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 Collecting is great but their is additional life at our Chantilly Farm

Chantilly Stage & Bluegrass

Bugbooks

I like to write about my "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" and collecting activities however this is not all I do in my retirement years. I  have been developing rural real estate projects for 45 years and started with Christmas tree farming in 1968 - that lasted 25 years and is now long past history.

I am writing this post to give my blog readers more about me and my interest at 75 years old (11/17/38) .  You see from my last post my my wife Gaynell and I still get in a lot of travel. At home one project is our Chantilly Festival Farm. This is a beautiful 140 acres + here in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We are starting our 3th year and still growing, adding events and infrastructure. You can see the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and our farm in this  Video "CLICK" .

Lots of interesting projects associated with the farm. I hired my musician friend Bernie Coveney to write a theme song for the farm. He composed "Chantilly Shuffle" a great song . If you like Bluegrass you will enjoy hearing & seeing Bernie's music.   "Chantilly Shuffle" 'CLICK'

That's about all for now -- don't want to get too far away from the Historical Computer stuff here.

Dave & Gaynel Larsen
on a windy day.

Gaynell and I are looking forward to our visit in later this month to the Computer History Museum in Mt. View California. We leave Friday October 18th.

 ^{By David Larsen" KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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S100 Computers - Great web site for S100 and other Vintage Microcomputers

 John Monahan is the host of a web site that is full of information for S100 computer enthusiast . John's site is loaded with very useful and interesting information.  I have always been interested in the history of microcomputers and microprocessors and John has a really nice "Short History of Microprocessors".

John Monahan

You can learn  about historical microcomputers by viewing this site - Some of the things included are; Other web sites for computer collectors, Forum where you could ask your own questions, Many software programs for S100 systems, S100 Boards for sale - you can sell your own as well and much more.


Here is example of information from the web site about S100 history.
S-100 Bus Components:-The Bus & Motherboards ( This is direct from John's web site )

The reason the S-100 bus became the de facto standard for early computer hobbyists back in the 1970's and early 80's was that one was not aligned to any one manufacturer. During that time there was an explosion of information and interest in home computers. Early companies were very creative in designing boards with unique features. They all could function together if they were plugged into a S-100 motherboard. The IMSAI computer probably being the best known example of this. Early motherboards were nothing more than 100 pin connectors wired in parallel. The first home computer the Altair, had a bus structure like this. A small motherboard of 4 board slots could be joined to multiples of these boards to make a bus of up to about 16 board slots.  This arrangement worked fine for a low clock speed 8080 CPU running at 2 MHz. Soon afterwards another company IMSAI came out with a more noise resistant data bus with all connectors on one board. This quickly became the de-facto "S-100 bus computer".  While it is easy to look back now at the early Altair S-100 computer and see how it could have been improved, we should remember however, that when Ed Roberts started there was severe price constraints of what the system could cost.  It was this low cost that got the home computer concept going amongst hobbyists and launched the industry.

However soon people wanted to increase the speed of the bus. Longer multiple board slots soon appeared. It was not long until other electronic engineers got involved and started producing "active terminated" signal lines.   The Godbout 19 slot S-100 bus board was one of the most popular. This motherboard had pull up and down resistors on each of the data, address and control lines to reduce signal noise.  A schematic of this arrangement is illustrated here. Later many commercial and homebrew S-100 systems had at least 16-18 slots in a board cage to which multiple boards from multiple manufactures were added. This became the standard home computer setup of the late 1970's. 

Take the time to look at the S100Computers web site for interesting  and useful information about S100 bus  and other vintage computers. Thank you John for listing a link to this blog on your site. I have a link to S100computers on the tab  "Web sites and Blogs" so users will always easily find John's web site from  this blog.

I just got started on my "Basic Electronics" video course - here is beginning "Electricity - What is it?"

Send a Tweet'CLICK' hashtag #KK4WW if you enjoy the blog or have a comment  Appreciate a like on Museum Facebook Page.

 I am really enjoying writing this computer informational blog. I have met many vintage computer hobbyists and learned more about historical microcomputers. One is never too old to learn - I have been a involved with computers for more than 55 years and am  always excited to find new information.  I am looking for good weather now as the "Floyd Auto Fair" is at our Chantilly Farm this weekend. It is a busy month for me as we also have our 3rd annual "Bluegrass and BBQ"   Festival  at the farm  on the 25th. Gosh I guess I am still going strong at 74 but having the time of my life.

"by David Larsen", KK4WW Computer Collector/Historian in Floyd County Virginia.