If you’ve got an interest in technology, a penchant for that particular shade of yellowed plastic, and happen to be located in the California area, then we’ve got the event for you. The Vintage Computer Festival West is happening this weekend, August 3rd and 4th, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
The Vintage Computer Festival offers a truly unique experience for anyone with a passion for all the silicon that’s come before. Where else could you sit in on a roundtable of early Apple employees discussing the bevy of authentic ultra-rare Apple I computers that will be on display, or get up close and personal with a restored Apollo Guidance Computer? If you really want to dive in on the deep end, Hackaday’s own Bill Herd will be in attendance giving his lecture about the effects of heat and time on the internal components of decades-old pieces of hardware.
Still skeptical? Perhaps you’ll get a kick out of the exhibit that celebrates more than two decades of Quake by hosting a LAN game where the classic game is running on less common platforms like the RS/6000 series or the Sun Ulta. If you’re interested in seeing modern reconstructions of classic technology, there will be plenty of that on display as well. Eric Schlaepfer will be showing off his transistor-scale replica of the iconic 6502 microprocessor, and you won’t want to miss the Cactus in all its rainbow colored toggle switch and blinkenlight glory.
Of course, if you’re in the market for your very own piece of computing history, there’s no better place to be. The consignment area gives showgoers a chance to buy and sell all manners of vintage and unique hardware, harking back to the days where the best way to get your hands on a computer (or the parts to build one) was by attending a dedicated event. Plus, no shipping fees!
Put simply, there really is something for everyone at the Vintage Computer Festival. Even if you weren’t around to experience Apple II or Commodore 64 in their prime, these events are a rare opportunity to learn about the early days of a technology that today we all take for granted. Have you ever wondered how programs were entered into those early computers with nothing more than a bank of toggle switches and an array of LEDs? One of the passionate exhibitors at VCF will be more than happy to walk you through the process.
At the end of the day, preserving this technology and sharing it with future generations is really what it’s all about. Just as in previous years, Hackaday is proud to sponsor the Vintage Computer Festival and further their goal of ensuring this incredible shared heritage isn’t lost.
Yes but they already celebrated UNIX discovering its 50 years old, at VCF East, and no one from Hack A Day was there.
They were, just no one ever did an article about it, and I’ve been watching like a hawk thinking someone would post one as a “oh crap we forgot” sort of stance.
TACOBOT!
CACTUS!
I look forward to seeing y’all there!
I must say I’m in two minds about the Apple 1 en-masse get-together idea. Bigger is better is great for fireworks and airshows but I also think-
One Mona Lisa hanging on the wall? Masterpiece.
Ten Mona Lisas hanging on the wall? Meh.
Yes but the one on a wall says it is a fake in a fashion that Da Vinci would understand.
Why is my Google Fiber acting like a 1996 dial up connection? Oh… somebody at Hackaday used a 65MB, 6988×10800 JPEG file as the sidebar image.
Yeah…that’s not how that works. Your browser downloads the scaled version, which is 55KB.
You mean that is not how it supposed to work, but that is how it is working for me, on my system, tonight. I hit Ctrl-F5 on this page, and my network interface RX Bytes stats increase by 72 megabytes. I am using Firefox.
So figure out what’s wrong with your browser? Why should HaD be responsible for your messed up computer? Obviously it’s not happening for others, or you wouldn’t be the only one commenting.
I’m typing this on my phone, over 4G. The page loads near instantly, far better than many sites.
My Firefox also downloaded the 65 Mbyte version.
And let’s not forget about the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest, September 14-15, near Chicago, IL!
http://vcfmw.org