[extropy-chat] Re: antique computers

[Christian Weisgerber]

Spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

> How about computers?  Are there any antique computer users
> groups or clubs?  Rallies?  Competitions?  

Yes to all of the above.  Well, it somewhat depends on what you
consider "antique".

For collections that trace history back to Zuse's reinvention of
computing, or even all the way to Babbage, you'll have to go to a
proper museum.  (If the name Zuse doesn't ring a bell, you are
suffering from anglocentrism.)

However, there are plenty of enthusiasts for gear dating from the
1970s, '80s, and '90s, basically ever since microcomputers came
along.  You can find fans for popular or even exotic '80s home
computers, and these are most likely to hold rallies and competitions.
NetBSD is the most portable operating system in the world and it
supports a variety of old Unix boxen, such as DEC's VAX line, which
attracts collectors of such hardware.

If you've been to last year's Hannover CeBIT, there was a Sun-1 on
display at the Sun Microsystems booth.

Just about the first name that comes to mind when thinking of old
computers is the Vintage Computer Festival:
http://www.vintage.org/

-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy at mips.inka.de