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Pre-Show Day, Friday April 17: Exhibit Rooms are closed to the public.
Show Days, Sat-Sun April 18-19: Exhibit Rooms are open.
VCF East 2026 – List of Exhibits
A Chromebook Before Its Time – The Apple eMate 300 – Kathryn Szkotnicki
In 1997, Apple married their Newton technology with a build-in keyboard to create the eMate 300, marketed primarily as a low-cost laptop to schools. What can it do? What did teachers do with it? Stop by Kate’s table to get hands on with this little piece of edtech history.
A Timeline of Oppressively Large Computers – Andrew Mattera
Before the dawn of the minicomputer, mainframes were used and timeshared by universities, corporations and all sorts of other parties that needed to crunch a lot of numbers in a short amount time. The minicomputer offered a new path the computer usage, a smaller more affordable system that could be operated locally without being cost or space prohibiting. with the dawn of home computing and rise of x86 as a server technology, less and less obscenely large computers were being made. however, a select few companies in the 90s, namely SGI, IBM, and Dell, believed that they absolutely needed to build a computer that was OPPRESSIVELY LARGE. these are their stories.
Alter Egos: Computers with Multiple Personalities – Kenny Riddile, April Roberson, Evan Klein
In the 80s and early 90s, if you wanted to run another platform’s software or do parallel processing, your computer probably didn’t have the horsepower for usable emulation and ubiquitous multi-core CPUs were years away. The solution? Add-ons and cards that were practically entire second computers living inside the host. With their own CPU, and often separate memory, sound, and video subsystems, these add-ons let Macs natively run MS-DOS and Windows software, allowed Apple II programs to run on an IBM PC, or even brute-forced parallelism by simply slapping additional “Macs” in your Mac — no emulation required.
This exhibit highlights early Apple and Macintosh examples of these “computers in computers”. Be underwhelmed by CP/M games on an Apple IIc! Feel the pain of MS-DOS on an original Macintosh 128K! Play networked MS-DOS games between a pair of early Power Macs! Travel the Oregon Trail Apple II-style on a one-of-a-kind Mac LC! And yes, even marvel at the silliness of a triple-68040 IIci hot enough to roast marshmallows over.
Amiga – Dawn of the First Multi-Media PC – Amiga Bill Winters, Stefano Corbellini, Dave Test, Tony Schiffbauer, William Becker, Mike Clark, Gregory Sorvella, Anthony Becker
The Commodore Amiga was the first multi-media home computer. Come get blown away by its groundbreaking audio and video capabilities. You will be dazzled by video digitizers, genlocks, music software, full motion video and even 24bit audio!
Amiga Vistapro in 24-bit with DCTV – Tim DApice, Jeffrey Doherty, Stephen Mayo
A demonstration of Vistapro, a landscape generation and animation program for the Amiga. Using special hardware called DCTV, the Amiga could output composite video at 24 bits. The main advantage of DCTV was it translated a 4bpp (16 color) image into 24 bits, albeit with some conversion losses. The “16 color” image allowed animations to be streamed off standard hard disks. This demonstration is a 24-bit streamed animated landscape flyover, from a stock Amiga 3000! The software and hardware will be discussed alongside the looping animation.
An original Apple-1 computer, the holy grail of vintage computer collecting. – Corey Cohen
Join Corey Cohen, the Apple-1 expert and historian, for demonstrations of an original Apple-1 computer. Corey has brought his fully operational personal 50-year-old Apple-1 computer to VCF East this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apple. Corey will also have various Apple-1 replicas available for you to try out and see how computing was before Commodore, TRS-80, IBM PC, Macintosh, Lisa, and the Apple ][ were developed.
Automotive diagnostic computing exhibit – Marco Iapicca, Katie Scancarella
Automotive OBD1 diagnostic trouble codes.
Scanners , all the way to today’s OBD2 on board diagnostics.
The beginning of computer automotive diagnostics.
BASIC Benchmarking Demo Featuring Ohio Scientific – BIll Degnan, Q. Degnan
The exhibit will be a demonstration of BASIC language speed benchmarking tests described in Kilobaud June and October 1977 “BASIC Timing Comparisons” articles. Exhibit computers will run the BASIC benchmarking tests from the articles to show which models had the fastest BASIC. The articles showed that Ohio Scientific was the fastest BASIC available in 1977 and we’re going to see if that’s really true? Can the Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS 80 Model I, Altair, or IMSAI 8080 defeat the Ohio Scientifc 2P in the BASIC benchmarking tests?
Commodore 8-Bit Reborn – Kevin Gonzalez
In modern times, people have undertaken the effort to recreate the motherboards of many of Commodore’s 8-Bit computers. This exhibit is dedicated to displaying some of the reproduction boards that have been created. These recreations range from 1 to 1 copies of the original boards to boards with quality-of-life fixes, and extended changes/ building modern mods into the design. Reproduction motherboards on display will be for the following computers:
1) Commodore VIC-20
2) Commodore 64
3) Commodore 16
4) Commodore 128
Commodore Chameleons – Stephen mayo, , Guilherme De Silva & Arthur Spencer
Commodore Chameleons showcases the legacy of Commodore with modern and custom systems.
Explore AmigaOS4 and MorphOS with a focus on games & applications specific to these OS. X5000 and A1222+ modern PPC boards will be shown with windowed fractal cases.
Explore AmigaOS 3.2 or Caffeine OS on an Elbox Towered A1200 with Pi-storm acceleration and RTG graphics, also in a windowed fractal case.
Explore accelerated GEOS and demos with the C64 Ultimate edition FPGA board in a transparent case.
Some applications will be specifically showcased with documentation and guides, like Heretic II, Roguecraft, and World construction set will be showcased and others available.
Computing for Small Businesses – Dave Shevett
The 80s saw the first generation of kids raised on home computers bringing their skills and energy and talents into small businesses. Teaching Dad how to use a word processor or the old accountant how to use a spreadsheet became the sea-change of the silicon revolution. This exhibit will explore some of the early examples of using home computers for work, such as accounting, word processing, and small business operations. We will also look at some of the machines that the larger corporations like AT&T and DEC brought out to try and fill this new market for small, affordable, easy to use computers.
Core64 – Interactive Core Memory and the 6502 – Andy Geppert, Jeremy Geppert
Enjoy a hands-on exhibit with Core Memory, a 6502, and Neon Pixels. Celebrate the recent 50th Anniversary of the 6502 by interacting with the microprocessor using a magnetic stylus and Core Memory. Learn all about Core Memory and its place in the computer history timeline. Try your hand at making some MIDI music with Core Memory used as a MIDI grid controller too! This exhibit provides an opportunity to get your hands on with the most tangible and discrete form of computer memory called Core Memory. When you walk away, you’ll have a new appreciation and a better understanding of how Core Memory was foundational to computers of the 60s. Core Memory was used in the computer systems before RAM chips were commonplace. The Apollo Guidance Computers and other spacecraft of the time used core memory. A wide range of authentic Core Memory kits are available to enable you to weave your own core memory and experiment with it. You can use the included magnetic stylus and multicolor LEDs to bring core memory to life in your own creative ways. You can even draw and paint with a magnetic airbrush and play games within the Core Memory itself.
Cost Cut Computers – Ian Litchfield
Ever wonder why computers got so cheap for the new millennium? Cost cutting measures were rampant in the Windows 9x days as clone manufacturers performed a race to the bottom in specs and features to get to a mass market!
Take a trip down this nostalgia filled exhibit with 3 ‘bad’ cost cut machines of the late 90s and 2000s.
Dawn of the Dutch PC – Bart van den Akker, Johan Grip, Stefan Joosten
The Netherlands were very early with personal computers. It started as early as 1978 with the second TV course called Microprocessors II. The first one being aired in 1976, which was broadcasted on national TV and about programming a microcomputer. It launched the Dutch IT-world where between 1978 and roughly 2000 the Dutch had all computers released in US, UK and their own computers. The Dutch used everything.
In 1987, the Dutch government provided discount to buy a computer (for those who didn’t have one). It was the Tulip computer. With big discounts, people could buy either a 8088 or even a 80286 computer with monochrome or color (CGA) display. Around this time, about 80% of the Dutch households had at least one computer.
In our exhibit, where we definitely won’t try to kill you with real Dutch extra salty licorice candy or our famous free stroopwafels, we will show you these computers. Maybe we’ll even bring something more, but you’ll have to find us. Since we give out free candy (without the van), we are probably using a big bar-kinda table. Hard to miss 😉
Divisive Dells – Eric Hanchar
Often derided for questionable reliability and service woes brought about by the capacitor plague and technicians not reading the service manual, these machines have been overlooked in the community. It’s high time that someone shines the spotlight on them. This is a continuation of my exhibit from VCFMW 20 where I showed off a whole range of the clamshell desktops.
Early Microcomputers – Ryan Schiff, , Bob Roswell
An exhibition of early microcomputers.
FujiNet – Ben Krein, Jeff Peipmeier, Andy Diller, Jaime Idolpx, Thom Cherryhomes, Frank Rachel
While networking was prevalent in the business world, it was rarely accessible to the home consumer in the early days of microcomputers. It was relegated to companies running expensive equipment far outside the reach of the regular consumer. If you were fortunate you had a modem to dial into your local BBS but interaction was typically asynchronous & slow. Getting your favorite program to run on your machine required some form of physical media & the equipment to read it. FujiNet re-imagines that past by introducing a device that can bring full-blown networking capabilities to your ancient system. The FujiNet community has been hard at work developing fun, interactive games that you can play across multiple platforms & across the world!
This has been a year of evolution bringing new ways of bringing together the retro-computing community with new games & more platforms being introduced. Come see the FujiNet in action & see how you can connect with friends regardless of which computer you have!
Heath/Zenith Computing: Classroom, Home & Office – Glenn Roberts, Mike Cassidy
This exhibit will highlight the wide range of systems developed originally by Heathkit, and later by Zenith Data Systems (ZDS). Heathkit began with the Motoroloa 6800-based ET-3400 trainer/prototyping system, moving to the Intel 8080-based H8 and the first-ever kit version of a DEC/LSI-11-based system, the H11. Their Zilog Z80-based H/Z89 is a classic example of an early “all-in-one” design. In the 1980s Heath/Zenith moved aggressively to 16-bit systems targeted for office use such as the Z-100 and later a successful and innovative series of PC-compatible solutions. The Society of Eight-Bit Heathkit Computerists (SEBHC) has developed an impressive range of modernization solutions for these machines, adding speed, RAM, storage and connectivity solutions that push them far beyond what could have been imagined at the start. Systems spanning this range of abilities will be on display for you to see and interact with.
Heathkit Computers – Darrell Pelan, Joe Travis
This exhibit demonstrates the progression of Heathkit computers in the 1980’s starting with the 8080 based H8. It featured a main CPU/Peripheral unit with a terminal (H9 or H19) for a user interface and a floppy disk unit. Next came the Z80 base H89 All in One unit with the terminal and CPU PCBS in the same unit. It also had an integrated 100k floppy disk drive. The Z100 was also an All in One system that had both a floppy disk drive and hard disk drive. It ran both CP/M and MS-DOS. First on the market, it was not quite IBM PC compatible. Finally we have a 3D printed H8 retro system that supports MSX games like Galaga. The systems are upgraded with compact flash hard drives, flash drive interfaces, ESP32 microcontrollers and a Tang Nano 9k FPGA for HDMI output. Several of the systems run at 16 MHz instead of the original 2 MHz.
Heathkit H8 – The Original – Alex Bodnar
This year i will exhibit the original H8, showing the Z80 cpu board, the four port seriel i/o board, the hard sector and soft sector disk controllers as well as the 64k memory board.
HP 2108A minicomputer and 87XM micro – Mike Loewen
The HP 2108A minicomputer from 1974 was among the first of the 21MX series machines, and used semiconductor RAM instead of core memory. The system on display has a 2748B high speed paper tape reader (500cps) which is used to load software into RAM. Paper tape BASIC will be loaded, after which BASIC programs can be loaded from the interpreter. A 2647A terminal is used for output. Also on display is an 87XM personal computer from 1983 with dual diskette drives. The 87MX has built in BASIC with graphics capability.
IBM PC Cassette Basic – William (Milli) Hicks, Heather Hicks
Step back to 1981 and experience the IBM PC 5150 exactly as early users did. This exhibit showcases the original IBM Personal Computer running Cassette BASIC—no hard drive, no operating system, just raw computing power waiting for instructions. Visitors can see how programs were typed in by hand, saved to cassette tape, and executed directly from ROM, long before modern software abstractions existed. The exhibit highlights how early users learned programming, problem-solving, and creativity through direct interaction with the machine itself. From simple graphics and sound to mathematical experimentation, this is a hands-on look at the foundations of personal computing and the mindset that launched the digital age.
It Came From BYTE – Ethan Dicks
From its first issue in 1975, BYTE was full of technical articles, electronics projects, programs, games, product reviews opinion columns, announcements, news, and of course advertisements. They did not focus on any one vendor or platform but covered a wide range of topics and machines that evolved over the years as the personal computer industry grew up. Showcased are a few projects and programs, iconic advertisements, and a raft of Robert Tinney cover art.
Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein is a pioneering American computer engineer best known for helping launch the personal computer revolution—most famously as a leader in the Homebrew Computer Club and the designer of the Osborne 1, the first mass‑produced portable computer. The Homebrew Computer Club was the legendary hobbyist group that birthed Silicon Valley’s PC era.
Making the Mainframe Personal with the P/390 – Danielle FitzGerald
Throughout the 1970s and 1990s, IBM sought ways to develop a desktop computer with capabilities of running mainframe software. A number of attempts existed, ranging from the original IBM 5100 Portable Computer to the IBM PC/370 and AT/370 personal computers. By the early 1990s, IBM had developed a line of “personal mainframe” workstations: commodity desktop servers with the inclusion of a real mainframe processor. These systems allowed traditional mainframe operating systems like MVS, VSE, and VM/CMS to be run alongside an OS/2 or AIX host.
We will be demonstrating an IBM PC Server 330 System/390 from October 1996. Our unit is equipped with a 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor, 200 MB of host RAM (70ns ECC DIMM), a P/390 processor card, and a bus-and-tag I/O adapter. The host runs OS/2 Warp 4 Advanced Server. The P/390 card gives the mainframe environment 128 MB of RAM, and an additional 64 MB of host memory is dedicated to the P/390 environment as a memory cache. It will be connected to an IBM 3174 establishment controller, an IBM 3279 color terminal, and an IBM 4224 line printer.
Besides showing off the hardware, we will be providing a live demonstration of a VM/ESA 2.4.0 mutiprogramming environment, including applications such as OfficeVision, BASIC/VM, the IBM High Level Assembler, user-developed games, and even a banner-making program! We will also allow for VCF attendees to connect to our system over WiFi from their own laptops, tablets, or phones.
Midwest Computer Museum – Ken Edwards, Simon McCullough, Lige Hensley
Displays from the Midwest Computer Museum. Focusing on hobby, home, and personal computers from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
MoBATCH: TeleVideo Computers – Patrick Finnegan, Alex Younts, Connor Krukoski, Ian Primus
It’s commonly known that TeleVideo made serial terminals, but many people do not know about the networked systems that TeleVideo produced in early 1980s. The exhibit will show off the systems, and capabilities that they have when pared with modern technology.
Learn more about the Museum of Batch and Time-sharing Computer History, Inc. at mobatch.org
Mystery House: The Birth of the Graphic Adventure – Marcus Mera
Mystery House is a landmark in computing and video game history the first graphic adventure game ever released created in 1980 by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams. Developed on the Apple II, the game fused text-based interaction with simple black-and-white graphics, fundamentally changing how players experienced interactive storytelling.
Inspired directly by ADVENT Colossal Cave Adventure, Roberta Williams imagined a murder mystery that players could see as well as read. Using a VersaWriter, Ken Williams custom game DEV tools and early Apple II, the Williams’ designed a game where exploration, logic, and atmosphere were as important as puzzle-solving an idea that had never been realized visually before.
This exhibit explores the creative process behind Mystery House, from its origins in text adventures to its groundbreaking use of on-screen graphics, as well as the hardware and software that shaped its design. Visitors will learn how a home computer, cutting edge innovative tools, and a bold creative vision helped launch Sierra On-Line and establish the graphic adventure genre that influenced decades of games to follow.
Mystery House stands as proof that innovation does not require massive teams or advanced technology only imagination, experimentation, and the courage to try something entirely new.
Ohio Scientific Inc. – 50 year anniversary – Crawford Griffith, Bill Sudbrink, Bill Dromgoole, Bill Degnan
Ohio Scientific inc. was one of the first-generation manufacturers of personal computers in the US. Founded in Hiram Ohio by a married couple (Michael and Charity Cheiky), OSI offered desktop machines in both kit and assembled forms. During its short existence between 1975 and 1980, OSI innovated and grew, producing many PC firsts:
First female chief executive in the business (Charity Chieky)
Fastest microcomputer BASIC
First multi-processor personal computer
First microcomputer with a hard drive
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ohio Scientific, we and other exhibitors will be showing our collections of OSI computers. We display some of the OSI innovations starting with the humble beginnings – a build-it-yourself single board computer (OSI 300). We also show the pinnacle of the OSI line, the triple-processor Challenger III.
Ohio Scientific turns 50! – Alexander Pierson
Celebrate Ohio Scientific, the company known for its budget 6502 kit computers. Featuring the Challenger 4P, OSI-400 replica, and mini OSI-300, mixing original and modern replacement parts as we keep the spirit of OSI alive!
Pittsburgh Classic Mac Lab – Scott Baret
The Pittsburgh Classic Mac Lab is an operational lab that transports all who visit back to 1992. Used in a multitude of settings, the Mac Lab helps children explore and learn using proven programs while letting adults take a trip back in time. From playing Oregon Trail over a network to drawing in Kid Pix to munching factors in Number Munchers, there’s a little something for everyone in the lab.
Pre-1990 MIDI Laptops – Ethan OToole, Ben Dressler
Come see and hear working examples of pre-1990 portable computers that were equipped with MIDI. These restored portables include the Yamaha C1 286 portable, The Atari STacy, and the Mac Portable. These machines are teamed up with a selection of synthesizers and drum machines.
RCA COSMAC 1802 – Josh Bensadon, Walter Miraglia, Lee Hart, Jeff Brown
COSMAC 1802 computers include the RCA VIP, a good attempt at home computers and the RCA Studio II – Early video game console. RCA also produced a number of trainers and a full COSMAC Development System with 8″ drives. Popular Electronics magazine published an article to build your own 1802 COSMAC ELF, a hobbyist computer/trainer. Quest and Netronics both made their own versions of the 1802 computer by expanding the article plans given in Popular Electronics. World Corporation created a more commercial home computer, the ComX 35, running BASIC with printer and disk drives. The 1802 microprocessor was even used in the Galileo probe. All of these systems will be on display and working (less the Galileo probe).
Restored PDP-11/34 with FPGA I/O – Mike Rieker, Chris Randall
Restored PDP-11/34 system with custom FPGA board for I/O devices (serial ports, disk, tape, ethernet, console). Also has added screen with lights & switches replacing the standard 11/34 console.
RETRO Innovations – Jim Brain, Chris Luckey
Home Computer Peripherals and Upgrades, Commodore, TI, Tandy, and more
Roadkill from the rise of the PC – David Gesswein, Janet Walz
There are lots of companies that failed competing with the PC. OSI sold computers from 1975 to 1986. Had an interesting set of expansion boards and not the best software. I’ll demonstrate some of the expansion boards and my improvements to the operating system. TI tried making a better PC but market picked 100% compatible. I’ll show what we used it for and the IBM compatibility board we added when we needed to run software that wasn’t available for it.
SGI, ESDI, an eMates – Ryan Burke, Brian Boellner, Luke Goembel, Reece Pollack
SGI Demos, ESDI Emulation and eMate repair and maintenance.
SIDlab for Commodore 64 and the Wildbits K2 – Michael Weitman, Bill Murillo
SIDlab is a sonic playground for the Wildbits K2 and the *new* Commodore 64 Ultimate computer. This open source software is still in development but we will have a Midi Keyboard and early beta version at our booth to play with.
Silicon Graphics for Molecular Research and High Performance Computing. – Rick Bernard, Dan Forsythe
Experience Silicon Graphics systems as a researcher or engineer would have nearly 30 years ago, featuring Crystal Eyes stereoscopic display. Silicon Graphics Inc. helped pioneer and progress forward real time 3D rendering in computer hardware. This greatly push forward computational based research during the 1990’s in many fields, chief among them, Molecular Research, which benefited from SGI’s powerful 3D rendering hardware to display complex molecules in real time.
The exhibit features an Octane and Fuel workstations where users can experience Crystal Eyes Active Shutter 3D glasses to view, manipulate and compute 3D molecular models by using the power of Silicon Graphics real time rendering capabilities. Using Crystal Eyes, users will be able to see more fine detail in rendered 3D models of molecular structures enabling the user or researcher to better understand a protein structure and shape. The software being utilized is Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) which is still an active software project by the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
To further augment the user’s 3D graphics workstations, try out desk side High Performance Computing from SGI on an Origin 2000. Take advantage of one the first ccNUMA capable systems available on the market to compute your ray tracing needs or perform molecular dynamics computations.
Story of MSX at the Dawn of the PC – Maki Kato, Paulo Gonzaga
MSX is MicroSoft’s home computer standard during the years 1983-1990. While lesser known in the US it was successful in countries like Japan, Korea, Brazil etc. MSX was built on Z80 and TI 9918 graphics with MicroSoft Basic. The standard allowed for manufactures to produce their unique hardware while being able to run software that was developed for the MSX platform. At it’s peak there were as many as 30 manufactures in the ecosystem. MSX also had a floppy standard allowing for DOS on Z80 which was a huge improvement from CP/M. We will have on display a Sanyo Wavy and an Omega MSX. The Omega MSX is special in that it’s one of the few options available to retro enthusiast today to build their own retro system involving soldering thru hole components.
Come visit our exhibit and we can share our experiences and make our case about how MSX played a role in the dawn of the PC.
The CoCo Collector – Boisy Pitre
Learn about the history of the Tandy Color Computer with Dr. Boisy Pitre, author of “CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer.”
The Computer of the Future: The 386 – Ahmed Faisal
The 386 was arguably the most influential processor ever released by Intel. Released in 1985, it was a fully 32-bit processor which featured innovations such as protected mode (multitasking), virtual memory, and the IA-32 standard. By the late 80s, the 386 was becoming more affordable for the general public, with more OEMs opting for it over the 286.
The 386 was important for two reasons: Being that it allowed for multitasking in DOS and Windows, and that it introduced the Expanded Memory Specification (EMS). Windows took advantage of “386 Enhanced Mode” to create virtual memory, and DOS programs utilized EMS to access more than 640kb of memory. With more memory, programs could have more sound, colorful graphics, and more innovative features.
There are two variants: The DX and the SX. The DX was the full package, while the SX was a cost-reduced variant that had a 16-bit data bus and a 24-bit address bus, only allowing for 16MB of total memory. Despite this, it was functionally still a 32-bit CPU. The computer you see here is a 386SX-33 with 4 Megabytes of RAM and a Sound blaster-compatible sound-card.
This computer also runs Microsoft Windows 3.1 and has a simple dot-matrix printer which can be used to print documents. It can play many games such as Wing Commander, Wolfenstien 3D, and Simcity, making it perfect for earlier DOS games. Despite this, it is unsuitable for more resource-demanding games such as DOOM or Ultima, considered unplayable by modern standards.
The ENIAC at 80 – Brian Stuart
In 1946, the ENIAC was unveiled to the public. In 2026, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of this groundbreaking event. This exhibit is built around a detailed simulation of the machine. Visitors can interact with the simulated ENIAC through augmented reality, a functional scale model subset, and a video game-style joystick interface.
The Malware Museum – Jonathan Goldman, Tyler Reich, Alex Bryant, Vincent Bryant, Ben Bryant, Brett Reich
Welcome to the Malware Museum, an exhibit at VCF East that will educate you on the history of computer malware. Malicious software (malware) has a significant place in computer science history, and study/analysis of malware informs our knowledge of computer security today.
As we explore the timeline in the literature portion of the exhibit, we will discuss the early proof-of-concept viruses and worms from the arpanet days, like “creeper”, and various DOS era viruses. Then we will look at some of the most destructive and widespread email worms from the Y2K era, such as the ILOVEYOU virus, and then finish the timeline with the cryptolocker ransomware of today. We will also be taking a brief look at the software and countermeasures that were developed for the consumer space – such as antivirus software. These are just a few of milestones the exhibit will cover.
This exhibit also features… interactive labs! If you’ve ever wanted to run malware (safely!) and see what it does, this is the place to be. I will be leveraging a mixture of technologies, from virtual machines, emulation (ft. 86box) and real hardware to demonstrate these viruses in action. This will all be done in an offline, controlled environment, so feel free to experiment as much as you want.
The Seequa Computer Corporation: A Founder of Modern Computing You’ve Never Heard Of – Matthew Jones, Natalie Severeid
The Seequa Chameleon was hailed as one of the first dual CPU machines, the first to use ASICs in a PC, and a serviceable IBM clone. Why did history forget about this machine and the company behind it?
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System – Peter Cetinski, Alex Cetinski
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System: Where the Personal Computer Revolution Began
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System by Tandy Radio Shack was one of three pioneering microcomputer systems introduced in 1977. Along with the Apple II and the Commodore PET, these computers were the first consumer friendly computers that created the genre known as Personal Computers or PCs. What made the TRS-80 special is that it was the only one of these original PCs available on display and accessible in most people’s hometown Radio Shack stores.
This exhibit showcases the original TRS-80 which was later named the Model I as it was sold back in the late 1970s. It is surrounded by the ecosystem of peripherals and accessories that transformed it from a simple computer into a complete business or personal productivity system. This display is a snapshot of the moment when computers began their journey from corporate mainframes to kitchen tables.
Designed by Don French and Steve Leininger at Tandy Radio Shack, the Model I was initially conceived as a limited production run of just 3,000 units. Instead, the system became a runaway success, selling over 300,000 units and establishing Radio Shack as a major force in the early days of personal computing.
Timex/Sinclair Computers – David Anderson, Ricardo Calcagno
You know about the Timex/Sinclair 1000, the much maligned “door stop” with almost no memory, black and white display and terrible keyboard. What you might not know is just how much Timex wanted to do with their computer line, including giving its successor, the Timex/Sinclair 2068, the option for up to 16mb of RAM, the ability to run CP/M, and more. What is even less know is how instrumental these affordable computers were to computing careers for so many and how resilient the community around them was. Even today, the community is developing new software and hardware for these often underestimated computers.
Totally Normal Computing – Steven Matarazzo, Sean Malseed, Mike Stanhope, Dan Vincent
Celebrating the dawn of computing via creative abominations!
Weird Japanese Laptops – Katherine Ahlskog, Mike Stroz
A selection of ultraportable or otherwise weird Japanese laptops from the 90s onward.
Wildbits/K2 — the unproductive computer for your soul – Aleksey Gurtovoy, Martha Hampel, Darya Gurtovaya, Zhanna Gurtovaya
Wildbits/K2 is a modern 8-/16-bit personal computer, a reimagination of a home computer in this age of incomprehensible, spiritless consumption devices that we now call PCs.
In many ways, it’s a spiritual successor of Commodore 64, Atari 800, Apple ][, and other home computers of that era. It’s not directly compatible with these machines, but it carries forward the personal aspect of computing that, in our collective race to greater productivity and power, has been lost for many years now. It *is* driven by a genuine Western Design Center 65C816 CPU, a 16-bit upgrade of the venerable MOS 6502 — the chip that was the heart of the aforementioned iconic computers — which makes it a fun and rewarding target for porting classic games and software from those machines. It’s also packed with tantalizing hardware capabilities that will keep you exploring the boundaries of what’s possible for years to come.
But first and foremost, Wildbits/K2 is a computer for your soul. You don’t do taxes on it, you don’t track your to-dos or check your calendar — or any of the other boring, mundane stuff that you *have* to do. It won’t let you multitask, watch Netflix, buy things on Amazon, or spend your day on YouTube. On this computer, you do things that you want to do, the things that bring you joy: you play, you explore, you learn, you create. You have fun, and it’s good for your soul.
Stop by and see for yourself!
Yesterday’s Data Circuits – Brian Loss
Come join us as we demonstrate early telecom high-capacity voice and data solutions, including the hardware used in your local telephone Central Office. Get up close with T1, T3, ISDN PRI/BRI and DSL circuits, and see how to test them with the tools of the trade! We also show era appropriate computers and telephones connecting to these circuits.