Monday, April 22, 2013

Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA (Part 2)

Not being much of a museum fan, I actually visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA because I was dragged along by family members. I have to say, it was kind of interesting to see the different historical gadgets in the museum. If you do visit, be sure to remember that tripods, backpacks, and flash photography isn't allowed inside, so make sure you bring your good camera and fast lens with good low light performance. I took 26 photos there and I will be splitting them into two parts. I most likely won't be making too much comments about the photos for these as I have no clue what most of them are. Hope you enjoy the photos I took in the museum.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing here.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 

The Olympus D-365 Digital Camera. First commercial digital camera. 

Mini Hard Drive. 

Another Mini Hard Drive. 


Intel Microprocessors. 
Sign Reads:
Generations of the Intel x86 Family
This case shows successive generations of Intel microprocessors derived from the... (cut off) 

Sign Reads:
Apple II, Apple, US, 1977
Steve Wozniak designed the Apple II in 1977. The self-contained unit housed electronics, keyboard, and power supply, with the BASIC language in permanent memory. A TV served as display. The Floppy disk drive (1978) and spreadsheet program VisiCalc (1979) made it a blockbuster. 
 Speed: 1MHz Memory size: 4K Memory type: Semiconductor Memory width: 8-bit Cost: $1,298

 Sign Reads:
Altair 8800, MITS, US, 1975
Popular Electronics featured the MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer kit in January 1975. Under $500, Altair became the leading "homebrew" computer, inspiring Bill Gates and Paul Allen to write a BASIC interpreter program. Their company, then called "Micro-Soft", survived. MITS did not. 
Speed: 2MHz Memory size: 1K Memory type: Semiconductor Memory width: 8-bit Cost: $439 (kit), $621 (assembled)


Sign Reads:
Nintendo 64 video game system, Nintendo, Japan, 1996
this 64-bit system was the last to use cartridges. Nintendo benefited from the library of characters and series created for its previous systems. 

Sega Dreamcast 

Nintendo Game Boy 

 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)


Pac-Man game cartridge for Atari.  

 Sign Reads:
Lisa 2, Apple, US, 1984
Apple's first computer with a Graphical User Interface was a market failure because it was too expensive and too slow. Steve Jobs had initiated the project but CEO Mike Scott didn't allow him to run it, so Jobs joined the Macintosh team instead. 
Speed: 5MHz Memory Size: 1Mb Memory type: Semiconductor Memory width: 32-bit Cost: $3,495

Sign Reads:
Macintosh, Apple, US, 1984
the innovative Macintosh - Apple's second attempt at a GUI-based personal computer, following the failure of the Lisa - was a small, self-contained personal computer with a much-improved, Alto-like graphical desktop. Graphic designers, artists, and educators quickly adopted it. 
Speed: 8MHz Memory size: 128K Memory type: Semiconductor Memory width: 16-bit Cost: $2,495

These are all the photos. I hope you have enjoyed viewing them. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: 1 | 2 |