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

Computer Museum of America - Grand opining July 20,2019

Computer Museum ofAmerica

The Grand Opening 

Computer Museum of America
 Roswell, Georgia - July 20,2019
Up Dated 10/5/2020

Our entire historical microcomputer collection (Bugbook Microcomputer Museum) of 13,000 items was acquired by the Computer Museum of America. David Larsen

See videos of displays 10/5/2020 "CLICK"

Click photo to enlarge.

David and Gaynell Larsen during the
Grand Opening of the Museum
at the  Apollo 11 Moon lander replica.  

The grand opening of the Computer Museum of America (CMoA) was an awesome event. The date was picked to to be the same day of the year on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing - July 20th.  The museum founder,  Lonnie Mimms,  is a long time collector of computers and  user of  computers. The museum has so many exciting attributes & amenities it is hard for me to give proper credit in a short blog. Take a look at the Facebook Page here. Look here of wonderful photos of the opening.

Lonnie Mimms museum
founder giving introduction
to the museum at the
Fundraiser event July 13th

From Computer Museum of America - Web Site
"After 40 years of collecting technology and four years of testing temporary exhibitions, the Computer Museum of America (CMoA) will be opening the doors to its new permanent home on July 20,2019. The CMoA will preserve the achievements of the digital revolution to educate, entertain and inspire the innovator in us all."

Karin Mimms
Vice President of the
Museum

Karin Mimms - Vice President speaks about goals of museum and introducing special guests at the Friday ( 7/13/19) Fundraiser  Event.
The opening week was in three parts - The Fundraiser Event on Friday the 13th, the Opening Celebration on Wednesday the 17th and the Grand opening for the public on Saturday the 20th.

David Larsen with NASA Astronaut
Dr. Sandra Magnus

NASA Astronaut Dr. Sandra Magnus was a very inspirational speaker about how her dream as a young person led to become a NASA Astronaut. Dr. Magnus made several shuttle flights and spent time on the Space Station. She is a wonderful enthusiastic advocate encouraging young people to pursue a career in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math).  One the museums mission is to inspire young folks to develop an interest & career in the the field of science (STEM).

Cray 1-M/2300

The museum has a wonderful representation of computers and technology items on display with great information about each artifact. The museum has one of the largest collection of Cray Super Computers in the world.

Cray 1 Serial #13
1979

This information came in the shipping container with the Cray-A.

Amazing supercomputer at that time.

50 miles of wire
32,000 circuit cards
250,000 integrated circuits.
Much more click photo to read.

Digital Equipment Corporation
"PDP-12"

The museum displays an excellent selection of Super Computers, Minicomputers, Microcomputers and some components of historical mainframe computers.  This just the Grand Opening - there are 250,000 artifacts in the archives and the number of artifacts on display will be growing and rotating on a regular basis.

David Larsen
with Mark 8 Computer

The museum has a good representation of Microcomputers on display - you can see some of them in the photos here.

The "Mark 8" computer in this photo was designed by my colleague Dr. Jon Titus.  Jon published his design in "Radio Electronics" magazine in the May, June and July issues 1974. Jon is given credit for being the one of the first to build an operational computer using a microprocessor chip and showing others how to build the computer.

.

Dr. Cyndy Moya  with
 Lonnie Mimms 

The museum had a large number of interesting visitors for the Grand Opening day.  Here is Dr. Cyndy Moya, Collections Manager at the "Living Computer Museum" in Seattle, Washington. On the right is Lonnie Mimms, Founder of the "Computer Museum of America". The "Living Computer Museum" founder was Paul Allen.

IBM  card sorter, collator etc

Some items on display from the old mainframe computers. Here are peripheral devices from the 1950/60s . A  key card punch, collator, card sorter and more.






Here is my audio description of the aswsome events during the Inaugural Opening of the Museum

My son, David Larsen Jr.,
at the July 13th Fundraiser

Visiting the CMoA and Roswell, GA for the the week of July 13- 20th Grand opening events for the museum was a very rewarding experience for Gaynell and I. To be with Lonnie and Karin Mimms and all the people that helped make Lonni's vision of a great computer and technology museum a reality was awesome.

This is just a start and the museum will be constantly evolving and expanding.  Lonnie has more than 250,000 technology artifacts in the collection with more being added every week. The museum has a second level floor of about 120,000 sq ft for expansion and more could be added - lots of room for expansion.

Museum Entrance at
5000 Commerce Parkway.

When in the Roswell, Georgia area,  I highly recommend a visit to the museum (About 20 miles north of Atlanta). The CMoA is open on Saturdays 10 to 5 PM and on Sunday 12 to 5 PM. Here is how to get there - Google Map. 

David Larsen
 Blog Author

"by David Larsen"  Board member of  "Computer Museum of America", 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.

The "Bugbook"
Bugs

I am still collecting vintage computers & receive a calls very often about an old computer. Getting older and time to sell my chantillyfarm  -- Give me a call for information..

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 

   

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Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 4.0 - I will be attending April 2/3 2016 Roswell, Georgia

VCFSE 4.0

Bugbooks

Hope to see you at the VCFSE 4.0. I will be speaking about my 45 years as a collector of historical microcomputer artifacts. The presentation will  include information  about how I acquired the more then 10,000 items in my Bugbook Computer Museum collection including 4 original Apple-1 computers. The entire collection ( I am retaining 2 of my Apple-1 computers) has recently been moved to the Computer Museum of America in Roswell, GA. I will also speak about my years with the "Blacksburg Group" in the 70's & 80's and the pioneering work in the microcomputer revolution of the group. In addition to myself the "Blacksburg Group" included Jon Titus (Mark-8 designer), Chris Titus, and Peter Rony. The group got its start with the publication of the "BugBooks" 
(1974)

Photo from past VCFSE

More links to information about the VCFSE 4.0

Facebook 

Computer Museum of  America

Vintage Computer Federation 

Atlanta Historical Computing Society

Twitter

one more link - Roswell Patch

David Larsen

I am excited to be attending my first Vintage Computer Festival South East, sharing my computer collecting stories with fellow  Vintage computer peers. I doubt if I will be the oldest person there however I will be in good company with anyone older - I am 77 and my start with computers was 59 years ago in 1957. The Navy sent me to school in St. Paul, MN to learn about the big Remington Rand Univac computers. I have always been a hoarder and collector of old electronic devices however I claim 1971 as my start of collecting microcomputer memorabilia. 45 years ago in 1971 the first commercial microprocessor chip (4004) came to market. 

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

Vintage Apple-1 computer purchase letter more than 20 years old found

Bugbooks

I lost track of the original letter from Adam Schoolsky describing my purchase of his Apple-1 computer.  Adam received his Apple-1 40 years ago as a gift from Steve Wozniak (Woz). Adam was a friend of Woz and helped with the Zaltair prank at the first West Cost Computer Faire in 1977.

The move of the Bugbook Computer Museum vintage computer collection to the Computer Museum of America has given me an opportunity to look into the 40 plus cartons of papers and teaching material I packed up when retiring from my faculty position at Virginia Tech.  My last year of teaching "Instrumentation and Automation" was 1996.  I was on sabbatical leave for two more years doing various research projects and retired in 1998 with 31 years as a tenured faculty member.

It is hard for me think back when I actually started to collect vintage electronic items. The reality is I was collecting some interesting vintage electronic items even in my college days at Oregon State University.  Wow that was 1959 to 1963. However I always give the date of starting my serious collection as 1971 - the same year as the introduction of the first commercial microprocessor. I had been teaching Analog and Digital Electronics for 4 years at that time and the microprocessor changed my life big time just like many other people involved in electronic technology.


Click on photo to enlarge

Adam Schoolsky Apple-1 letter

Apple-1 computer letter.

I have looked and wonderrd for years where this original letter from Adam Schoolsky was and I found it in with a box of teaching notes from a Digital Electronics class packed away for 20 years. Why and how it was in there? I don't know however I am glad to have and add it to the items with my original Schoolsky Apple-1 computer purchased in 1994.

Coming in April the Vintage Computer Fair SE  

 in Roswell, GA. I will be giving a little talk about my vintage computer collection - hope to see you there.

David Larsen 1969

The items in storage from my teaching days at Virginia Tech (VT) are mostly old teaching notes, photo slides, overhead projector lecture transparencies,  old photographs, some really interesting letters and lot of memorabilia.

Here is photo of me teaching computer interfacing using a PDP8-L minicomputer and overhead projector in about 1969. I think this very computer and teletype is the one I shipped to the Computer Museum of America.  Most old equipment was just tossed into the junk heap when it was well past being useful to anyone and I did a little dumpster diving and salvaged the system.

Just reminiscing in looking at this photo reminds me  how much technology has changed. I was using an overhead projector and now we would use a projector and power point presentation that could include video and audio and even a live feed from the internet. WOW it would have been fun to teach using current technology however we did just fine with what was available at that time.

David Larsen's VT office packed 20 years ago

This is just 25 of the 45 boxes from my old VT office packed 20 years ago. How could I have so much stuff in one office. I guess I was lucky to have a big office with lots of book shelves. Much of the material in these boxes is teaching notes,letters - (we did not have email for most of my tenure at VT), books and reference material and was stored in my teaching laboratory and not actually in my office.

So far I have only looked though 6 boxes and the best surprise so far is the Adam Schoolsky letter. I know there are other jewels in these boxes. I report more later.

Schoolsky Apple-1 computer

Here is another original hand written letter shipped with the Schoolsky Apple-1 computer.

Adam Schoolsky also gave me a mint copy of the 40 page  1977 West Coast Computer Faire program. Very interesting reading "View Click" 
- look at the price of memory and other computer items in 1977.

Bugbooks 1 & 2

One more nice find in the office box's was this set of first edition Bugbooks 1 & 2. We self published these and had them printed in our hometown of Blackburg, Virginia 1974.

This is where the name for my museum came from - these early Bugbooks.

David Larsen

I will continue to look though all 45 box's and making an inventory - then I will know if any item worth while is in one of the box's.

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