Computers & Business Machines - Overview
Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.
The Museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Other artifacts range from personal computers to ENIAC, the Altair, and the Osborne 1. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers
"Computers & Business Machines - Overview" showing 30 items.
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Ethernet Prototype Circuit Board
- Description
- This Ethernet board is a prototype developed by Robert Metcalf in 1973 while at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Metcalf based his idea for the Ethernet on the ALOHAnet, a packet-switching wireless radio network developed by Norman Abramson, Frank Kuo, and Richard Binder at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. The ALOHAnet sent computer data communication between the university's campuses on several islands. Metcalf improved upon ALOHAnet's design and created the "Alto ALOHA Network," a network of computers hard-wired together by cables that he soon called the Ethernet. In 1985, the Ethernet became the
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) standard for connecting personal computers via a Local Area Network (LAN). Today, LANs often use WiFi, or Wireless Fidelity, a way of connecting computers without wires.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1973
- developer
- Metcalf, Robert
- maker
- Xerox Corporation
- ID Number
- 1992.0566.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0566.01
- accession number
- 1992.0566
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Microsoft Windows NT OS/2 Design Workbook
- Description
- This binder contains the original design specifications for OS/2 NT, an operating system designed by Microsoft that eventually became Windows NT. In the late 1980s, Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, Windows, gained popularity, prompting IBM and Microsoft to end their OS/2 development partnership. Although Windows 3.0 proved to be successful, Microsoft wished to continue developing a 32-bit operating system completely unrelated to IBM's OS/2 architecture. To head the redesign project, Microsoft hired David Cutler and others away from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Unlike Windows 3.x and its successor, Windows 95, NT's technology provided better network support, making it the preferred Windows environment for businesses. These two product lines continued development as separate entities until they were merged with the release of Windows XP in 2001.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1989
- creator
- Microsoft Corporation
- team leader
- Cutler, David N.
- maker
- Microsoft Corporation
- ID Number
- 2001.3014.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3014
- catalog number
- 2001.3014.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Apple II Microcomputer, "Black Apple"
- Description
- This Black Apple, model number A2S1048B, was a version of the Apple II Plus made by Apple Computer, Inc. and sold only to educational institutions by Bell & Howell, at that time a company specializing in audiovisual equipment. It earned the nicknames "Black Apple" and "Darth Vader" because its case was black instead of the usual beige color of the Apple II Plus. To make the computer more versatile, Bell & Howell added audio and video slots onto the Apple II Plus and also made it UL-compliant. By allowing Bell & Howell to sell their modified product, Apple was able to succeed in the educational market.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980s
- maker
- Bell & Howell
- Apple Computer
- ID Number
- 2002.0153.01
- accession number
- 2002.0153
- catalog number
- 2002.0153.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Magnetic Tape Station for the RCA 501 Computer
- Description
- This transistorized unit was used to read, write, and erase binary characters on mylar-based magnetic tape for entry into the RCA 501 computer. The central rack assembly has components for reading, writing, and erasing magnetic tape. These include a tape transport mechanism, amplifiers, control circuits, and a power supply. This example has a single tape reel.
- The rack assembly fits into a specially built cabinet, from which it could be removed. In this instance the cabinet is painted blue-gray and white. Each RCA 501 computer had at least 6 tape stations. Depending on the components selected, the entire computer system rented for $11,700 to $20,445 per month. Should a business choose to buy the system, the list price of one magnetic tape station alone was $25,000 – $30,000. This is over twice the price of a typical American single family house at the time.
- The tape station is marked on the inside at the center toward the top: R58111. It is marked on the inside of the lower portion of the cabinet: RCA (/) MI SER 1515 (/) RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA. A plaque attached to the right side of the cabinet is marked : UNIVAC SPERRY RAND (/) SERIES 70. The form of the Sperry Rand trademark on the plaque was, according to trademark records, first used in commerce in 1967.
- References:
- "Tape Station," RCA 501 Electronic Data Processing System, Catalog EDP 581, Camden, N.J.: Radio Corporation of America, 1958.
- Martin H. Weik, "A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems," Aberdeen Proving Ground: Ballistics Research Laboratories, March, 1961, pp. 778-803.
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Historical Census of Housing Tables Home Values. Available online.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1959 or later
- date made
- 1959
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 1979.0418.06
- catalog number
- 1979.0418.06
- accession number
- 1979.0418
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Altair 8800 Microcomputer
- Description
- Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 chip, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
- H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read "World's First Minicomptuer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
- The kit offered by MITS represented the minimum configuration of circuits that one could legitimately call a computer. It had little internal and no external memory, no printer, and no keyboard or other input device. An Altair fitted out with those items might cost $4,000—the equivalent to the cheapest PDP-8 minicomputer, a reliable and established performer. Most purchasers found the kit was difficult to assemble, unless they had experience with digital electronics and a workbench fitted out with sophisticated test equipment. And even if one assembled the kit correctly it was sometimes difficult to get the Altair to operate reliably. Gift of Forrest M. Mims III
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1974
- the head of MITS
- Roberts, H. Edward
- unspecified
- Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
- component parts are used
- Intel Corporation
- maker
- Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
- ID Number
- 1987.0066.01
- catalog number
- 1987.0066.01
- accession number
- 1987.0066
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Control Panel, Bell Telephone Laboratories Model 5 Computer
- Description
- This control panel is a small part of a very large programmable calculator built by Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York for the U.S. Army. By the mid-twentieth century, improving communications required complicated calculations. In order to improve the clarity and range of long distance voice signals, George Stibitz, a research mathematician at Bell Labs, needed to do calculations using complex numbers. Stibitz and Bell Labs engineer Sam Williams completed a machine for this purpose in 1939–it later was called the Bell Labs Model I. With the outbreak of World War II, Stibitz and Bell Labs turned their attention to calculations related to the aiming and firing of antiaircraft guns. Stibitz proposed a new series of relay calculators that could be programmed by paper tape to do more than one kind of calculation. The BTL Model 5. was the result. The machine consisted of 27 standard telephone relay racks and assorted other equipment. It had over 9000 relays, a memory capacity of 30 7-digit decimal numbers, and took about a second to multiply 2 numbers together. Two copies of the machine were built. This one was used by the U.S. Army for ballistics work at Aberdeen, Maryland and then at Fort Bliss, Texas. Machines that used relays were reliable, but slower than those using vacuum tubes, and soon gave way to electronic computers.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1947
- maker
- Bell Telephone Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1987.0821.01
- accession number
- 1987.0821
- catalog number
- 1987.0821.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Daystrom 046 Mainframe Computer, "Little Gypsy"
- Description
- This section of the Daystrom 046 consists of the multiplexer, logic cabinets, and auxiliary memory. The 046 was manufactured by Daystrom's La Jolla division and was the company's first product utilizing transistors and core memory. Daystrom guaranteed a 99 percent availability, which was demonstrated at Louisiana Power & Light's Sterlington Plant. This 046 is the second purchased by Louisiana Power & Light. It was installed at the Little Gypsy Power Plant in 1961 in LaPlace, La., and was the first computer to control a power plant from startup to shutdown.
- Date made
- 1961
- maker
- Daystrom Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1990.0551.01
- accession number
- 1990.0551
- catalog number
- 1990.0551.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
UCLA Computer Club Punch Card
- Description
- In the 1960s, when UCLA (the University of California at Los Angeles) purchased a commercial computer from IBM, students formed a club where they could share their knowledge of the new machines. At that time, data and programs were entered onto computers using punched cards like this one. The decoration of the card was up to the individual customer. This is a pink 80-column punch card for an IBM computer. Each column contains the digits from 0 to 9. The background of the card shows the head of a moose propped in front of a log. An open book lies on the left, and magnetic tape is in the mouth of the moose.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1996.0142.25
- catalog number
- 1996.0142.25
- accession number
- 1996.0142
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Timex Sinclair 2068 Personal Computer
- Description
- Introduced in 1983 at a cost of $199.95, the Timex-Sinclair 2068 (TS 2068) was the Timex Sinclair's fourth and last personal computer for the US market. It followed the ZX81, TS 1000, TS 1500, and the ZX Spectrum.
- The TS 2068 used a Z80 processor that ran at 3.58 MHz. Its memory included 48 KB of RAM and 54 KB of ROM. A cassette recorder was used for external storage. Like the TS 1000, the 2068 included a BASIC interpreter to run programs. Additional functions had been added to handle more complex graphic and sound commands. The TS 2068 included a sound chip and speaker at the bottom of the computer and had a range of 10 octaves and 130 semitones directly programmable from BASIC. Users could buy a TS 2400 printer that was attached to an expansion port.
- The TS 2068 was well equipped for playing games and was compatible with all software designed for the ZX Spectrum. The computer was generally used for entertainment, educational, and programming tutorials.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980s
- maker
- Timex Computer Corporation
- ID Number
- 2000.0205.01
- catalog number
- 2000.0205.01
- accession number
- 2000.0205
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pronto Series 16 Personal Computer
- Description
- Pronto Systems, Inc. introduced its Pronto Series 16 computer in 1983. It represented the high end of business computing of its era. The Pronto pioneered innovative design features, including a tilting and swiveling monitor, small foot print, a streamlined and adjustable keyboard, and an expandable cord that allowed the processor to be stored as much as six feet away from the monitor. These features won a 1983 design award from Industrial Design Magazine. The computer offered the first tower system—a design that later became common in the industry.
- Inside, the Pronto 16 was a powerful machine designed for the full range of business applications. It had a 16-bit Intel 80186 microprocessor. It was shipped with MS-DOS 2.0. It had 128 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 1 MB. The standard hard drive was 5.6 MB, and it was removable. The computer had dual 800 KB floppy drives (5 ¼"), dual serial ports, one parallel port, and a high-resolution monochrome monitor. Users could buy a color monitor as an option. Base price was $3,000.
- Over 1,000 systems were sold from 1983 to 1987. The company had to file for bankruptcy when the stock market crashed while the company was in the process of going public through an Initial Public Offering.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1983-1987
- maker
- PRONTO Computers, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2001.0255.01
- catalog number
- 2001.0255.01
- accession number
- 2001.0255
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center