Past Events

Timeline of Past Events

1. 2024
   1. Oct
      1. 
         Open House - October 26, 2024

         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.

   2. Sep
      1. 
         Artificial Intelligence Exhibit - September 28, 2024

         On September 28, 2024, the Computer Museum attended the AI Encounters: Past, Present, and Future event at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum. 

         Our display showcased examples of AI from the late 20th century, running on retro computers that visitors could interact with. This included an early chatbot, speech synthesizer, neural network, and chess AI.

   3. Jun
      1. 
         Hardware Day - June 18, 2024

         On Tuesday June 18, 2024, the Computer Museum hosted our 2nd Hardware Day of the year. The event ran from 10am to 4pm in the David Centre "Fishbowl" (DC 1301).

         For this term's Hardware Day, we chose to explore the themes of Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) PDPs as well as advancements and design changes in portable computing technology. Our featured artifacts included the DEC PDP-11/04, and the Waterloo Computer On Wheels (aka the "WatCOW").

      2. 
         2024 Alumni Reunion Event - June 1, 2024

         On June 1, 2024, the University of Waterloo celebrated its annual Alumni Reunion event. The Computer Museum welcomed visitors to DC 1316 on the morning of June 1^st and presented an exhibit of artifacts in the M3 atrium in the afternoon.

   4. Mar
      1. 
         Computer Museum Hardware Day March 5, 2024

         The Computer Museum hosted a hands-on event with a variety of old computers and artifacts. 

         We had guest speaker, Devon Merner, who gave a talk entitled "The PowerMac used to develop the Xbox 360" which covers the Xenon Alpha Development Kit, it's brief history and how the online community was able to recreate it.

2. 2023
   1. Oct
      1. 
         Hardware Day - October 28, 2023

         On Saturday, October 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in DC 2585, the Waterloo Computer Museum is hosting an open-house event to display computer hardware, with the goal of having a number of older machines up and running that attendees can see and try out for themselves.

         The event also features presentations by Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Gregor Richards and Steven A. Garan, a Waterloo alumnus and the Director of Bioinformatics at the Centre for Research & Education on Aging.

         At 11:00 a.m., Gregor Richards will give a talk titled “Unearthed or Exhumed? Obscure Computing and Gaming Trash and/or Treasure.”

         At 2:00 p.m., Steven Garan will give a talk titled “How Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley.”

   2. Aug
      1. 
         Hardware Day, Thursday August 10, 2023

         On Thursday August 10th, the UW Computer Museum will be hosting a "Hardware Day" in which we will bring out a number of older computers and see which, if any, we can get running. 

         We will be working in DC1316 (the Computer Museum office) and DC2314 which we have booked for the day.  You are welcome to join us to help or just see what's going on! 

3. 2017
   1. Sep
      1. 
         Math 50th Reunion September 30, 2017

         The Faculty of Mathematicsheld a pancake breakfast in Mathematics 3 on September 30, 2017 to celebrate 50 years of Mathematics, and we set up some small tables with recent acquisitions and old favourites.

   2. Jul
      1. 
         Hardware Day (July 2017)

         In July 2017, we're putting some of our treasures on display as part of a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Faculty of Mathematics.

         On July 4, Eric Manning, Scott Campbell and Trevor Grove will be talking as part of Hardware Day (videos will be added here). Immediately after the talks, we'll open the exhibit in the Math and Computer building, room 3011.

4. 2015
   1. May
      1. 
         Reading Artifacts Workshop

         Free to all UW grad students. Learn to "read" objects from UWaterloo's rich computer history and help design an exhibit! Enjoy a free, delicious lunch catered by the Grad House. Spaces are limited, so reserve your spot today or ask any questions by contacting computer.museum@uwaterloo.ca before May 20.