newspapers
>
>(KRT) - Herman Heine Goldstine, 90, the scientist who persuaded the U.S. 
>military to back the development of the first computer, ENIAC, died 
>Wednesday of Parkinson's disease at home in Bryn Mawr.
>
>http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8986863.htm

Now that's as sad as  the passing of Jon Postel (keeper of the keys to the 
Internet) some years ago.

I guess we've got to realise that people aren't forever, unlike the 
technology we create.