Computer Museum Open House
On Saturday, October 26, we held our termly Computer Museum Open House! The event ran from 10:00am to 4:00pm in DC 1301 and featured many of our interactive artifacts, recent acquisitions, and a couple guest displays.
October 26, 2024 Open House Poster
World of Commodore
Commodore 64 with Eliza (left), Commodore 64C with Frogger (middle), Commodore 64C with the Computer Museum logo (right)
THEC64 Mini running Boulder Dash
Two Commodore PETS, with the original model on the left.
Commodore SuperPET (left), VIC-20 (right)
Our "World of Commodore" tables showcased many iconic Commodore computers in our collection. We had a Commodore 64 and two Commodore 64Cs set up running Frogger, Eliza, and other games for visitors to interact with.
We also set up THEC64 Mini, a 50% scale Commodore 64 replica with 64 built in games.
Apart from the interactive items, we displayed a VIC-20 with its original box, two Commodore PETs, and a Commodore SuperPET.
Recent Acquisitions
Our recent acquisition tables featured some artifacts that have been donated to us within the last month.
Osborne 1
The Osborne 1 was arguably the first successful portable computer. It was released in 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation and cost $1795 USD. Adjusted for inflation, that's over $8,000 CAD today.
The Osborne is accompanied by an external monitor, various user manuals, and a Star Dot Matrix printer.
These artifacts were donated by Colin Hardman.
Osborne 1 (left), external monitor (middle), Star printer (right), and manuals (front)
Courtesy of the UW Science Museum and Galleries
We recently received a variety of artifacts accessioned by the University of Waterloo Science Museum & Galleries. These are artifacts of early computing devices from the early to mid 20th century and include abaci, slide rules, adding machines, and mechanical calculators.
These artifacts were donated by Murray Shaw and can be viewed in our catalogue.
Typing Challenge
If you've ever typed on a manual typewriter, you're probably familiar with the frustration of jammed keys. We set up three typewriters from different years with different mechanics so people could compare how it felt to operate them. Overall consensus: electrical is much easier!
Scott demonstrating how to operate a manual typewriter
Testing out the typewriters
Smith Corona Classic 12 (left), Smith Corona XD 5900 (right)
IBM Selectric III
Flashback to Windows 95
Thanks to our volunteer, UW grad student Noah Weninger, we had two '90s PCs up and running with games and demos to try out.
PC running Protracker; a free music tracker software from 1990 for sample-based music creation.
PCs running Ghostbusters II (left) and Protracker (right)
World of Retro Computing
World of Retro Computing exhibitors Justus and Jason were on-site to talk about what they do and show off some cool tech, including a jumbo Pac-Man joystick game and a working IMSAI 8080.
The CoCo Nation Show
Justus gave a walk-through of the Computer Museum Open House for The CoCo Nation Show - a live and interactive talk show featuring the Tandy Colour Computer and its hardware cousins. The episode can be viewed on YouTube, with the Open House section running from 14:23 to 37:25.
The CoCo Nation Show Episode 385
Science Events
This weekend was full of activities as the University of Waterloo's Earth Sciences Museum hosted their annual Gem and Mineral Show, along with the Faculty of Science's Kids Science Open House.
Be sure to check out the Earth Sciences Museum event page to find out about future events!
If you enjoyed this event consider joining our mailing list to be notified of future events. You wont want to miss the next one!
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About the Author
Amy studies Computational Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and is the Computer Museum’s Fall 2024 co-op student. In her free time, she enjoys painting, collaging, and other forms of visual art making.