Computer Museum - Curator of Telephone Museum Curtis Anderson visits

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L-R David Larsen KK4WW, Curtis Anderson N4ON

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Curtis Anderson N4ON curator of the Telephone Museum in Richmond Virginia made his second visit to our musuem.  We had a great time talking about the vintage computers and sharing stories of our collecting. Curtis made a video of the museum displays and we will post it when available. We made   plans for Curtis to join our display of vintage computers at Frostfest in Richmond Va on February 7th 2015. I invite you to come take a look at the fest.

Crutis inspecting Osborne computer

This display has some great vintage computers, MARK-8,Intellect-4,Heathkit H-8, MMD-1,Byteshop,Sinclair, Osborne, Intel 1972 Development system and more. Listen to the link below for me giving a tour of this display.


Audio description of computers in this cabinet "CLICK"

Autonetics 1958 transistor computer
Oldest Transistor computer in the world

This computer is the 1958 Autonetics Recomp 2 serial number 003 - perhaps the very oldest transistor computer in the world.  I worked the Summer of 1960 at Autonetics on the Minute Man 1 ICBM computer -  what an experience 55 years ago - Golly I must be getting older that was a long time ago.

1916 " How to build your own Spark Gap Transmitter

This is very old 1916 - how to build your own wireless transceiver. Curtis brought this for me to look over. It is how to build your very own Spark Gap transmitter and reciever --- & you don't need a license to operate ( that was operate in 1916 of course).

I will try to publish the whole manuscript here in the future.

PDP- 10 Digital Equipment Corporation

PDP-11/10
I have only one minicomputer in the museum - this gives me a way to compare the old mini's to microcomputers. I had a good number of minicomputers in the museum warehouse but have passed most of them on to other collectors and museums. Give a listen to my description just below.

Audio discussion about this PDP-10 "CLICK" 

Amateur Radio Station N4USA in museum

Amateur Radio station N4USA is operational with beam antenna on the roof. The station works good from museum. Curtis and I also made some radio contact from N4USA at Chantilly Farm.



More info about N4USA  in the museum "CLICK"


During Curtis's visit we had a good time making audio recordings & videos about historic events. A sample is below. Good stuff for history buffs.
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Curtis is curator of the Telephone Museum in Richmond VA and below tells a few short stories about Alexander Bell and the invention of the telephone.



 Bell invents the telephone on way to making hearing device for hard of hearing.



  Bell get telephone patent ahead of other inventor by chance.



  Alexander Bell demonstrates wireless transmission of voice 4 years after inventing the telephone.

A short video of history from the Transistor to the Microcomputer by Curtis N4ON
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David Larsen

Thank you for the visit Curtis - it was fun to talk about vintage computers and old times during our careers 30 or more years ago.

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

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Vintage Zaltair Computer that never was - One of Steve Woznaik's best pranks

Bugbooks

The Zaltair computer was not a real computer but a prank that Steve Wozniak and some of his friends made up and secretly distributed at the First West Coast Computer Faire April 15-17, 1977.



I am fortunate to have an original of the Zaltair brochure. I received this brochure from Adam Schoolsky as part of a package of material with the Apple 1 computer purchased from Adam in 1995. Adam helped Wozniak with this prank. The brochure was a prank using the most popular computer on the market - the "Altair 8800" microcomputer sold by MITS, Ed Roberts company. See the comment below blog for additional information.


                   Enlarge the photo's by clicking on them and then even more by a right click and select "View image".

Zaltair brochure Front

 Zaltair brochure Back

 It is reported that this may be the only backside image of the Zaltair brochure on the the internet.

Much of this information I obtained from Steve Wozniak's book "iWoz"

Wozniak book

 "Zaltair Computer"      A really great practical joke that Steve Wozniak ( designer of the Apple 1 Microcomputer ) pulled of at the First West Coast Computer Faire in April 1977.  Steve says in his book "IWoz" that he likes to do practical jokes and have someone else get blamed for doing the joke. In the case of the Zaltair he did a very good job and did not get accused of being the originator of the joke in fact Gary Ingram at Processor Technology was the one accursed of doing the hoax. The hoax was directed toward the Ed Roberts and his Mitts Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Steve called his friend Adam Schoolsky to come help with this hoax. Adam and Steve created the Zaltair handout and printed 8,000 or more of them for $400.  They called in Chris Espinoza and Randy Wiggington -- a couple of teenage friends to help distribute the brochure. Steve told them all that no matter what, they could not admit the hoax to any one.
They started by putting a good number of them out on a table where many vendors were displaying literature. It was discovered that they  disappeared very fast so they watched and saw a representative from the Mitts Altair Company was taking them all.  It was clear a much more secret way to put them out would be needed.  At this point they started to carry them around under their coat and put a few here and there usually putting them a few down in someone else's stack of literature.  When Steve Jobs first saw the Zaltair brochure he thought it was real and made the comment that the Apple 2 did not look to bad compared to the other computers. Apple 1 designer Steve Wozniak.


It was a number of years later that Steve Wozniak admitted to Steve Jobs and Mike Scott that he was the one responsible for the Zaltair hoax.  They had a good  laugh  about the whole thing.
I really enjoyed the book "iWoz" and liked the idea that Steve always looked out for folks he was friends  with or worked with -- like selling some of his stock to about 40 engineers at Apple for a price he new would make them a lot of money when the company went public. He also gave a reported million dollars to several friends who had helped him in the early days of Apple but were not in on the good buy like the engineers at Apple.
This material is based on  information from Steve Wozniak,s book  "iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It"

From Book "Digital Deli"

 Adam Schoolsky letter

                                          Video about Zaltair I made several years ago.'CLICK'

David Larsen

David's Company

This blog has been fun to write and brings back some good memories of my collection and being able to obtain several Apple 1 computers in the 90's. I am always amazed at just what I will find when I look at 40 years of computer collecting in the museum warehouse inventory . Looking for a letter and response I sent to Soviet President Gorbachev  in 1990 I spotted a Volksmodem made by Anchor Automation in the late 70's. It is mint and in original box never used - WOW the good old day's of 300 Baud data rates.
    

                            "by David Larsen"  ^{KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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Vintage Computer - Jack Rubin heads for Chicago with PDP8I Minicomputer for his collection

Jack & Pat Rubin

Jack Rubin and his wife Pat visited our "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" today to pick up a PDP8I Minicomputer for Jack's collection. He is retired now and plans to restore and make this an operational minicomputer. Jack and I had time to compare a lot of ideas about setting up a good museum display and we would both like to have our computers on display for folks to enjoy. I do have my small display in Floyd and people really like to see the computers and memorabilia however it is a very small part of our collection.   We also had time to visit our museum display in Floyd Viriginia as well as our Chantilly Farm.
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                                 PDP8I for Jack Rubin's Vintage Computer Collection

         

  Jack Rubin & David Larsen in                                          Pat Rubin & Gaynell Larsen
 "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer                        in front of calculator museum display
Museum" computer display

Pat next to part of old ham radio collection          Pat, Jack & Gaynell after lunch at Larsen's

Dave & Gaynell Larsen

It has been a great weekend for my wife Gaynell and I. WOW it actually started on Friday with the visit of Bob Rosenbloom from California to pick up his 3 new computers. See story here Click. Saturday 8AM - ham radio meeting with the "Floyd Amateur Radio Society" , latter in the morning meeting with client. Then in
the afternoon we traveled to Appomattox,Virginia for a High School class reunion for Gaynell. We got up early Sunday to come back to Floyd so we would be here when Jack and his wife arrived.  We timed it just right as we arrived within 10 minutes of the Rubin's arrival in Floyd.  Then a little touring of our computer museum and the local area & out to the warehouse to load up PDP8I for Jack.  We had some good conversation with Jack and Pat -They plan to come visit next May on Memorial Day and join us at our Chantilly Farm for our 4th annual Bluegrass Festival & that will be fun- then a lunch prepared by Gaynell.  A few photos and we sent Jack and Pat on the way to Chicago. I am just finishing this blog and the  video of the visit at 6PM. Its been great and now I am ready to sit down and relax.
"by David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector Historian 

Vintage Computers - Apple Computer Historical data

The LCF Group has several Apple 1 computers in our "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" and the stories about the early start up days of Apple Company are always of interest.

Steven Wayhrich, MD

The information below is from the website of  Steven Weyhrich,  a family practice physician in Omaha, Nebraska. Steven's writing's about Apple history is very informative and the paragraph below is directly from his web page.
  

The Start of the Apple Computer Company

Original Apple Logo

""By early 1976, Steve Wozniak had completed his 6502-based computer and would display enhancements or modifications at the bi-weekly Homebrew Computer Club meetings. Steve Jobs was a 21 year old friend of Wozniak’s and also a visitor at the Homebrew club. He had worked with Wozniak in the past (together they designed the arcade game “Breakout” for Atari) and was very interested in his computer. During the design process Jobs made suggestions that helped shape the final product, such as the use of the newer dynamic RAMs instead of older, more expensive static RAMs. He suggested to Wozniak that they get some printed circuit boards made for the computer and sell it at the club for people to assemble themselves. They pooled their financial resources together to have PC boards made, and on April 1st, 1976 they officially formed the Apple Computer Company. Jobs had recently worked at an organic apple orchard, and liked the
name because “he thought of the apple as the perfect fruit–it has a high nutritional content, it comes in a nice package, it doesn’t damage easily–and he wanted Apple to be the perfect company. Besides, they couldn’t come up with a better name.”  "" The above from Steven Weyhrich's website.

Read the whole story on Steven's website about how the Apple Computer Company was started by Jobs and Wozniak in 1976.


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David & Gaynell 

Larsen

The interest in the Apple Computer Company is on the increase almost daily now. Several movies are being  produced about Steve Jobs and these increase buzz about Apple Inc. I was working  in the early days of microcomputers  as faculty member at Virginia Tech and a member of the Blackburg Group.

"by David Larsen" KK4WW    Computer Collector/Historian

Apple 1 computer Sells for $387,000 at Christie's Auction July 9,2013

 An Apple 1 microcomputer sold at Chistie' on line auction today for $387,000.  The price did not reach the high estimate of $500,000 - This is still a big increase from the $666.66 that was the original price in 1976.Less then 50 of these computer are remaining in museum's and private collections. These computers were selling in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 until the past few years. The price at auction started at just over $200,000 several years ago and reaching a high of $641,400 May 25, 2013 at a Breker auction.

The Apple 1 has become an Icon symbol of the silicon revolution and museums and deep pocket collectors seem ready to pay the price.  The Apple Company has great visibility and is one of the largest stock valued companies in the world.  Steve Jobs co-founder ( Steve Jobs passed away October 5, 2011) is considered to have been one of the worlds best at creating new products before customers even knew what they would want.  His creative products and his ability to market  the them have made Apple the envy of the tech world. The high price for the Apple 1 computer proves some are ready to pay a big price to have a piece of  Apple history.

 Photo from the Christie's Website sold at auction July 9,2013

Steve Wozniak the other co-founder of the Apple Company gets lots of credit for the price of the Apple 1 computers at these auctions. He designed the Apple 1 and wrote initial software all on his own. The design was really creative and Wozniak realized he had a  great computer but it was difficult for the user to add a keyboard & power supply to have a working system. He then designed the Apple 2 as a turnkey plug and  play computer. The owners of an Apple 1 were offered the Apple 2 and could use the Apple 1 as part of the payment. The trade in arrangement reduced the number of Apple 1 owners almost overnight. It is not known how many were traded in out of the 200 that were manufactured.

More stories of the Christie Auction - International Business News


Apple Insider


                               David introduces himself  to you in the audio player above

Apple 1 computer in the "Bugbook Historical Computer Museum"  Floyd Virginia.

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This auction continues the high price museums and collectors are willing to pay for the most well know microcomputer in the world.

"By David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector / Historian