Computer Collector and Historians Resource Hub

Computer History Resource Sites 

                                                                                     

one the Apple-1 computers
as a part of my collection.
See Video about my 4 Apple-1 computers.

I have listed "Computer Collector and Historical Information"  collected and used during the past 12 years used in producing Videos and Writing Blog post. Blog post & videos cover several topics of my interest including, historical computers, amateur radio, land for sale by owner, tiny homes and Chantilly Farm. I have been involved with digital computers for the past 63 years. It all started with my attending a training class at Remington Rand Computer Corporation in St. Paul Minnesota in 1957.  Teaching "Electronic Instrumentation and Automation" for 33 years at Virginia Tech and collecting microcomputers for more than 45 years . You will find more than 200 web sites in the links below.  I hope you find this information useful - have fun.

Pioneers - Microcomputer & PC Revolution          Computer History - Web sites & Blog's

Computer Books for Collectors                             Dave's 200 Computer Blog Postings 

125 Videos about my Computer Collection.         39 Videos about my 4 Apple-1's Collection 

My entire computer collection is now located at "The Computer Museum of America" in Roswell, Georgia. 

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For Radio Amateur operators 

127 Videos my Amateur Radio Activity         59 Videos My Dominica Amateur Radio

82 Videos "Foundation for International Radio Service" FAIRS

9 Videos - Basic electronic tutorials                       My 66 years of Amateur Radio 

Bug Logo for my
 Bugbooks and Museum

David Larsen
 Blog Author

"by David Larsen"  Chantilly Farm owner, Computer Historian, and amateur radio operator -KK4WW   & N4USA .  I work out of one of the Tiny Homes at Chantilly Farm. A great place to work if you like the to be out in nature. I am 81 and ready to sell Chantilly Farm - I have a few more  projects I would like to do - if you have an interest to know more give me a call. 540 392 2392

Mitts Altair 8800 Microcomputer started a wonderful friendship

MITS Altair 8800 Started Friendship

Click on photo to enlarge

L-R John Simkiss, Altair 8800
 SN414 and David Larsen - 2015

This Altair - one of several dozen in my "Bugbook Histroical Microcomputer Collection" has many stories to tell. One is John's visit last Sunday 3/8/20 to fly down from Philadelphia in his private plane and have breakfast with my wife Gaynell and I. one more story is the day he picked up the Altair 8800 in 2015.  Many more however in  this blog I will discuss these two.

John's Aircraft is a
Red "Cirrus"

John told me he would meet at 8:30 AM and he landed at 8:31- great timing into the Blacksburg/Montgomery airport on the Virginia Tech Campus.

That is John and Gaynell in photo to left just after touchdown. We had delightful conversation during breakfast at the Inn at Virginia Tech.

John needed to be back in Philadelphia at 1:00 PM and he sent me a photo showing the Cirrus  tied down at 12:59 P M.

This video really tells the story of John picking up the Altair 8800 in 2015. Interesting "CLICK"

Inside view of Altair 8800
SN 414.

This Altair 8800 SN414 was probably in the first or second production run.  Ed Robert the Founder of the MITS company expected about 500 orders for his computer and was inundated with 5000 orders the first month.  This is a very low serial number and a valuable microcomputer.

The earliest Altair 8800 in my collection was SN 21. I purchased this 8800 from a fellow that was one of the dozens that drove down to Albuquerque, New Mexico and waited in the parking lot of the MITS companty to get there Altair first before shipments began. Altair 8800 SN21 is now located at the "Computer Museum of America"  in Roswell GA along with the other 13,000 items in my historical microcomputer collection.

John looking at
MARK 8 during
2015 visit..

Here is a blog about the Altair 8800 SN414 and John's 1995 visit. 

Video of Altair 8800 SN414 in operation tested by Wen Heagy.

John describes his visit to the  Computer Museum in his own words 1995

Chicago downtown from
John's Cirrus aircraft.

Just received (3/30/20) this photo from John - photo  he made of the Chicago Skyline on flight to pick up one of his family members. Nice to have your own plane at this time with conoronvirus restrictions on  commercial  air travel. Great view.






Collecting historical microcomputers for more than 45 years and teaching about "Computers and Instrumentation " for 33 years at Virginia Tech has been the experience of a lifetime.  Many I have had many great times and met wonderful people during this time. You can see a few of the stories on my Blog Site.

David Larsen
 Blog Author

"by David Larsen"  Chantilly Farm owner, Computer Historian, and amateur radio operator -KK4WW   & N4USA .  I work out of one of the Tiny Homes at Chantilly Farm. A great place to work if you like the to be out in nature. I am 81 and ready to sell Chantilly Farm - I have a few more  projects I would like to do - if you have an interest to know more give me a call. 540 392 2392

Bugbook Microcomputer Computer Museum

The Bugbook Microcomputer Museum

The best 300 artifacts from my collection of

13,000 computer items. 

This is just some reminiscing about old times when I had a small historical microcomputer museum in Floyd, Virginia. The entire collection was acquired by the "Computer Museum of America" in 2016. I am proud to still be working with historical computers as a Board Member at the "Computer Museum of America".

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Audio / Photo Tour of the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" - Floyd Virginia

Please note this is not complete - it is a work in  progress with a total of 19 cases of display material, some wall pieces, and Ham or Amateur radio station. 

Next Step is QR code on each cabinet to click on with smart phone and get the audio of that case.
                                                             
Welcome to the Audio Tour of the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" Floyd Virginia
                                            David Larsen KK4WW Curator

Click on photo's to enlarge

Case #1 bugbook Computer Museum

Display Case #1 Audio Description "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum'

Case #2 Bugbook Computer Museum 

Display Case 2 Bugbook Computer Museum  Audio description

Click on photo's to enlarge

Case #3 Bugbook Computer Museum

Display Case #3 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer museum"

Case #4 Bugbook Computer Museum

Display Case #4 Audio Description "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum'

Case #5 Bugbook Computer Museum

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 Display Case #5 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Amateur Radio Station N4USA

   Amateur Radio Station - -Audio description -N4USA in back part of museum

Case #6 Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum

 Display Case #6 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Display Case 7 Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum

  Display Case #7 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Case #8 Bugbook Computer Museum

Display Case #8 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Display Case #9 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Case #10 Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum

Display Case #10 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Case #11 Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum

 Display Case #11 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Case #12 Bugook Historical Microcomputer Museum

Display Case #12 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum 

Audio introduction to the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum"

Chantilly Farm Office in Village Green 3 & 4

Audio Introduction to our "Chantilly Farm Office" here in the Village Green.
Jason Gallimore is our "Event and Festival Planner and Promotions Manager"

Display #13 Bugbook Computer Museum

Display Case #13 Audio Description "Bugbook Computer Museum"




Display Case #14 Audio Discription "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Display 15 Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum

 Display Case #15 Audio Discription "Bugbook Computer Museum"

Display 16 Bugbook Historical Micrcomputer Museum

Display Case #16 Audio Discription "Bugbook Computer Museum"

ASR 33 Teletype

ASR 33 Teletype Audio Description "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum'

"Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service" (FAIRS) in the Bugbook Computer Museum.  The Curators of the museum also are Directors of FAIRS.






"Foundation For Amateur International Radio Service" Audio for banner and radio
Station N4USA in the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum"

Datapoint 2200 terminal 

The Datapoint 2200 terminal - was an 8 bit programmable computer that came to market in 1971 --- way before Apple, IBM or Microsoft.








Datapoint 2200 terminal - audio description of the terminal/ computer in the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum'

Apple 1 computer

We have several original Apple 1 computers in our museum however for security reasons we don't feel comfortable displaying the originals.
This Apple 1 on display is a clone made for our museum by Brandon Cholodenko. It is a beautiful example of the an original Apple 1 and is an operational computer.






Apple 1 computer display in the "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum'

David Larsen Blog Author

"by David Larsen"  Chantilly Farm owner, Computer Historian, and amateur radio operator -KK4WW   & N4USA . Now that my large historical collection of  microcomputers has been moved to the "Computer Museum of America"  I work out of one of the Tiny Homes at Chantilly Farm. A great place to work if you like the to be out in nature. I am 81 and ready to sell Chantilly Farm - I have a few more  projects I would like to do - if you have an interest to know more give me a call. 540 392 2392

30 ton Vintage Computer collection moves to the "Computer Museum of America".

Apple-1 computer 

Bugbooks

It was a 45 years effort and a great hobby to build my "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer" collection. The Collection was acquired by the Computer Museum of America and in February of this year (2016) it was all packed up and sent to the CMoA in Roswell, Georgia. A crew of 6 took  10 days to pack the 10,000 items. When the trucks were loaded one of them could not make it up the hill from the warehouse and I had to call a tow truck to help. Several tons had to be taken off that truck to keep it in the legal weight for the road. When the trucks weighted  for the trip they were loaded with more then 30 tons of microcomputer artifacts. 

David Larsen, Curator of the Bugbook Computer Museum

Here is a news story about the shipment and moving the collection. "CLICK" 

David Larsen

It is a real pleasure to have the collection now reside with a museum that is growing and can give good visibility our 45 year effort to build the collection. I am not sad to see the computer artifacts leave Floyd, Virginia and look forward to working with Lonnie Mimm's as a board member of his "Computer Museum of America".

 "by David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector / Historian 

   

              Join museum on Twitter   Join museum on FB

Schoolsky Apple-1 sells for $401,000 delivered to new owner

Schoolsky Apple-1 computer
sold at auction and is picked up
for delivery to new owner.

The Schoolsky Apple-1 computer was sold by Chartitybuzz at auction for $401,000  9/26/17.  The currier "Dynamic Packaging" driver  Paul Puletti arrived about 9 AM on Wednesday 10/4/17 for pickup and delivery to new owner. This computer has been part of David Larsen's "Bugbook Computer Museum" for the past 23 years.  It will diven directly from the courier in Richmond,VA to the  new owner in NY by FedEx Critical and should arrive Thursday 10/5/17

                                                       

Apple-1 computer on table with
David Larsen (L) & Paul Puletti (R

David Larsen seller of his Schoolsky Apple-1 computer on the left. On the right is Paul Puletti of Dynamic Packaging in Richmond Virginia. Paul will pick up the compute and take it to Richmond and build the special container to send the Apple-1 on to the new owner by Fedex Critical custom delivery.

David Larsen signs
pickup papers for
the Schoolsky
Apple-1 computer

Assigning the Schoolsky Apple-1  over to the Currier Dynamic Packaging.

Paul loading Apple-1
computer into van for first
part of delivery transfer  to
Fedex in Richmond Virginia

I signed off on the computer and it is now up to Paul to get it to the new owner.

David and Paul with van
loaded Apple-1
Schoolsky Computer

The Apple-1 and the other items are loaded ready to go to Richmond, Virginia.

FedEx Critical delivery 

WOW This is the FedEx Critical truck that made the delivery from the Richmond office of  Dynamic Packaging in Richmond Virginia to the new owner in NY. FedEx has two drivers for these high value loads.

We loaded it at 2:38 AM 10/5/17 and it was delivered to its new home just under 9 hours later at 11:30.

The Schoolsky Apple-1 computer as packaged by Dynamic Packaging and is the only cargo in this the truck  (shown above).  It must have been a little lonely in the back of the truck for the 9 hour trip to NY.

See how the Apple-1 computer was packaged in this wooden container.


Here is a detailed look at what was included with the Schoolsky Apple-1 computer.

Video -  shipping the Schoolsky Apple-1 from Floyd VA  4.24 minutes   

Video - David describing the Apple-1 before it was packed up for new owner 2 minutes 

Video - Documentation as part of Schoolsky Apple-1 computer sale  2.59 minutes    

"by David Larsen"  Computer collector and historian. Working with Charitybuzz auctioning the Apple-1 was a great experience. Charitybuzz was a real pleasure to work with - I owe the team at Charitybuzz big thank you and lots of gratitude. David KK4WW

Vintage computers - The Hunt for Apple-1 computers - 2/29/16

(Updated 2/29/16) I am ask many times how did you build your computer collection.  A real help for

Apple 1 Computer

Bugbooks

the microcomputer memorabilia collection was - I was teaching  digital electronics and computer automation & instrumentation before the first Intel microprocessor was introduced in 1971.  My period of teaching at Virginia Tech was 1967 to 1998.  A good part of the answer is "I was at the right place at the right time".  The majority of my collection was acquired  from 1975 to 1995. During that time the computers were generally of little or no value and the owners just dumped them in the trash. Many were happy to find a crazy guy like me that actually wanted to keep an old computer.

I advertised in various publications for most of the 45 years . The one that brought in the most calls was a small classified ad in "Computer Shopper". The ad was very simple and looked like this - Wanted pre1980 microcomputers for historical collection". Over the years I recieved 1000's of calls or offers for microcomputers. I continue to run an ad in the Ham Radio magazine "QST"

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Here are a few of the responses with offers for Apple-1 computers.

Craig Solomonson offered me this Apple-1 computer July 1996 for his price of less then $40,000.

WOW I sure missed a computer that made the big time - Auction at Breker Nov 28, 2010 - Yes, Italian collector Marco Boglione paid $212,000 for a 34-year-old Apple-1

Click on photos to enlarge

Craig Solomonson  Apple 1

The information below is from the Apple-1 Registry 

NTI logo. This computer was first Frank Anderson. 

Next it was  purchased from Frank Anderson, an electronic dealer in Great Falls, Montana by Craig Solomonson for MECC.  Craig reports that this computer was sold by Jobs and shipped from his parents address. Woz seemed a bit confused when Craig showed him the invoice and asked about it. He said "Not sold by us, although Job's may have sold it without telling me." 

• Sold by Craig to Jesse Sackman in California
• $50,000 unit sold in Ebay auction 320447681957, late in 2009
• This is the unit auctioned by Christies in London for 133,250 pounds in November of 2010 to Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglione

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During the 80/90's I was offered about 10 Apple-1 computers and managed to purchase 4 of them. One offer was for me trade a new automobile van for his computer. This was a reasonable offer but I declined the purchase at the time as too complex. I heard later that some other collector made this trade.


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Schoolsky Apple 1

Schoolsky Apple-1 Computer

I did purchase this Apple-1 Microcomputer from Adam Schoolsky & you can see in the letter many other nice items as well. Here is a video about this computer in our "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" 'CLICK'

Schoolsky's Apple-1  came in a box like these shown in Job's bedroom. The box has Woz written on the top. I will never know but Schoolsky's computer may be in this photo.

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This computer has been made fully operational by Win Heagy in late 2015 and has been passed on to the Lonnie Mimms collection at the Computer Museum of America.

Click on photos to enlarge

Forest Duston phone log

Forest Duston Apple-1 computer 

I  keep a  phone log of all the calls about computers that are available. The photo to the left is copy of call from Forest and he told me he had 2 Apple 1 computers. I was skeptical about that however over the next year I found it was true and purchased both of them. It was fortunate for me and he got his price. 

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Click image to enlarge

Snyder Apple-1 computer 

This Apple-1 computer offered to me by the law firm for $15,000 was a great offer. Unfortunately at that time I was not able to make  a deal.  I don't know who  ended up with Apple-1. The computer had an interesting history and original letter from Steve Jobs with it.  Even lawyers seemed find my little classified advertising.  

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Apple 1 purchase from John Burch

Here is a video of  Apple-1 I purchased  from John Burch in the mid 90's. It was a simple deal - he told me most of the collectors wanted him to just give the computer to them. He gave me a price and we had a deal.





Video of this computer has had nearly 250,000 views during the past 5 years "CLICK here to see video"


Click on photos to enlarge

David Larsen working on Apple 1

This is one of the finest examples of an Apple-1 computer and in January 2016 was passed on to the Lonnie Mimms collection at the Computer Museum of America in Roswell, Georgia.

Here I am working on the "John Burch"  Apple-1 computer.

Apple 1 computer documentaion

I received lots of great original documentation with this computer.

Here is a little tidbit about Steve Jobs house and where and who designed the Apple-1 & 2 .
(Steve Wozniak designed them independent on his own)

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My 45 years of collecting effort resulting of an inventory of more then 10,000 microcomputer memorabilia items in moving to Lonnie Mimms Computer Museum of America. All the items have been packed. Packing took 10 days with a crew of 3 to 6 and as I write this update the last 500 or more packed boxes will leave the Bugbook Computer Museum warehouse today.  2/29/16

David Larsen

The hunt for computers during the past 45 years has been fun. Now my family and friends ask - What are you going to do with them. We have inventored more then 10,000 items in our collection and still have more to add to the data base - lots of computers and memorabilia. I have set up a small museum and hope to have an endowed museum here in Floyd Va - place  the computers with the other museums or with serious collectors before I move to Heaven. I am 75 now and only have 25 more years to go - Any ideas for my collection - give me a call.

I am 77+ as I update this blog and happy to say I have found a wonderful home for the 45 years of collecting. It is a delight to be working with Lonnie Mimms and his Computer Museum of America in Roswell, Georgia. Dave

 ^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}     Send Message    Like us on Facebook  My Blog about hometown Floyd VA