There is no doubt computer technologies changed our lives. Computers are used in most aspects of human experiences nowadays. Be it at home, at work, traveling, schools, hospitals, businesses, etc. We take computers for granted and forget that it wasn't too long ago when it all started.
Of course, historians and academics would dig deeper into the past and go as far to the invention of abacus, numbers, and mathematics to give a broader context to the history computer technologies in our lives. However, the most interesting innovations in computer technologies that truly changed everyday human experiences started only half a century ago. Half a century is a very short period of time compared to the history of mankind. It is fascinating to see a lot of computers made during this time are already obsolete and found their place in museums.
We visited the museum of living computers, where there were many computers from the past. Most of the computers there are fully usable, and visitors can play with them and get the feel of how it all started.
This is Apple I prototype computer that was taken from Steve jobs office after he left Apple in 1985. After Steve Jobs left Apple, staff was invited to take whatever was still in his old office. When Don Hutmacher, who worked at Apple as manufacturing engineer, arrived there wasn't much left and grabbed old Apple I computer in a prototype metal case.
There was a large section of the museum dedicated to Apple. When we think of Apple "the two Steves" come to mind: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
Steve Wozniak was an engineer's kid, raised in the shadow of a thriving electronics industry. Woz, as his friends called him, built his first computer in 1971 with his pal Bill Fernandez. Bill also introduced Woz to an electronics enthusiast names Steve Jobs. Though Jobs was nearly five years younger than Woz, the two bonded over a shared passion for electronics, Bob Dylan, and practical jokes.
Apple's contribution to the advancement of computer technologies is absolutely incredible. Apple computers that were displayed at the museum were the ones from 1976 to 1999, from the garage to the iMacs. Of course, there are other small and big players in the industry that had significant contributions. Among them, one of the biggest ones is without a doubt Microsoft.
While Apple's business model was to build both, the operating system and the hardware, Microsoft took a different approach. Their business model entails focus on the operating system and software and letting other companies deal with the hardware. First with DOS, then Windows Microsoft conquered globe with their software. I will be discussing more Microsoft in one of my future posts, where I would like to share our trip to Microsoft's campus.
There were many more different home computers by other companies as well.
Museum also had sections designated for digital art, robotics, history of microprocessors, virtual & augmented reality technologies, mobile technology, gaming, mainframes, as well as a simulation for self-driving cars. I would like to share rest of our tour of the museum of living computers in my future posts.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Hi, @geekgirl,
Thanks for this lovely article and report about your museum visit.
I lived through this entire period, and have either owned, used, or at the very least recognize almost every one of the computers on display here. ;) Very interesting, very nostalgic.
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This museum looks really cool @geekgirl. I see that the computers are still functional. I wonder if you were able to put your hands on some of those. I miss using old computers and i'm curious on how the older ones work.
Yes most of them were functional and working fine. It was all hands on, that's why I guess call it a museum of living computers. We wouldn't use them for day to day activities, but they can be appreciated as work of art now.
I totally agree! It's always good to look back and appreciate the things we had in the past. It helps us give more value on things we take for granted nowadays. I can't imagine myself doing artworks using those. It must be really hard before but they were able to create great art. And now the tool becomes a work of art as well. @geekgirl
I always feel good to go into the past and see how people used to live and use different devices/tools in their daily life. Have you heard about Taxila? It's not related to computers but an ancient city in Pakistan. I once went there and saw a new but old world!
No, I haven't heard about Taxila. But yes, history never stops amazing me. We have come so far as humanity.
What a blast from the past! It's great to see so many of those tech milestones side by side. Good job documenting this. One question: Where is this museum located?
Sometimes I remember the video equipment I used to schlepp in days of old, when I'm taking out my smartphone to record something. :-) Especially kids need to see where it all came from and get an incling of how many people had to work hard to make today's conveniences possible.
The museum is in Seattle. Yes, we took kids there. They had a lot of fun.
This was my previous boss's favorite museum! Thanks for sharing it here. My boyfriend has an Apple iic that still works that we play with sometimes. It's funny how these old computers feel familiar and foreign at the same time.
This was our first visit there. Kids loved the place, and it was a good experience before they went back to school after the winter break. The speed of innovation in this space is incredible, keeps us wondering what is coming next.
Very cool to see all of those old computers. My first computer was a TRS-80. I made my first video game on it. All of my friends had Commodore 64's and I wanted one. Seems like you are a Mac girl? Mac is my preference but I have to use a Windows based computer at work for all of the accounting software and spreadsheets that I use. Thanks for the tour and walk down memory lane.
Yes, my preference is Mac and everything Apple :) lol. However, I do appreciate other companies and their products too.
Wow we came a long way! And I am so glad Steve and the Woz changed my life....I am a self employed Apple Consultant now all because of these two guys!
Those are great minds that had a big impact in computer technologies.
I can personally remember working on the Apple Power Macs in elementary school in the 90's!!! They were all sorts of different colors.. Then as time progressed we had flat screens and smaller computer processors that never seemed to work in HS..
I used to have an old Dell from the 90's that would practically scream at you when you switch it on because of the fans i believe. Ah the easy days..
All those ancient programs too.. phew
Time flies, progress and innovation continues indeed. I guess all of these are necessary steps to make something better, be it hardware or software.
Time does fly. :[
Maybe advancements will help us to slow it down some how in the future lol
You may have noticed one of your photos had an atari joystick. A lot of people dont know that steve jobs and steve wozniak first worked together as developers of atari hardwarw and software. Its crazy how thats never talked about bc atari was such a popular company in the 1980’s. A lot of what we saw in the final product of computers was first developed in gaming consoles where more “mad scientist” 👨🏽🔬 like experimentation was going on. The stuff that worked was implemented into computers and what didnt was cast aside. Heres a mini documentary (12 min) about Steve jobs and Wozniak’s time at atari.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p5IaCTJdVuM
I thought Jobs was the one who worked at Atari, and he made Wozniak (who worked for HP) do his work for him or something like that. I didn't watch the documentary yet, I will later. Thanks for sharing.
Thats basically what happened, but atari was aware of wozniak’s help.
This really brought back some memories. Do you remember playing Oregon Trail on the early Macintosh?
Wow! I didn't even have an idea that something like this existed. It's so awesome to see the history of computers, something I use daily but that exists from before I was born. Seeing them in your awesome pictures (because they're very good quality, with excellent composition and colors), I feel a calling to it.
Anyway, this is an absolutely great post, @geekgirl. Thank you so much for sharing it. I leave now with a tinge of melancholy. I really want to play tetris on one of those antiques. :P
cool to see the evolution! soon our current stuff will be there as well :D
All that was going through my mind was that these older computers look so adorable.
Very cool! Like a trip to my pre-computer origins and back.
Hah! I remember when lap tops were height of technological sophistication!
Oh wow reminds me of my 486 back in the day. And then my Pentium haha
They had few ibm 486's too :)
Want to say thank you for this post - Amazing to see these and to see that many of them are working displays.
I've actually had or used several of them back in the 80's - spent countless hours on some. It was a magical time.
Thank you.
I did not even know that apple was there already before 1985! I thought that they started with the mobile phone technology. I feel really young when I see all of this old technology!
Yea, Apple was among the pioneers in personal computing.
I learn a lot here on steemit! I like this kind of informative, quality content articles, thank you for sharing!
Haha, and I feel really old because I used some of the machines listed to learn software development. In fact, I owned an Apple IIe before buying an Amiga.
We may envision a very large and heavy computer first. Small capacity until now transformed into so easy to carry and facilitate human performance.
Before the mobile phone was born, the computer was very big role especially in doing heavy work. And to date the sophistication of mobile phones does not completely replace computers. Waiting for his story while visiting microsoft campus
Amiga 500! Wish I still had mine. Although you can emulate it, it's still not the same. But at least the games are free now! haha. Great article.
Thanks for the tour in the past, @geekgirl!
You will not believe, but when I was at university (1992-1997), we had computers, like at the end of your article. On them, we learned and wrote programs on FORTRAN 77! Monitors showed only 2 colors: dark green (background) and bright green (main). And in the next room, there were big spools with a ribbon.
But, it's not I'm so old ... :-) These computers were such ...
Then I had the first personal computer - ZX Spectrum (with the cassettes), and then there was a drive for 5" and then went the rapid development ...
By the way, I see Apple 1 for the first time! It is beautiful...
Very interesting and informative post
You are the one who saw the subject of your qualifying upvote hahaha lool
Thank You
Me honor my sister
Wow! Its a great and amazing technology.Computer in the father of technology.
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nice reading and content connecting!
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Thanks a lot for information..3 days past but hopefully you will see me :)) @geekgirl
Thank you
I very much enjoyed reading about but mostly seeing these dinosaures that built the world we know today.