The Computer History Museum, which opened June 2 in Mountain View, Calif., uses a collection of outdated computers and computer-related artifacts to demonstrate the breadth of developments of the information age. Even youngsters will feel like wise old sages after perusing the hardware and software in the museums 9,000-square-foot display area.
The museum is housed in a 120,000-square-foot building and is in fund-raising mode to add exhibits and programs and to expand opening hours. The building is currently open for special tours and programs by appointment only. Those interested in contributing to the museum or looking for more information can check www.computerhistory.org.
Current museum holdings include software, hardware, graphics systems and early developments that made later computers and network systems possible. Lectures on computer history and technology developments are hosted in the buildings 400-seat auditorium.
Some of the rare items that visitors can see are a Cray-1 supercomputer, an Apple I, the World War II-vintage ENIGMA and a PalmPilot prototype. The collection is augmented with explanatory plaques and uses photographs, videos and documents to make the history of computing come to life.