Computer Museum a look inside with Assistant Student Curator

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Bryan Dowd - Assistant Museum Curtor

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Bryan C. Dowd amateur radio operator KG4ZKA is a big help as assistant student curator in our museum. Bryan has an interest in computers & history and these vintage computers are fun for him work with. He welcomes visitors and gives them a full tour of our museum and helps them with our active vintage gaming stations. We have several Commodore 64's and other vintage games.



Bryan's experience as curator & look inside museum -short Video

Apple-1 display

Bryan greets visitors from his desk at the front door - gives them a first class tour including demonstrating the operational Apple-1 software.

Vintage computer display

We have a PDP-11 minicomputer - next to Bryan - The minicomputer is used (cost as much as a house in early 70's) to tell why there was such an interest the low first cost microcomputers like the MITS Altair 8800 (January 1975).  When Ed Roberts put his Altair on the market in January 1975 he told the banker 500 sales were likely. The demand for his simple $400 Altair exceded 4000 in a few months.

Byran and PDP11 Mini Computer

A different view of the museum from the other side of the PDP - 11 minicomputer. Just to the left of Bryan is an ASR 33 teletype and this is always of interest. I don't remember what these sold for in those days but it seems like it was about $2000 - Just today hp printers were on sale for $59.  So many stories and comparisons to tell our visitor about --- where & when the microcomputer revolution compared to today. Moore's Law continues to work just fine with technology leaping ahead at warp speed.

Visitor at Gaming Station

One of our visitors fascinated with active vintage gaming stations. During the Fall of 2014 graduate student Grayson Van Beuren studied and did research in the museum as a "Graduate Independent Study Program".  One of Grayson's projects was setting up the gaming computer stations.

Vintage Amateur Radio's

We have the active amateur radio station N4USA in the museum. Our displays include the story of electronics and amateur radio communications from the Crystal Radio days of the early 1900's to the present day.

N4USA amateur radio station

Amateur Radio station N4USA is part of the "Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service"  (FAIRS) -- a non profit foundation with the mission statement of "International Good Will Through Amateur Radio" . The LCF Group has been directing the activities for FAIRS for 22 years with projects in many countries. The "LCF Group" consists of myself David Larsen KK4WW, Gaynell Larsen KK4WWW & Dee Wallace KG4VMI. Station location is in the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" 

Bryan Dowd , Computer Warehouse

Bryan visits the computer warehouse where David Larsen's 40 years of collecting microcomputers are stored. The inventory is cataloged and packed tightly on shelves. All the inventory is marked, entered into our museum database (Past Perfect Software). The location of each item is part of the database making it easy to locate one of the approximately 10,000 items.

Computer Museum Lounge 

The museum has a small lounge area for guest. This is great place for personal networking and relaxing.

David Larsen

We are all pleased to have Bryan helping with our computer collection and in the museum as assistant curator. He is doing a great job and learning real fast to tell the stories of  vintage computers.

.^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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